A hacksaw Blade is a handy cutting tool which should be user friendly and cut objects quickly and precisely. Choosing a correct hacksaw blade with the right tooth per inch (TPI) and sturdy build is important to provide easy, straight and precise cutting.
Given below are typical Hacksaw blade Tooth/Inch (TPI) and their general usage:Tooth per Inch is one important aspect of a hacksaw blade and is important to understand TPI and their Usage in Hacksaw Blade.
Low TPI blades
If there are less number of TPI in a blade then the gap between the tooth of the blade increases and tooth of the blade are longer. Following are the properties of a hacksaw blade with lower TPI
- More material can be removed in one stroke
- Good for cutting thicker materials
- Never use lower TPI blade on a thin metal as there is a risk of blade hooking into the material and blades getting destroyed
- Lesser the TPI more difficult to start the cutting process, as tips are in contact with the metal for longer, thus creating more resistance while starting to cut the material
- Lower TPI blades are good for cutting larger material such as wood
More TPI on a blade leaves smaller gap between the teeth with shorter tooth . Following are the properties of the blade with higher TPI
- A high TPI hacksaw blade is great for thin object such as thin metal
- Probability of hooking of tooth to metal is less
- Higher TPI blades are useful in getting cuts started easily. So if you are cutting a thick material, then it is advisable to start with a higher TPI blade in order to provide the initial cut, and then switch to lower TPI blade for speeding up the cutting process
- Higher TPI blades are great for providing precise and clean cuts
Blade Break In
A hacksaw with a new blade can be difficult to work with. They often cut hard and are not stable to cut. Cutting process with new blades as well as lower TPI is even harder to start, due to large gap between their tooth.
The probable solution is to remove the finish on the tooth which hinders the blade to cut smoothly. Blade break in can be easily performed on spare piece of material to do an initial cut with the blade. You can keep cutting with the blade till it starts to feel smooth. Post this test you can switch to your original material for getting a precise cut. This is called blade break in process and helps eliminate roughness on the final cut.
Cutting Very Thin Material
Cutting very thin material, even, with a hacksaw blade of 32 TPI can be difficult. Sheet metals are such kind of material which are very thin and can be difficult to cut as they have the tendency to buckle under pressure. The solution for cutting very thin material is ; buy a blade with high TPI and hold the material really tight using a metal snip and then start the cutting process. This will enable a proper cut of thin material.
So in order to choose a right hacksaw blade it is important to understand on which material you are going to use that tool. If it is not the right combination of blade and the material, then at some point, the blade struggles to work efficiently due to usage of wrong TPI. Always choose the right TPI blade for the material you are going to use it on and always remember to let the tool do the work.
