by Doug Coulter » Tue Sep 06, 2011 8:21 pm
Yeah, and once you get them to decent size, sell them to us -- a few of us could use more. I stuck myself with a bunch of UMHW HDPE, and boy is it a pain to work. A regular bandsaw, or a metal cutting saw melt it and then it seizes the blade. So far, spade bits drill it well, and a table saw or chain saw seem to be required to cut it. Has to have good wide kerf and fast chip removal to do the job without getting stuck in there it seems. I was afraid to try my woodworker neighbor's wide kerf (offset teeth) bandsaw for cutting up logs, as those blades I wouldn't want to have to replace, but it might have worked. Somehow, I don't think a hot wire would work here, and I know from experience that handsaws and sawsalls don't do it. I did OK but messy work with a chainsaw (needs a powerful one) but you have to stop frequently to keep the chips from jamming up in the clutch and hardening there. Seems like you have to melt it to cut it, a razor sharp japanese cabinet maker's hand saw would hardly scratch the stuff.
(Geo, this should go in materials and fab somewhere)
Posting as just me, not as the forum owner. Everything I say is "in my opinion" and YMMV -- which should go for everyone without saying.