First some background on the subject at hand. I had purchased a Lenox Tri Master BS blade for my saw last fall along with a Bi Metal blade. If you happen to not be familier with the Tri Master Lenox blade, it is a blade with carbide tipped teeth and sells for about $180, which I will be the first to admit is way over kill for a hobbyist like myself, I just got a wild hair as they say and went a little bit overboard.
I had installed the blade and used it on and off for a couple of months. One day a few weeks ago the blade broke, I was not cutting with it when it let go, but the saw was running, I had walked away for it for a few minutes and not turned it off as I was planning on coming right back to it and do some more cutting with it.
So the first thing I did was to phone Lenox direct to talk to them about repairing the blade and was told that if the blade broken at the weld that it was warrantied, but I would have to go back through the dealer that I had bought the blade from to get help with the matter.
So I phoned the dealer on a Monday and was told that they they would be in touch with Lenox and would get back to me as to what Lenox wanted me to do. Well in just a few days a new replacement blade arrived. So I phoned the dealer again and asked them what was going on, and again was told that they would get back to me, I waited for two weeks and heard nothing.
In the mean time I located a different dealer in Fort Worth, Texas about having the blade repaird. Actually I was just looking for a shop to to the repair since I was not getting any verbal response from the dealer. The name of the company in Fort Worth is Delta Industries and after contacting them I learned that they are also a Lenox dealer and that they would do the repair for me at no cost if I didn't get any satisfaction from the dealer that I had bought the blade from.
After receiving the second blade I waited for two weeks and phoned the original dealer again and was told told again that they would get back to me, but again, they did not and so I phoned again and was told that the girl that was working the issue was not at work yet when I phoned. However, the person that I did talk to and myself did pretty muh agreed that I would be getting a return Lable from UPs to just have the broken blade returned.
With all of that said for background information, I got a phone call from a Lenox field rep yesterday on the matter and was told to just keep both blades. He was pretty certain the break in the weld was due to a defective weld in the first place.
He and I went on to visit and he told me that that both the Tri Master Carbide blade and their Bi Metal Blade, which by the way I had purchased too, were used on metal cutting Band Saws as well as on saws like my wood cutting saw. Thus the reason for the high price of the blades. The Bi Metal blade cost a hundred dollars by the way.
The rep told me that there is no way that I could put enough pressure on the blades with my 17" Grizzly BS to hurt the blades, but I can put enough pressure on the blades to hurt the wheel bearings of the saw. He also told me that this is the reason to take the tension off of the blade when the saw is not being used, I didn't know that.
He told me that he would try to stop by and visit with me this coming spring when he is in the area and might be able to give me some tips on setting up the saw.
By the way, he had never heard of Alex Snodgrass and his instructions for setting up a saw and seemed interested in the conept of setting the gullet of the blade at the top of the tire as Alex described. Maybe he was just being polite which by the way all of the people with Lenox have been.
Soooo, for what it's worth, that has been my experience with Lenox BS blades.
I did purchase a couple 3/8" blades from the dealer in Fort Worth to use for scrolling, as the Tri Master Blade is supposed to be used for straight cuts only. By the way the Tri Master blade is a Three TPI blade and the Bi Metal is a four. I think that he 3/8" blades are tens. The 3/8" blades were relative enexpensive at about twelve dollars each. The Fort Worth dealer is going to repair the original blade for me at no cost so I am going to be knee deep in BS blades.
Jerry B.
I had installed the blade and used it on and off for a couple of months. One day a few weeks ago the blade broke, I was not cutting with it when it let go, but the saw was running, I had walked away for it for a few minutes and not turned it off as I was planning on coming right back to it and do some more cutting with it.
So the first thing I did was to phone Lenox direct to talk to them about repairing the blade and was told that if the blade broken at the weld that it was warrantied, but I would have to go back through the dealer that I had bought the blade from to get help with the matter.
So I phoned the dealer on a Monday and was told that they they would be in touch with Lenox and would get back to me as to what Lenox wanted me to do. Well in just a few days a new replacement blade arrived. So I phoned the dealer again and asked them what was going on, and again was told that they would get back to me, I waited for two weeks and heard nothing.
In the mean time I located a different dealer in Fort Worth, Texas about having the blade repaird. Actually I was just looking for a shop to to the repair since I was not getting any verbal response from the dealer. The name of the company in Fort Worth is Delta Industries and after contacting them I learned that they are also a Lenox dealer and that they would do the repair for me at no cost if I didn't get any satisfaction from the dealer that I had bought the blade from.
After receiving the second blade I waited for two weeks and phoned the original dealer again and was told told again that they would get back to me, but again, they did not and so I phoned again and was told that the girl that was working the issue was not at work yet when I phoned. However, the person that I did talk to and myself did pretty muh agreed that I would be getting a return Lable from UPs to just have the broken blade returned.
With all of that said for background information, I got a phone call from a Lenox field rep yesterday on the matter and was told to just keep both blades. He was pretty certain the break in the weld was due to a defective weld in the first place.
He and I went on to visit and he told me that that both the Tri Master Carbide blade and their Bi Metal Blade, which by the way I had purchased too, were used on metal cutting Band Saws as well as on saws like my wood cutting saw. Thus the reason for the high price of the blades. The Bi Metal blade cost a hundred dollars by the way.
The rep told me that there is no way that I could put enough pressure on the blades with my 17" Grizzly BS to hurt the blades, but I can put enough pressure on the blades to hurt the wheel bearings of the saw. He also told me that this is the reason to take the tension off of the blade when the saw is not being used, I didn't know that.
He told me that he would try to stop by and visit with me this coming spring when he is in the area and might be able to give me some tips on setting up the saw.
By the way, he had never heard of Alex Snodgrass and his instructions for setting up a saw and seemed interested in the conept of setting the gullet of the blade at the top of the tire as Alex described. Maybe he was just being polite which by the way all of the people with Lenox have been.
Soooo, for what it's worth, that has been my experience with Lenox BS blades.
I did purchase a couple 3/8" blades from the dealer in Fort Worth to use for scrolling, as the Tri Master Blade is supposed to be used for straight cuts only. By the way the Tri Master blade is a Three TPI blade and the Bi Metal is a four. I think that he 3/8" blades are tens. The 3/8" blades were relative enexpensive at about twelve dollars each. The Fort Worth dealer is going to repair the original blade for me at no cost so I am going to be knee deep in BS blades.
Jerry B.
