Band saw blade snapped mid-shift yesterday

Was breaking down a 200 lb pork shoulder and the blade just let go, sent pieces flying across the cooler. Had to stop everything for 20 minutes to fish shrapnel out of the loin I just trimmed. Anyone else have a blade fail like that out of nowhere?

3 comments

3 Comments

calebc401mo ago

You really had to stop everything for 20 minutes just to fish some metal pieces out of a loin? That sounds like a pain, but is it really that big of a deal? I mean, the blade snapped and yeah, that's annoying, but shrapnel flying across the cooler doesn't sound like a major safety hazard. You probably overreacted a bit. Most of us just throw out the meat that got hit and move on. It's just part of the job when you're breaking down big cuts of meat. I'd say it's not worth losing sleep over.

aaron7401mo ago

Nah man, @calebc40 I gotta disagree here. Metal shrapnel flying across a cooler full of meat is a safety thing, not just an annoyance. You don't know where those tiny bits land or if they get buried in another cut. Twenty minutes is time well spent if it keeps someone from biting into a chunk of blade later.

the_fiona1mo ago

Used to be in @calebc40's camp on this one and thought people were being dramatic about blade failures. But after a buddy of mine found a tiny metal fragment in a ribeye three weeks after a blade snapped in his shop, I completely changed my tune. @aaron740 is RIGHT here. Those little pieces can bounce and land ANYWHERE. Twenty minutes of hunting is annoying but getting sued because someone cracked a tooth on a piece of blade is a whole different kind of bad day. Better to be safe than sorry with something that could end up in a customer's mouth.