Bad Hawk Blades

[workin for wood]

I only order one blade and that's a #9 skip. I use it for every cut whatever it is and no matter how big, small, thick or thin the project is. I also buy them from Hawk by the grosse. I ran real low after my last project, ordered a new grosse and didn't use too many between then and now. I got pretty busy practicing other things and working around the house. I'm cutting away and all is good, changing blades regularly and everything else I do. Then I grab a blade and chuck it in the saw...seems odd, like two blades stuck together. I start cutting and it's just burning it's way through while I have to apply alot of force. I only go in a bit, then I unchuck it and toss it aside for a new blade thinking I just happened on an odd reject. New blade was fine. Then eventually another fat one, and it won't cut. Then another and another...I dig in the pill holder and start comparing the blades. I have thin ones and fat ones. I measure the good ones at .005 ? and the bad ones at .015? Don't know exactly that that's how you call it, but the bad ones are 3 times thicker, but if you lay them on top of the good ones, all the teeth are the same and the width from teeth to back is the same. On the phone, the salesman says my last order was for two different numbers. Seems they didn't have enough of my blades in stock so they tossed in a few dozen of a similar blade. They are sending me a new grosse, and I am sending back the blades I have left for them to see, but geez. I always get great service from Hawk, so why or how they did this is beyond me. Lesson..do a visual comparison check when you get your new blades. We already know that every manufacturer has a different thickness for the same blade numbers, but who's to say they don't do substitutions too?

[guitarman]

I got some bad blades also a while back. I didn't have the same problem as you though. I got a gross of 2/0 blades and about one third of them looked as if they had been used. The teeth in the cutting area were almost worn off in places. That made for some tough cutting and tearing. The company, which I won't mention here, replaced the blades when I sent some of them back but offered not explanation. David

[Randy]

I'm not quite sure what you were measuring or how; but there is something not quite right here. According to the Hawk specs on their blades, a #9 blade should be 0.018" thick which is very close to what you say was the thickness of the "bad" blade. Additionally, Hawk does not make a blade that is 0.005" thick. The closest is a 2/0 blade that is 0.008" thick. It seems like someone who buys blades by the gross could tell there was a difference between a 2/0 and a #9 blade just by looking at them.

...We already know that every manufacturer has a different thickness for the same blade numbers...

Just for fun, I looked at the specs for a #9 blade by Hawk, Olson and Flying Dutchman. They were all exactly the same thickness.....0.018". The 2/0 blades varied by a thousandth or 2; but not enough difference that most would notice.

[workin for wood]

who even knows that I know how to use my dial calipers, lol. I do sure know the difference between a #9 and a 2/0. I do have some 2/0 blades sitting in a sample pack in a drawer and they are way smaller. Seems the calipers start at zero and the next number is .10. The good blades that are #9 seem to only reach half way to the first mark and there are 10 marks between zero and .10

I've cut thousands of intarsia pieces with the same blades and they sure arent' as thick as these ones they mixed into the batch.

[Randy]

Sounds like you may be measuring OK; but have a decimal point problem? If you have standard dial caliper that is capable of measuring to 1/1000".....0.001", then each mark on the dial is equal to 1/1000"(0.001") and each labeled mark is 0.01"(1/100"). One thing that sometimes causes a problem with measurements on a dial caliper is being sure the dial is zeroed. The caliper must be fully closed and the dial bezel rotated until the pointer indicates zero.

As a check on whether your caliper is measuring properly, try measuring the thickness of a piece of newspaper.....should be about 2-1/2 marks(0.0025").

Just for the sake of verification, I measured my Olson blades to see how they compared with the specs. 2/0 blade measured 0.010".....speced at 0.010". #5 blades measured 0.015".....speced at 0.016". The "thick" blades you measured at 0.015" are thinner than what a #9 blade is supposed to be (0.018") so either the measurements are incorrect or there is some other problem than blade thickness??

[workin for wood]

My dial caliper isn't very good. Took your advice, I noticed it wasn't right on zero. Wasn't easy to move that little plastic window to zero...the entire caliper is junky plastic. With that done, the good blades measure to basically the second line and the bad ones go to 3.5 lines. So basically the good ones that are #9 are .02 and the bad thick ones are .035 It's just not worth it for me to buy a decent set of calipers at this time...if I'm that worried, I'll just send the needed item to be measured to an expert.

[will8989]

Now I need to know how to use a caliper? Gees, guys, when I measure something I tell hubby it is "one small mark past the 1/2 mark." And you want me to use a caliper? I have noticed on occassion that some blades are thicker then the rest of the pack, but don't get too concerned about it. However, I would get concerned if most of a gross were that way! And you only use a #9 skip blade for everything? I never thought of that, just using one blade. How much sanding do you have to do afterwards? I'm always changing sizes of blades but maybe I need to rethink. Sure would make life easier! I just cut a 3/4" thick black walnut basket with a#7 reverse and the sides came out looking like glass! Can I get that with a #9? Will definitely give it a try!!

Betty

[3_M]

Betty,

A # 9 is a lot more aggressive as a # 7. If you are pleased with the # 7 stay with it.
I can always sent you a sample of the # 9 to try.

Mike

[Randy]

Originally Posted by workin for wood

My dial caliper isn't very good.....it wasn't right on zero. Wasn't easy to move that little plastic window to zero...the entire caliper is junky plastic..... So basically the good ones that are #9 are .02 and the bad thick ones are .035.....It's just not worth it for me to buy a decent set of calipers at this time...if I'm that worried, I'll just send the needed item to be measured to an expert.

First of all, "junky" is sort of relative in my opinion. No need to spend a hundred dollars on a fancy caliper that will measure to a half a thousandth if all you need to do is measure to the closest 1/16" unless you are a "tool snob!!" In addition to my "good" caliper, I have a little plastic vernier caliper that I bought from Rockler for about 3 dollars and for its intended use it works just fine so there is no need to apologize for your caliper. If it meets your needs then it is just fine and do note that after setting it properly, you got a measurement that was within 0.002" which isn't too shoddy for a "junk" caliper. And, BTW, if you feel the need of a more accurate caliper, you can walk into any Harbor Freight store and pick up a decent digital caliper for about $10 that will measure to a thousandth.

As to the balky bezel problem, you could try applying a "SINGLE" drop of a light lubricant like 3 in 1 Oil if it is extremely stiff. On the other hand those things are designed to be a little snug so they don't get moved accidentally and cause erroneous measurements.

Now that we have some good numbers, it becomes obvious to we long-distance diagnosticians that there really is a problem with the blades. According to the Hawk web site, the thickest blade they make is the #12 which is supposed to be 0.02" thick. Your "bad" blades are nearly twice that thickness so clearly the QC at Hawk had a bobble and let some stuff get through that shouldn't have.

Don't feel too bad. I just read an article about QC in the auto industry and the awarding of this years awards for the best manufacturers. Surprisingly, this years award was won by an American company rather than the perennial winners, the Japanese. Sadly the the winning numbers were 100 defects per hundred cars, which means that on average "EVERY" car that comes off a dealer's lot has at least one defect. I wonder how long folks would shop at their local department store or home store if "every" product that they purchased had some sort of defect??

[workin for wood]

My replacement blades arrived today. I noticed they came in a bag that said Olson. I guess maybe hawk isn't doing the FD blades anymore ? I say that as it could be a statement or a question...who knows.