Making Spirals

[Chase]

Has anyone tried twisting flat blades to make spirals? Results?
Reason I'm asking is I need a really thick blade for veining. #9 spirals is the largest (thickest) I've seen or used. Could you twist a #12 into a spiral?

Chase

[JohnB]

G'day Chase,
I have never tried it, but reason leads me to believe the blade would snap and if you did manage it I'd think it would be to short.

The only way to find out is to give it a shot

[Carter-Johnson]

good lord! I can't imagine the numbers of pliers and the contortions you would have to go through to twist a #12 blade sufficiently to work as a spiral blade and then to have it fit into the top and bottom clamps. I have a cartoonish vision of spending hours getting it clamped in, letting it go and having the entire saw spin around in the opposite direction to undo twist you put on the blade!

Great phun!.........Carter

[Plaquerd]

Chase
Mike has a #10 on his site. What are you veining? It must be big!
http://www.mikesworkshop.com/blades.htm

Couldn't help myself from saying this, with a blade that big it should be called, "arterying".
Reason for edit: see above

[3_M]

You can not twist a flat blade yourself. You have to softened the steel and then have a machine like a rotor router to twist it even. I have seen how they do it and no way that you can no it without the proper equipment.
Mike

[Mick Walker]

Chase, how about clamping 2 or 3 flat blades together to make a wider vein?

[oops99]

Yes you can, we do this all the time.
First, have the tallest person in you family hold the top of the blade with vice grip pliers, then have the shortest peson in your family hold the bottom of the blade with vice grip pliers, then while the tall one is standing still, have the short one run around in circles really fast, and there you go!!!

oops99

[Jim8Mad]

There are twist pliers that are used for twisting wire together for certain applications in machinery that will give you a very nice and even twist. But in this case I wouldn't recommend it. Like Mike (3M) said, it's not something you could do with these blades. Not only would you have to soften them, but then you would probably have to harden them again. And don't forget that twisting them will also shorten the blade enough that it won't fit into your clamps.

I suggest you try the largest spiral you can find and just make a couple passes, or use a flat blade. Mick says to try a couple of flat blades, but how about 3 spirals at the same time? As long as they are straight and tight would that be something worth trying??

[Rolf]

Why not just borrow a plow from a local farmer? That is some serious veining.

[RollaJohn]

First let me say that no way would I attempt the annealing then re-tempering of a blade and expect to end up with a usable sharp blade.

Strange as it seems the twisting of a bar does not shorten its length. You can argue that it would but experience in twisting iron bars for decorative grill work has demonstrated to me that it just isn't so. When I first started I attempted to calculate the expected shrink and cut the bar long enough to allow for it. After making the twists the bar was as long as it started. Now I just measure the place where the bar will be located, cut to that length and twist. When installed it fits.