# Dragon Bandsaw blades



## johnjin (4 Oct 2007)

Hi 
Just a quick question
Are Dragon still in business as all the links to them seem dead and I cant seem to find them on E-bay.
Thanks for the help

John


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## OLD (4 Oct 2007)

http://cgi3.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=dragong3
does this help


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## johnjin (4 Oct 2007)

Thanks Old
Thats Great
I just thought I would give them a try instead of Dure edge.
Mind you Dure edge has always been fantastic in the past

All the best

John


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## Roy Clarke (4 Oct 2007)

Then why change?


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## johnjin (4 Oct 2007)

Don't you change your socks sometimes even though you might like your last ones  

John


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## Roy Clarke (5 Oct 2007)

No. You'll be expecting them to be washed next.


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## Anonymous (5 Oct 2007)

Johnjin

Dragon has some new blades - M42, they are claimed to last much longer. I have one in my new saw to test and although I have no idea how long it will last, it is the best blade I have used so far. 

Expensive, but Dragon claim they last loads longer than their standard blade.

I must point out in all fairness, that Dragon sent this blade to me free of charge to try out (I have bought several blades from them (and Dure Edge for that matter)).


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## johnjin (5 Oct 2007)

Hi Tony
Thanks for that.
I have ordered a 3/4 x 3tpi M42 from Dragon as they offered it cheap and I would like to give it a try anyway.

All the best

John


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## OPJ (6 Oct 2007)

Their generosity is incredible. They've also offered me a couple of blades _to try_, free of charge! They've even trimmed 5mm off some of my blades if I return them, at no extra cost. Excellent company!


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## Newbie_Neil (6 Oct 2007)

OPJ":365qpt1u said:


> Their generosity is incredible.



I think you'll find it's called marketing and very cheap as well.

Cheers,
Neil


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## iajon69 (6 Oct 2007)

Newbie_Neil":3nb3xdk7 said:


> I think you'll find it's called marketing and very cheap as well.
> 
> Cheers,
> Neil




It's also a good way of getting feedback on new blades - if a blade is new then feedback from different users with different machines will help make the blade a success or not - especially if it's a blade that most woodworkers haven't tried before.

Ian


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## ByronBlack (6 Oct 2007)

Neil, I think you are a bit out of order here to Ian (and therefor dragon) have provided me with excellent service so far in regards to sharpening my festool blade with a very quick turn around, and currently supplying me with some bandsaw blades through a courier to avoid the postal strike. Whether it's marketing or not, it's quality service from a british company and should be commended, not given snide remarks, especially in light of certain members being taken to task over a few other threads such as the EZ one.

I feel your post contradicts the new 'friendly' policy that Charley spoke of in a recent update. 

Do you accuse all the other members who are aligned to a company of cheap marketing, or just Ian?


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## Woodmagnet (6 Oct 2007)

I did'nt find anything wrong with Neil's comment, it was a personal observation in my eye's. :?


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## ByronBlack (6 Oct 2007)

As is my post in reference to Neils. (A personal observation that is).


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## Gill (6 Oct 2007)

Isn't it easy to get distracted? Not necessarily helpful, though.

I reckon Neil's quite right when he says that Dragon is engaged in some shrewd marketing. When the Berlin Wall fell, the head of Coca Cola's European Division sent out his reps with orders to give away free bottles of Coke to the East Germans. Bottles were even pushed through holes in the wall. Reps then went to potential retail outlets and offered the shopkeepers free chillers. As a result, a drink which East Germans had never tasted before ended up being as popular in their neighbourhoods within ten years as it was in West Germany - and the head of Coca Cola's European Division became its CEO.

I'm not sure Dragon would thank me for comparing their products in this way :lol: . Still, their blades do have a good reputation and if I had the chance of freebie blades I'd be delighted to take advantage. 

Gill


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## johnjin (7 Oct 2007)

Byron
I see nothing snide in Neils post.
It is a good cheap form of marketing and is to be commended.
Why you take offence so easily I really don't understand.
I think an apology to Neil is called for.

Best wishes

John


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## devonwoody (7 Oct 2007)

Lets forget all remarks and get back to the product.
I got an M42 blade last year (free to do the product survey) and I can honestly say that it is still going strong and has not blunted.

Recalling the survey I did at the time, another big plus of the M42 blade for me is that I have access to some second hand timber and I am not too concerned that it sometimes has nails or screws imbedded, the M42 will cut through these obstructions providing feed rate is anticipating any of these nasties might be around.


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## Newbie_Neil (7 Oct 2007)

Byron



OPJ":345pyt1n said:


> Their generosity is incredible.





Newbie_Neil":345pyt1n said:


> I think you'll find it's called marketing and very cheap as well.



The _*only*_ point I was making was that Dragon were not being philanthropic.

They are achieving excellent results for their marketing campaign with very little cost. AFAIK, they have never paid for advertising on this forum, so it is a very effective low-cost campaign.



ByronBlack":345pyt1n said:


> Neil, I think you are a bit out of order here. I feel your post contradicts the new 'friendly' policy that Charley spoke of in a recent update. Whether it's marketing or not, it's quality service from a british company and should be commended, not given snide remarks



I’m sorry that you feel that way, but I think it is you who are out of order by calling my remarks snide.



ByronBlack":345pyt1n said:


> Do you accuse all the other members who are aligned to a company of cheap marketing, or just Dragon?



Why do companies come on here? The biggest proponents of low-cost, targeted internet marketing on this forum have to be the EZ people.

Cheers
Neil


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## devonwoody (7 Oct 2007)

Honestly, who are the EZ people, I just did a google and I found nothing of interest :roll:


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## ByronBlack (7 Oct 2007)

I'm sorry if i've upset people, but I don't feel the need to apologise for my post. I did think it was a snide remark as there was no justification/reasoning behind the statement - it was said rather matter of factly, but to be fair, it is difficult to always read the intentions of the written word so i'll give the benefit of the doubt.

I think we need to encourage british companies/suppliers/enterprises and think Dragon saws so far have excelled in all I have asked of them in terms of service and will be happy to continue to recommend them along with other companies that I use and promote - all with the interests as a customer only.


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## Newbie_Neil (7 Oct 2007)

Byron



ByronBlack":1ftn687w said:


> I'm sorry if i've upset people, but I don't feel the need to apologise for my post. I did think it was a snide remark as there was _*no justification/reasoning behind the statement*_ - it was said rather matter of factly, but to be fair, it is difficult to always read the intentions of the written word so i'll give the benefit of the doubt.



I'm sorry, but I didn't think that I needed to write great screeds when pointing out the obvious.

As I said earlier, "The _*only*_ point I was making was that Dragon were not being philanthropic". I have no problem with them as a company. Indeed, if I was them I would be proud of how successfully my marketing was working.

Cheers,
Neil


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## ByronBlack (7 Oct 2007)

Newbie_Neil":21ze4949 said:


> Byron
> 
> 
> 
> ...



No need to apologise Neil, I bow to your superior reasoning on this one, your right, i'm wrong, i'll now have no input in this thread.


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## Corset (7 Oct 2007)

Have to say I bought dragon blades off them a year and a half ago and they didn't want me to pay till I got the blades. I certainly did not feel it was marketing hype. Cheap it may be, but how many other companies are prepared to do that. I think its a little cynical to say its just good marketing, Some companies really do want want to build a customer base and provide good service.
Its like free postage, its nice when you get it.
Owen


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## devonwoody (7 Oct 2007)

When I was in business I had a budget of around 16% to cover advertising, the motor trade is much higher than this figure so if a company can get away without advertising costs it should be able to offer lower prices and better service.
Think how much cheaper a motor car would be if they did not spend 25% on advertising or whatever their figure is.


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## ivan (7 Oct 2007)

I'd like to compliment Dragon (satisfied customer only) who, in comparison to other companies were extremely helpful regarding blade choice, prepared to send out blades for trial, _and only charge me for the one that did the job_. Marketing? Must be a yes, as a result I now buy all my blades form them. I wish a lot of others shared their marketing philosophy!


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## Nick Gibbs (7 Oct 2007)

How do I contact Dragon? Sounds like we should be testing their blades.

Thanks

Nick


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## DaveL (7 Oct 2007)

Nick,

Look at the link given here.


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## Nick Gibbs (7 Oct 2007)

Sorry. I noticed that later and have all the info. Which of their blades are best to try out? What's so special about them?

Nick


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## devonwoody (8 Oct 2007)

Dragon do traditional bandsaw blades as well, but I have been using a 1/2" 3 skip tooth blade lately but it is .032 thick (instead of the 015 and 025's ) and it doesn't stand any nonsense from the timber being cut. You have to have strong fingers to load up the blade tho.


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## iajon69 (8 Oct 2007)

Without wanting to cause offence, blow this topic out of proportion or be accused of turning this post into some brilliant marketing campaign can I put my point across with some explanations?
Please accept my apologies in advance if this rambles on or seems to be a cheap effort at advertising, only I feel that I should have the opportunity to explain and justify some of the points raised.

OPJ and Tony are existing, repeat customers and the gesture made to them wasn’t purely done as ‘marketing’ - both have already praised our service and blades before receiving the free blade or offers of! 
It was a genuine gesture to existing customers that will hopefully then continue to be repeat customers and as any business knows a happy customer will hopefully recommend your services and can help increase business and equally so an unhappy customer can have a detrimental effect on business – thankfully most people that use us are happy.

I didn’t actually know that OPJ was a forum member at the time. 

I have learnt a fantastic amount from people on this forum and I’m very grateful for the repeat business that we get but I don’t just do this for members of this forum – most the time when an enquiry is made then I have no idea if the person is a member of the forum or not. I like to think that we treat all of our customers the same whether they are a member of a forum or not.

If any blade breaks on the weld then we offer to re-weld the blade free of charge and if a customer is not happy with a blade for any reason then we offer to replace it or give a refund – again this is not some marketing ploy it’s about being fair, making sure that your customers are happy and hopefully offering a service that others don’t and it’s certainly not a ‘cheap’ marketing ploy – it’s about building up a happy customer base to ensure that we remain in business and are able to offer a service that I would want to use if I was a customer.

OPJ had problems tensioning a wide blade on his machine and wanted to know if the blade was slightly shorter would it help with the tension.
I could have sold him another blade slightly shorter but offered to cut and re-weld his existing blade free of charge - it's called customer care and trying to be helpful. Later on OPJ wasn't sure what blade would be best for some cutting that he was doing so I offered to send him a few different blades to try and the ones that were no good he was going to return and any that worked would have been paid for - again it's not wanting to sell a blade just for the sake of a sale but trying to make sure that an existing customer is buying a blade that they are happy with and is suitable for the cutting that they are doing. And as mentioned - I didn't know that OPJ was a forum member at the time.

Tony is actually doing me a great favour. M42 blades are not new but the tooth shape and style that Tony is using is new in M42 and the feedback from Tony (and others who have had the same blade) is worth more than the cost of a blade - this blade is imported from America so we need to know if the blade is any good before importing more. And yes if Tony is pleased with the blade then hopefully he will recommend the blade and us so I guess it is a form of marketing but this wasn’t the intention when the blade was sent to Tony – again Tony is an existing customer and is doing me a favour by using the blade and giving me invaluable feedback on the performance of the blade.
This blade went out free to a number of people for feedback and only one was a member of this forum – if this was a deliberate attempt at marketing through the forum then I would have sent it to more than 1 forum member.

I’m sorry if it’s thought that the gestures that we make are purely for marketing but this is not the case, we do genuinely want to offer a service that stands out from others. This alone will not make us a success – the product and price is just as if not more important than any marketing.

I wish that I was as good at marketing as Neil has suggested as then maybe I could follow Gill's advice and apply for a job with Coca Cola – I quite fancy being a CEO 

Ian


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## tigerturnings (8 Oct 2007)

Nick Gibbs":3928jftk said:


> Which of their blades are best to try out? What's so special about them?



I bought a special ripping blade from them, it is a 1" blade with 1.3TPI. You need a medium or large bandsaw to benefit from it, but for fast ripping, small scale planking, etc., I find it excellent. On my Jet saw it is rather fiddly to fit but that's more about the design of the saw than the characteristics of the blade.

It's the only blade of its type that I have tried, but when it dulls I'll not hesitate to replace it with another of the same.


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## devonwoody (8 Oct 2007)

Perhaps some forum members can recall that after I did a review of the blades I received I offered the M42 blade to any member on request.


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## Lord Nibbo (8 Oct 2007)

devonwoody":3a1fw3hl said:


> Perhaps some forum members can recall that after I did a review of the blades I received I offered the M42 blade to any member on request.



I certainly can DW and although I didn't buy any M42's at the time, I was converted to Dragon. I have only ordered from Dragon once, I rang them to place an order for three blades of varying width and was told over the phone "if you order one more you get another free" now how many firms would tell you that? indeed how many firms even care ? Of those five blades all are still going but one is a little dull probably because I used it to cut a sheet of copper with :lol:


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## Woodmagnet (8 Oct 2007)

I have never used "Dragon",but after reading this thread i would'nt hesitate in doing so, (that's if they do a 62" blade length.) or recommending them to others. :wink:


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## colinc (8 Oct 2007)

Hi,

have only bought one blade from Dragon which was for something outside of my experience - cutting 16swg steel fittings. I had assistance out of proportion to the cost and the blade works as promised.

I'll certainly be back for more.

Colin


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## stevebuk (9 Oct 2007)

another dragon blade buyer here, as most of the mods know :wink:


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## johnjin (18 Oct 2007)

Hi all 
Just an update.
After using the M42 today I can say that I am very happy with it.
This is 3/4 x3tpi and it was ripping 200 m/m wide Oak into 2 m/m thick pieces perfecly. 120 m/m Beech and Mahogany perfectly parrallel. The finish was ready for sanding and I wouldn't think it could be improved upon. Only time will tell as far as its life span is concerned but as I say I am very happy with it at the moment and would reccommend it to anyone.


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## mailee (18 Oct 2007)

Yep, Dragon get my vote too. I use them and have been very happy with their blades.


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## brianhabby (22 Oct 2007)

Hi all,

I've just received an email from Ian at Dragon and he tells me that the M42 blade is made from a harder material than other blades.

I'm just wondering if it is more awkward to fit with it being harder material. Also, is it any more difficult to tension than a normal blade?

I've got an Axminster SWB3501B and have only ever used the two blades that came with it.

Any advice would be appreciated

regards

Brian


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## Anonymous (22 Oct 2007)

brianhabby":2cpjv7cn said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I've just received an email from Ian at Dragon and he tells me that the M42 blade is made from a harder material than other blades.
> 
> ...



Hi Brain

I noticed no difference at all in tensioning or fitting the M42 blade - considerable improvement in use though


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## brianhabby (22 Oct 2007)

Thanks for that Tony,

I'll get one ordered

regards

Brian


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## johnjin (23 Oct 2007)

Hi Brian
That is the same saw that I use so it will go on fine and tension with no problems.

All the best

John


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## brianhabby (23 Oct 2007)

Well I've just ordered one so I'll let everyone know how I get on with it when it arrives,

regards

Brian


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## brianhabby (28 Oct 2007)

Well,

I ordered the ¾" M42 blade Tuesday evening via eBay and it arrived in the post Thursday morning which is pretty good service.

I tried it this morning and must say I am very please with it. It is a bit thicker than my other blades (I only have two others) and feels quite strong, I think it will last me a long time.

As for cutting, I cut some strips from a scrap of 4" timber and was able to make them very thin and straight.

So I too can recommend Dragon Saws to other forum members.

regards

Brian


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