Regarding welding blades, it’s a specialized job, some industrial bandsaws will have a blade welder on the side, flip one end over, grind straight together , (that way the ends are guaranteed to meet square). The welding is a fusion weld, with annealing after.
I would suggest either leaving that job for a shop that fabricates custom blades from rolls of stock, or find a trade school / community college that could do the work on their equipment for cheap / free.
It might be that not everybody has the eyes and hands of a millwright like you do… 
Kevin ,
What Garry said about welding the blades
Garry ,
The old eyes and hands are not what they once were 
How about a video on how you sharpen your band saw blades. I do mine on the mill too, but maybe get some pointers?
Harbor freight used to have a bandsaw blade welder for 150 dollars but it is no longer listed on their website.
Hi Kevin, In a pinch I have welded band saw mill blades that have broken. Grind a slight bevel on top side, Clamp down to a copper bar align with a straight edge along the back of the band, preheat about 400f mig weld, post heat, lightly hammer weld, grind both sides flush, sharpen. The few I have done like this have cut pretty good till they beak again( usually a different spot) then junk.or use on your next fire tube:grinning:
Do they need to be TIG welded?
Tig would be better, but mig was just handy at the time, I may try tig next time.
I get my blades from Cooks. They can make up any length. There are many other places.
Hello Al,
Sorry to be so slow on the video but have been under the weather a couple days .
Thanks Wayne, Don’t know if it makes any difference, I’ve seen 2 ways to sharpen, one is like you do, and the other is to sharpen the face of the tooth. The auto sharp machines do face, and the gullet. Thanks again.
Next could we see the tooth setter?
I have been re sharpening my 14" bandsaw blades with a dremel tool. But resetting the teeth was tough using a 6" vice and a punch and hammer.
I also found that there is a huge quality difference in blades. The old “you get what you pay for”!
I don’t think Wayne sets the teeth very often.
Set of bandsaw teeth is pretty important. Set requirements will vary depending on type of wood to be cut (and frozen or not), but most of all that they all be the same, and one side the same as the other. A factory made blade may or may not be perfect from one tooth to the next, or one side to the other. And if you ever hit metal in a log, or the blade runs against a steel wheel…
A setting jig with a dial indicator will give precise results, a fairly simple setup. (Teeth should ideally be within about .002 of each other). There are also hand crank setters that claim good results. If the blade is sharp and properly set, all you have to troubleshoot for cutting is blade tension, and excessive feed rate.
Good morning Mr. Gibb.
It may be hard to tell much detail from the video but maybe you can get a general idea .
Thanks
That is a first class system but since I am only cutting wood chunks my tooth setting can be rough cut so I will stick with the hammer and punch
I found that the occasional nail can take the set out of one side of the blade in seconds
Just say NO to free wood with nails!
Use it to make charcoal. When I screen my charcoal, a large magnet on a rope is used to suck up all the nails and hinges. Then the charcoal goes into the grinder, and back onto the screening table. Nails are put into cans, smashed flat, and sold to the steel recycler. Just hauled in 280 pounds, but came home with some more steel (round stuff), and not much cash.
Yea Ray that sounds like the way I do it trade steel for steel .
In cold climates 150 days Plus needing . . . just save the nail ridden sections for the wood stove. Home. Greenhouse. Or shop. Woodstove will not care about nails or staples.
How I do it.
J-I-C Steve Unruh