Table Saw Blade

[Brandon Weiss]

Simple question, just out of curiosity. What table saw blade do you use? I took the advice of Wood mag this month and picked up the Ridgid 10" 50T Gen Purpose blade from HD this week. Not only does it make nice clean cuts, it is a nice heavy gauge metal, and my table saw is quieter than before! I'm very happy with it.

[John Harden]

Pretty much just a WWII, even for ripping. Recently sold my cabinet saw for a slider and got two of the combo blades made by the manufacturer as they are rated as good as the WWII. We'll see. If they aren't, care to guess what I'll replace them with?.... :cool:

If I had to do a bunch of ripping, I'd break down and take the time to put on a ripping blade as it definitely works better. For crosscuts though, even on delicate materials, I always left the WWII in place.

Regards,

John

[Rod Sheridan]

- 24T rip blade

- 80T ATB for crosscut

- 80T TCG for melamine

- 40T? ATB for that prized piece of plywood the kid next door rescued from a ditch and now wants "a little help" making something with:D

I purchase my blades at industrial saw shops, best selection, quality and price.

Regards, Rod.

[glenn bradley]

I'm very much in sync with Rod on this:

- 24T FTG for ripping, Freud and Lietz

- 80T ATB for crosscutting, Freuds

- 40T? ATB for general bulk sizing of materials, WWII and Lietz

[Jason Strauss]

I'm very much in sync with Rod on this:

- 24T FTG for ripping, Freud and Lietz

- 80T ATB for crosscutting, Freuds

- 40T? ATB for general bulk sizing of materials, WWII and Lietz

I've got almost exactly what Glenn's got. I just recently switched from using a combo blade for most things to using the proper blades for the task - i.e. ripping blade for ripping, crosscut for crosscutting.

I swear that I nearly filled my drawers the first time I used a ripping blade for that purpose. What a difference it made!

[John Harden]

I swear that I nearly filled my drawers the first time I used a ripping blade for that purpose. What a difference it made!

What kind of difference? Not disagreeing with you, but on the occasions I've bothered to remove the WWII for ripping (usually lots of 8/4 material), the only real difference I noticed was reduced effort to slide the wood through the blade. I'm sure the finished edge was also smoother, but to me, the big improvement there comes through technique. Smooth, consistent feed without pausing usually gives me a nice finished edge, even on thicker woods, when using the WWII.

Now, when it comes to cherry and some other burn prone woods, I agree wholeheartedly. Combo blades are a poor choice for ripping these, but to be honest, I still tend to do exactly that. I figure, I'm still cleaning up the edge with a hand plane or sander anyway, so I don't bother with changing blades.

I'm curious as to what your experiences have been.

You also reminded me that even though I'll rarely use it, I need to buy a ripping blade for my new saw. Don't have one yet.

Regards,

John

[Jim Rimmer]

I just bought a Freud glue line 30T rip blade and really like it. I have the Grizzly all purpose blade that came on the saw and one crap cutting blade that came off my old Craftsman TS. Plan to buy a crosscut blade soon.

[scott spencer]

In the past 2 days I've used a 40T Hi-ATB Infinity Super General, 50T ATB/R DeWalt 7640, 40T ATB Blue Tornado, 30T ATB DeWalt 7653, a 60T Hi-ATB Infinity, and an 80T Leitz Pro and still managed to cut a custom piece of crown molding 3/4" too short! :rolleyes:

AFAIK, your Ridgid Titanium R1050C is made by Freud...very similar to the Diablo D1050X and Freud Avanti TK906.

[Rick Dennington]

I use WWII's, Freud, and CMT's. All really good blades, but my $$$'s is on the WWII.

[Rick Fisher]

In order of favorite to least favorite.

(1) Tenryu 40 tooth Gold line
(2) Forrest Woodworker II
(3) Freud Glue Line Rip
(4) Freud 50 tooth combo blade.

I rip all rough lumber on my bandsaw..


I recently got a buddy to buy a Tenryu gold line blade, he runs it on a General 350.. same opinion.. cant believe how clean it rips ..

[Jeff Sudmeier]

I would like to get a WWII but I am using the stock blade for now. It doesn't cut as great as I would like so I really should just pony up and get the WWII.

[Kevin Groenke]

In a design education shop tooling really tends to get abused. I have a hard time justifying spending much on blades that are likely to get trashed (const lumber, pb, reclaimed god-knows-what, and lately 1000's of feet of pink foam), so I'm always on the look out for affordable options. I do have Forrest, FS, Systimatic, etc tooling for specific uses, but they're not in the general use drawers. Blades occasionally get STOPPED and meet other unpleasant ends, so the sharpen-vs-replace equasion favors "disposables".

For several years we've been buying Amana A.G.E.'s for general purpose (40T ATB ~$40) and a couple others including their HiATB and non-ferrous TCG.

Our local saw shop recently stopped carrying the A.G.E.s, so I needed another option.

I ended up gettting a few Kempston blades (40ATB-$32, 24 FTG-$29) from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Dtools&field-keywords=kempston+tooth&x=0&y=0

So far I'm pretty impressed. The blades run true and quiet, the plates and teeth are generously sized (teeth seem beefier than the AGE's). Out of the package the ATB's crosscut veneer ply with no tear-out, after 2 weeks of 75 hrs/wk of student abuse, they're still cutting cleanly (I x-cut a bunch of 1/16" birch ply a couple hours ago and there was no chipping) The FTG rips with no discernable saw marks and cuts box joints with flat bottoms cleanly if a backer board is used.

Obviously they're still young, but so far these are the best $30 blades I've ever used (as good as some $100+ blades so far)

-kg

[scott spencer]

... Blades occasionally get STOPPED and meet other unpleasant ends, so the sharpen-vs-replace equasion favors "disposables". ...Our local saw shop recently stopped carrying the A.G.E.s, so I needed another option. I ended up gettting a few Kempston blades (40ATB-$32, 24 FTG-$29) from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Dtools&field-keywords=kempston+tooth&x=0&y=0

So far I'm pretty impressed. The blades run true and quiet, the plates and teeth are generously sized (teeth seem beefier than the AGE's). Out of the package the ATB's crosscut veneer ply with no tear-out, after 2 weeks of 75 hrs/wk of student abuse, they're still cutting cleanly (I x-cut a bunch of 1/16" birch ply a couple hours ago and there was no chipping) The FTG rips with no discernable saw marks and cuts box joints with flat bottoms cleanly if a backer board is used.

Obviously they're still young, but so far these are the best $30 blades I've ever used (as good as some $100+ blades so far)

-kg

Good to know Kevin...yours is among the first reports I've read about the Kempstons. You might also consider one of the Oshlun blades (formerly Avenger). The 40T ATB has a hefty steel body, copper silencers, large C4 carbide, and Holbren (http://www.holbren.com/oshlun-10-40t-atb-general_purpose-blade-5-8-arbor.html) sells it for ~ $25 shipped with SMC10 discount code. Surprisingly well made for the price, and it gives glue ready edges. They also offer a 50T ATB/R for < $30...both full kerf. Another very good inexpensive 40T ATB blade is the Delta 35-7657...Cripe Distributing (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330335100993&_trkparms=tab%3DWatching) has them for $17 ($27 delivered).

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I use a WW II and Freud Glue line rip. Also have a cheap Freud combo for those salvage wood times I don't want to risk either blade.

IMO any premium blade is worth the price. Certainly not worth arguing about what is "better", or "best". They are all fine blades. There is no "best" blade IMO.

[Jason Strauss]

What kind of difference? Not disagreeing with you, but on the occasions I've bothered to remove the WWII for ripping (usually lots of 8/4 material), the only real difference I noticed was reduced effort to slide the wood through the blade. I'm sure the finished edge was also smoother, but to me, the big improvement there comes through technique. Smooth, consistent feed without pausing usually gives me a nice finished edge, even on thicker woods, when using the WWII.

Now, when it comes to cherry and some other burn prone woods, I agree wholeheartedly. Combo blades are a poor choice for ripping these, but to be honest, I still tend to do exactly that. I figure, I'm still cleaning up the edge with a hand plane or sander anyway, so I don't bother with changing blades.

I'm curious as to what your experiences have been.

You also reminded me that even though I'll rarely use it, I need to buy a ripping blade for my new saw. Don't have one yet.

Regards,

John


John,

When I switched to a ripping blade, I was in the process of milling rough sawn hickory for a cabinet project. Maybe it had more to do with the hardness of the wood, but the difference between a slightly used combo blade and the new ripping blade was night and day.

I seemed like I was having to work too hard to get the hickory through the combo blade - the saw would really bog down. But with the ripping, it went through nice and smooth with not much effort.

My technique was the same for both blades...

I also didn't have a large 3 hp saw at the time - that probably made some of the differnece as well. I'm solving that problem today as my new Grizzly 0690 is due to arrive at any moment!

[Erik Christensen]

I have a Ridge Carbide rip & plywood blade. Both cut better than the Freud's I used before switching to Ridge - but the differences were minor. The Ridge blades have burly carbide tips and their blanks seem much more substantial. My main reason for trying Ridge in the first place is all their stuff is made in the USA - I do try to support US manufacturers who turn out a top quality product. I do get lazy at times and leave the 24 tooth rip blade on when cutting plywood and the finish is more than acceptable but trying to rip with an 80 tooth panel blade is something you are not likely to do > once.

Either is much better than the combo blades I have tried from the BORG's.

FWIW the Ridge Carbide 10" stacked dado is nothing short of awesome - pricey but makes flat/square dado's in hardwood ply with less splinters than anything else I have tried including CMT.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Plus 1 on the Delta 7657. I own WWII's, Freud LU84R's (50 tooth combo), but the 7657 stays on the main saw except when cross cutting veneer plywood, or melamine. For the price. it's hard to beat. Order a couple, and most likely the shipping drops. If so, then new is less than the cost of sharpening.

[Dennis Dearborn]

I bought a Freud Fusion and I don't see any reason to try anything else. I have to send it in to be sharpened but it's worth it. I'm going to buy another for use while one is being sharpened.

Dennis