Knife Material Matters: Portable Band Saw Conversion

If your workshop looks like mine, … [A ➡️ Knife Material Matters column by @knifematerial.at]

…it is stuffed to the brink with machines, tools, and materials.

Comment 🙋 if that sounds familiar. 💯

Every
centimeter of my 20 sqm
is occupied by a workbench, shelf, or hooks.

I really can’t show mercy to machines that don’t pull their … err space. 😁

So I decided it was time to get rid of my hacksaw and put away my angle grinder for a while.

I wanted to try out a portable band-saw “conversion”, and so I bought an 1100 watt version and a foot switch from Amazon. It has 6 different speeds and a small LED light already built-in, and it came with a stand and vice but I won’t be using these for this build.

At 220 euros it’s one of the cheaper options but you can easily double this price if you buy one of the more known name brands.

I mounted it to the wall so that it’s easy to remove when I need more space or cut something other than knife blanks and handle material. A simple Velcro strap holds the trigger in the CONSTANT ON position.

I wired a male and female plug to the foot switch. This will also allow me to use the footswitch for other tools if needed.

The work table is mounted directly to the existing blade guide using the factory screw holes. I used a fire resistant board from an old electrical panel for the table and counter-sunk the screw heads flush with the work table.

The whole project took about one hour and no permanent changes to the factory band-saw were needed.

Don’t want to make your own mount? Check out purpose-built tables by @swagoffroad. (No affiliations.)

The two included blades seem to cut just fine but synthetic materials like G-10 and Micarta are very abrasive. I am sure I will be looking for some better quality blades very soon.

How do you fit everything a knife maker needs into your small work space? Comment below and share this post!

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Another monthly column by Keith from @knifematerial.at. Follow him for more on those topics. Brought to you with ❤️ by @indieknives

Visit Keiths website at  knifematerial.at.