Need to cut metal but a band saw doesn’t quite fit the bill? Never fear, Bud’s Machine Tools can provide your every need. Other metal saws are available through us (as are other cutting methods, such as shears, plasma tables and fiber lasers).
Along with horizontal and vertical band saws, Bud’s has sold new and used cold saws, cut-off saws, hack saws, scroll saws, radial arm saws and many other types through the years (including more than a few wood saws we received as trade-ins). We have been carrying a line of small metal-cutting circular saws for a quite a while and always have a variety of circular industrial saw blades in stock in our Parts and Tooling Department in different sizes and material-cutting types.
Saws have been around for a good, long time. They are, in fact, among the oldest tools documented in human history. Sometime after primitive man learned that flint could be sharpened into a blade that could cut meat and other objects, someone figured out that setting multiple tiny stone blades into a handle of wood or bone could be used to file away small chips of material if rubbed against a work piece in one direction in a rapid fashion.
Eventually the idea of cutting a serrated edge into a blade of stone and eventually copper would allow it to be used to saw through objects. Copper saws can be dated to before the year 3000 BC in ancient Egypt. All along the way, humankind recognized that as long as the teeth in a saw were kept sharp and were of a substance harder than the work piece, the saw in question could be used to eventually make the desired cut in the material.
Early steel saws were found to work great in cutting through wood, but wouldn't work to cut steel itself. It was a British metallurgist by the name of Robert Forester Mushet who innovated a proprietary alloy known as "R. Mushet's Special Steel" (or just "Mushet Steel" for short) that became the first actual "tool steel." It was also the first air-hardening steel and Mushet's patented chemical formula caused it to become harder than regular steel following the forging and cooling processes.
It was later discovered that Mushet's secret formula involved adding 8% tungsten to the steel. Other metallurgists improved on Mushet Steel by adding 3.8% chromium to the mix, which creating an alloy that could be used in cutting and drilling operations at higher speeds than before. This special steel was given the on-the-nose name of "High Speed Steel." Other alloys have been developed in intervening years that make use of carbon, cobalt, molybdenum, vanadium and other elements in creating high-grade tool steel for cutting and shaping metals and other hard materials.
Once alloyed steel became hard enough to be used in metal-cutting saw blades, saw manufacturers didn't stop there — they developed methods of adding special tips to the teeth in their blades for even more efficient work, such as carbide tips that can hold a sharp cutting edge far longer than steel.
It's been a long evolution from prehistoric saws to the technologies of today, but if you need to cut some metal, you can readily find a saw to do it.
Bud's Machine Tools is the answer, of course! At Bud's we pride ourselves in putting the customer first and finding him or her the very best in metalworking equipment to fill the bill for whatever their current or future needs might be.
Whether it is a machine from our display floor or warehouse, one we order in from a line we carry, or something completely off-the-wall that we have to take extra efforts to source, we will find the appropriate metal saw or other machine tool that our customer requires.
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