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The Bandsaw Store

Bahco and Dakin-Flathers, UK stock

Bandsaw accessories that keep blades cutting true

Tension meters, set checkers, chip brushes, a tachometer, a refractometer, steel wedges and grinding wheels: the sawing aids that make a machine run at the settings its blades were designed for, stocked alongside the blades themselves.

Shop accessoriesAll bandsaw blades

Setup is a specification, not a feel

Every blade we sell carries published figures: width, pitch and the loop length we weld it to. The machine it runs on has figures of its own, and the difference between a blade that reaches its potential and one that fails early is usually whether anyone measured them. Band tension, band speed, tooth set and coolant concentration all drift in service, and not one of them can be judged reliably by eye or ear.

This range covers the measuring and maintaining side of bandsawing from both of our blade brands: tension meters and gauges that put a number on the band, a set checker for the tooth set that controls kerf and clearance, a tachometer for true band speed, a refractometer for coolant concentration, plus chip brushes, steel wedges and grinding wheels that keep bands clean, workpieces seated and resharpenable blades sharp. None of it cuts anything. All of it decides how well your bandsaw blades cut.

Blade tension, done properly

The single setting that most decides blade life, and the one most often set by feel. The ritual below is general workshop practice; the correct tension figure itself comes from your blade manufacturer and your machine, which is exactly why the meter matters.

  1. Why tension comes first

    An under-tensioned band wanders in the cut and fatigues at the weld. An over-tensioned band overloads the wheels, the bearings and the band itself. Every other setting on the saw is judged against a band running at its intended tension, so it gets checked before anything else.

  2. Slacken, then re-tension

    Make slackening part of the routine. Releasing tension while the saw stands idle rests the band and the wheels, and re-tensioning before work means the figure is set deliberately each time rather than inherited from whoever last touched the handwheel.

  3. Measure with a meter, not by ear

    Pluck tests and thumb deflection vary with the person, the band width and the day. A tension meter or gauge reads the actual figure on the band, so you can set what the blade manufacturer recommends and return to it exactly after every blade change.

  4. Check tracking afterwards

    Changing tension changes how the band sits on the wheels. After re-tensioning, confirm the band tracks where it should, re-set the guides if they were moved and prove the setup with a test cut in scrap before committing real work.

One measured figure beats ten opinions

Tension set by ear drifts a little with every blade change, and every drift is paid for in wandering cuts, early weld fatigue or overloaded bearings. A meter costs one purchase and makes the setting repeatable for the life of the machine.

It is the first suspect when a blade breaks early, too: before blaming the band, the standard troubleshooting order is tension, tracking, guides and gullets.

What each accessory looks after

Accessories cut nothing, so instead of the materials table our blade categories carry, here is the honest version: every accessory in the range, what it measures or maintains and why that shows up in blade life.

The accessory range mapped to duty. Every entry is drawn from the manufacturer's published listing; prices and codes live on the product pages.
AccessoryWhat it measures or maintainsWhy that protects blade life
Steel Wedges 75mmBahco 3870-WEDGE75mm steel sawing wedges that seat the workpiece during cutting.A seated workpiece cuts truer and is kinder to the blade. Movement mid-cut is what pinches bands and strips teeth.
Tension Meter for BandsawBahco 3870-TENSIONReads band tension when fitting a blade, so it is set to the recommended figure rather than by feel.Correct tension keeps bands cutting straight and protects the weld and the machine. It replaces guesswork with a measured figure at every blade change.
Chip Brush for Cleaning Bandsaw BladeBahco 3870-BRUSHCleans chips off the bandsaw blade as it runs.Clearing chips from the gullets protects tooth edges and improves the cut face. A loaded gullet re-cuts its own swarf instead of biting fresh material.
Tachometer for BandsawBahco 3870-TACHOMeasures true bandsaw blade speed rather than the dial's claim.Band speed is one of the settings that decides blade life and cut quality. A tachometer reads the real figure at machine setup and when diagnosing cutting problems.
Refractometer for BandsawBahco 3870-REFRMeasures coolant concentration on bandsaw machines.Coolant that is too lean fails to lubricate and cool the cut; too rich wastes concentrate. A quick check keeps the mix where the coolant supplier intends.
Bandsaw Blade Tension GaugeDakin-FlathersMeasures tension on manually tensioned bandsaw and bandknife blades.Correct tension is the first setting behind straight cuts and full blade life, and a gauge lets you return to the same figure after every change.
Bandsaw Blade Set CheckerDakin-FlathersMeasures tooth set on bandsaw blades.Tooth set controls kerf and clearance. Checking it shows when a blade needs attention, before the cut starts to bind or wander.
Grinding WheelsDakin-FlathersResharpens Slicer37 bandknives and Ripper37 and RipperS sawmill blades.Regular sharpening keeps edge geometry correct and extends total band life across the bandknife and sawmill and resaw ranges.

The numbers your blade runs on

Tooth pitch is bought, not adjusted, so choose it by the working rule of thumb: keep between 4 and 24 teeth in the cut at any moment. Fewer, and each tooth takes too big a bite and risks stripping; more, and the gullets pack with swarf and the band rubs instead of cutting. When a cut that used to be straight starts to wander, check the set before blaming the pitch: the set checker shows whether the kerf clearance has gone.

Coarse pitch
Medium pitch
Fine pitch
Coarser pitches take bigger bites and clear deep cuts; finer pitches share the load across more teeth in thin sections. The 4 to 24 teeth rule decides where in the range a job sits.

Width buys straightness: a wider band resists deflection in a deep cut, so fit the widest band your machine can tension properly and go narrower only for curves. The tension half of that sentence is the catch. A wide band under-tensioned cuts no straighter than a narrow one, which brings the meter straight back into the story.

Band speed and coolant do their work invisibly. Run the speed the blade manufacturer publishes for the material rather than trusting the dial, and keep coolant concentration inside the supplier's recommended range. A tachometer and a refractometer turn both into a thirty-second check instead of a guess. Every blade's published width and TPI options sit on its product page, and the blade wizard applies the same rules if you would rather answer three questions than weigh a chart.

The accessory range

Sawing aids from Bahco and Dakin-Flathers, stocked in the UK and posted with no welding queue to wait for.

Shop all accessories

Correct setup pays on every blade

No industry buys accessories for their own sake. They earn their keep wherever a blade earns its keep, and most visibly on the heaviest duties.

The materials our blades cut

Accessories cut nothing; the blades do. Fifteen material guides cover which construction to run on each and why.

Frequently asked questions

Put measured figures behind every blade you fit: the full accessory range is in stock and ships across the UK.

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