Customer's order for 50 pork chops turned into a mess when my band saw blade snapped mid-cut

I was working through a bulk order last Tuesday morning, 50 pork chops from a single loin, and about 15 chops in the band saw blade just snapped. No warning, no weird noise, just a loud pop and the blade went flying off the wheels. I had to stop everything, pull the guard off, and fish the blade out of the scrap bin. Took me a good 20 minutes to get a new blade on and re-tensioned properly, plus another 10 to clean up the bone dust that got everywhere. The customer was waiting and I felt bad about the delay, but I got it done and they were happy with the cut. Has anyone else had a blade snap on them during a big order? I'm wondering if I need to swap blades more often for heavy jobs like that.

2 comments

2 Comments

oscarhart17d ago

Damn, that sounds like a rough start to the day. Nothing like a surprise blade snap to mess up your rhythm and make you feel like you're racing against the clock.

ivanross17d ago

Took me a good 20 minutes to get a new blade on" Wait, what? Twenty minutes for a blade swap? That's insane, man. On our old saw I can swap a blade in maybe 8 minutes if I'm being real slow, and that's with hunting down the right tension. I'd lose my mind if I had a customer standing there for 20 minutes tapping their foot. You must have had that guard on there with like 40 bolts or something, ha. I'm not trying to be rude but that's wild to me.