Not thrilled with the cut of my new Freud miter saw blade

[Tim Morton]

I needed a new blade today for a project i was working on for work and the local lumber store only had a few to choose from....I went with the mid priced($70) TK407 I know I overpaid but I needed a sharp blade. I took extreme care to get it on the Dewalt 12" miter saw and threw down a scrap of 8" soft pine.......cut it nice and slow HOPING for a clean cut. Picked it up and there was tearout along the entire bottom of the cut...not much better than the worn out factory blade i replaced. Is this normal with pine? I was expecting a clean cut...but complete tear out along the whole bottom does not make me happy. :mad:

[Dick Parr]

Tim try a piece of oak and see what it does. Pine will tearout no matter how slow you go unless you have a backer board.

[Tim Morton]

I tried some oak...and some poplar, much less bottom tearout..although still some in the back but i feel much better. Trouble is I got alot of pine for my wifes birdhouses and I was hoping the new blade would cut cleaner. But I trust you in that all blades will tear pine.

Thankx.

[Dick Parr]

Whenever I work with pine, one of the main tools I use is a block of wood with 150 grit sandpaper to knock off the burrs that cut pine will leave. Not much way around it unless you use a backer board.

[Don Abele]

Tim, what's the condition of the insert in the bottom of your miter saw? Just like the tablesaw, I have zero clearance inserts that I made for my miter saw. I replace them every couple of months or so. Of course, using a backer board should give you the same results.

Be well,

Doc

[Wes Bischel]

I just made up a few ZCI for my mitersaw yesterday and found a marked improvement with the old factory saw blade. Usually the inserts are easy to make - made mine from some scrap 1/4"MDF.

Wes

[Jim Becker]

Tim, the ZCI is also something that improved my saw, but I also had similar performance issues with the TK Freud I had on my 12" CMS. There was a lot of "flutter" on it...I think that it was just too thin/light for the machine. Since switching to a heavier blade it seems, at least, to have a more consistant cut.

[Tim Morton]

I will try making a ZCI...Its not like I'm making anything fancy with it, but I'm cranking out a dozen or so birdhouses each weekend and its my goal to have wood ready to glue and nail right off the miter saw. I am going to order a new blade for my TS tonight from amazon and i see they have a deal on two dewalt 12" blades for $40 bucks....I may order them just to have a back up and try new blades. I am going to get the 10" 50 tooth Freud for the TS. L84 I think it is.

[Dave Dionne]

Hey Tim

I would vote on trying a different blade, I use a lot of pine and don't have much trouble with tear out with the factory blade on my Dewalt cms. I do have a zci on my saw.

Good Luck and Ain't New England a perfect place to live this ime of year?

Dave

[Tim Morton]

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Good Luck and Ain't New England a perfect place to live this ime of year?



Yes it is dave, perfect warm fall day here today. And Next week we have the Sox playing some team from down south hoping to make it to the WS. Its great to be living in New England

[Dave Dionne]

Between the Sox and todays Pats record setting win WOO HOO