crosscutting with a rip blade, and vice-versa

[paul cottingham]

If you had one blade that you left on your tablesaw most of the time, would you leave on a rip blade, or a crosscut blade? In other words, is it better to rip with a crosscut blade, or crosscut with a rip blade? My instincts are the latter.

I do own a chopsaw with smaller capacity for some crosscutting.

Any and all comments welcome and appreciated in advance.

[Van Huskey]

The obvious answer is the choice you didn't put in, a high quality combo blade makes the most sense to leave on a TS. Blades like the Forrest WWII, Freud P410 and Tenryu Gold Medal.

If I was stuck with the two options I would choose to rip with a "crosscut" blade as I know a couple that will do a passable job at ripping. If your are talking about specific blades I would want to know which ones they were since not all crosscut or rip blades are made equal and some lean farther from the extreme and more toward the middle.

[Will Overton]

I leave a rip blade on my table saw most of the time. That's because I use the ts mostly for ripping. When I need to cross cut, I put a cross cut blade on. On the rare occasions I bring plywood to the ts, I put a plywood blade on.

If you are going to do both types of cuts and can't be bothered changing blades, use a combination blade.

[paul cottingham]

I left out the combo blade, 'cause I have the other blades already. I thought I may be able to fudge a solution.

:-)

[Van Huskey]

I left out the combo blade, 'cause I have the other blades already. I thought I may be able to fudge a solution.

:-)

I suspected as much, but as I said to choose one it would be helpful to know which two blades we are talking about. For example if your rip is an 18T heavy duty rip and your crosscut is a 60T that is really closer to a combo the answer may be the crosscut, the opposite may be true if you have a high tooth glue line rip and a 80+ tooth crosscut with a negative hook.

[paul cottingham]

That is so obvious I should have thought of it. Will report back,

[Myk Rian]

I usually have a combo on the saw. I'll switch to a rip blade if I'm doing some heavy work, like 2x4s or such. For a fine crosscut I'll put the cabinetmaker cross cut on.

[Bill Huber]

I have 2 main blades, a combo and a rip blade, I use the combo most of the time but if I am doing a lot of ripping I will put the rip blade on.

[Jeff Monson]

After building a nice scms I use that mainly for crosscutting, so my rip blade rarely leaves my tablesaw. Freud glueline rip is my favorite for ripping. Forrest WWII gets my vote for favorite combo blade.

[Van Huskey]

After building a nice scms I use that mainly for crosscutting, so my rip blade rarely leaves my tablesaw. Freud glueline rip is my favorite for ripping. Forrest WWII gets my vote for favorite combo blade.

You might try a 30T WWII if you don't rip a lot of thick stock it is hits a real sweetspot for many that live with a rip blade in their TS as it gives pretty amazing results for the occasional crosscut. I think it is a "red headed stepchild" people tend to overlook but is a strong contender for a leave on blade when someone is using a RAS or SCMS for most of their Xcut needs.

[Peter Quinn]

If you had one blade that you left on your tablesaw most of the time, would you leave on a rip blade, or a crosscut blade? In other words, is it better to rip with a crosscut blade, or crosscut with a rip blade? My instincts are the latter.

I do own a chopsaw with smaller capacity for some crosscutting.

Any and all comments welcome and appreciated in advance.

I'm really scratching my head a bit here. It takes me less than 2 minutes on a slow day to change blades. I usually mill stock in stages. Flatten, plane, joint an edge, rip to width, cut to length. I'm not the most organized guy, but I do it pretty much as batches. What is the incentive to leave one dedicated purpose blade on most of the time rather than simply using the correct blade for the purpose? I know some have only the funds for one blade when getting started and ask which it should be, but if you have both,why not just put the right one on?

That said, when I'm ignoring my best advice and felling super lazy, I'll cross cut with a rip blade, it works well enough. Ripping with a cross cut blade, especially if the stock is thick, can be just plane old dangerous, it pushes back like hell and burns, there are no big anti kickback fingers and deep gullets on the blade to clear dust. Not a great option.

[Dan Karachio]

You could always get two table saws - wait, three for a dado blade.

[mreza Salav]

I almost always leave a combo blade on (Freud Fusion).
If I have a lot of ripping a dedicated rip blade is on.
However, if I had to choose between a cross-cut blade and a rip blade I'd choose a rip blade. If you do your cross-cuts very slowly with a rip blade you can get very little (next to nothing) chipping.

[paul cottingham]

1) I'm lazy
2) Turns out I've lost the blades somewhere.
3) Looks like a WWII is in my future.


I'm really scratching my head a bit here. It takes me less than 2 minutes on a slow day to change blades. I usually mill stock in stages. Flatten, plane, joint an edge, rip to width, cut to length. I'm not the most organized guy, but I do it pretty much as batches. What is the incentive to leave one dedicated purpose blade on most of the time rather than simply using the correct blade for the purpose? I know some have only the funds for one blade when getting started and ask which it should be, but if you have both,why not just put the right one on?

That said, when I'm ignoring my best advice and felling super lazy, I'll cross cut with a rip blade, it works well enough. Ripping with a cross cut blade, especially if the stock is thick, can be just plane old dangerous, it pushes back like hell and burns, there are no big anti kickback fingers and deep gullets on the blade to clear dust. Not a great option.

[Van Huskey]

3) Looks like a WWII is in my future.


I would shop the:

Freud P410 Fusion
Forrest WWII 40T
Infinity Super General
Tenryu Gold Medal

I would then buy the one that ended up in my shop for the lowest price. I have three of the four in my shop and couldn't care less which one is on the saw as long as they are all sharp, there are subtle differences but in real world use I don't think it is enough to matter at least to me. For example some people love the Tenryu because it is quiet, it is indeed but I don't really care.

[Leo Graywacz]

My go to blade is an Amana 60T blade. I use it for everything. When I have to rip some serious stock like thick hard maple or white oak I will always change over. Otherwise the 60T stays on.

[Steve Griffin]

I'm really scratching my head a bit here. It takes me less than 2 minutes on a slow day to change blades. I usually mill stock in stages. Flatten, plane, joint an edge, rip to width, cut to length. I'm not the most organized guy, but I do it pretty much as batches. What is the incentive to leave one dedicated purpose blade on most of the time rather than simply using the correct blade for the purpose? I know some have only the funds for one blade when getting started and ask which it should be, but if you have both,why not just put the right one on?

That said, when I'm ignoring my best advice and felling super lazy, I'll cross cut with a rip blade, it works well enough. Ripping with a cross cut blade, especially if the stock is thick, can be just plane old dangerous, it pushes back like hell and burns, there are no big anti kickback fingers and deep gullets on the blade to clear dust. Not a great option.

I'm super lazy myself, which is why I change blades frequently. Takes 45 seconds. I can't stand not having the right blade in. I'm way to lazy to mess with poor quality cuts or have to "feed slowly"....

From an economic standpoint, it also makes no sense. Let's say you have 3 blades, each doing their proper job, each used roughly 1/3 the time. You will be able to go 3 times longer before sending out for sharpening than if you had just a single blade. They will also last 3 times longer before retirement. Using the proper blade might even help keep them sharp longer.

Now, having said that, there is one situation which I never change the TS blade--rough carpentry. That saw gets a combo blade and handles soft lumber and CDX/OSB used in construction just fine.

-Steve

[Glen Butler]

I would shop the:

Freud P410 Fusion
Forrest WWII 40T
Infinity Super General
Tenryu Gold Medal

I would then buy the one that ended up in my shop for the lowest price. I have three of the four in my shop and couldn't care less which one is on the saw as long as they are all sharp, there are subtle differences but in real world use I don't think it is enough to matter at least to me. For example some people love the Tenryu because it is quiet, it is indeed but I don't really care.

I will second this except take out the freud and double the tenryu. Tenryu's vibration dampening is far superior to freud.

[scott spencer]

It really depends on the geometry and configuration of each blade, what's being cut, the saw, and technique (among other things). Literally all 10-24T FTG ripping blades are poor crosscutters due to unacceptable tearout, and many 30T TCG rippers are only marginal. A couple of exceptions are the 30T WWII ATB ripper and similar DeWalt DW7653, which crosscut reasonably well due to their ATB grind.

There are several crosscut blades that rip very cleanly with reasonable efficiency, which can make them good choices for most general purpose work. 60T table saw blades with a positive hook angle can often rip nicely to around 5/4" to 6/4" and more depending....blades like the Forrest WWI 60T Hi-ATB, Hi-ATB Infinity 010-060, Freud LU88, DeWalt DW7646, Freud LU73, LU82, Leitz 60T ATB, and CMT 281.060.10 can all rip. None of these will handle thick ripping without a lot of strain and increased burning. Most 80T blades are poor rippers due to excessive burning (too many teeth in the wood).

What's acceptable is really subjective though, so YMMV.

[Mark Patoka]

I usually will swap out the blades when I do batch or production runs but I find it's easier to crosscut with my Glueline rip blade than it is to rip with my crosscut blade. If it's just one or two cuts, then whichever blade is in at the time gets the call, though it does take longer to rip with the crosscut blade in.

[Prashun Patel]

I'm with Bill:

Combo blade or general purpose (40-50T) for everyday use. When I have to rip a lot of lumber >= 4/4, I'll switch to a ripping blade (24T).

[Lee Schierer]

Like some of the previous posters, I can't see why changing vblades is such a bother to some folks.

With that said if I only had one blade I would put on a Freud LU82M and rip when needed. It does a great job of cross cuts and will rip most stock without a problem, just a slower feed rate. The teeth do a good job when ripping and give a glue joint quality cut if your saw is aligned.http://www.righttool.com/freud-tools/LU82M-tooth.gif

[Paul Johnstone]

I'm really scratching my head a bit here. It takes me less than 2 minutes on a slow day to change blades. .

My thought too. Changing a table saw blade is easy and painless. Why compromise on performance? Getting a dedicated ripping blade was one of the best changes I made (as opposed to using a combo blade for everything).. Although I only have a 1.5 HP saw. Maybe it doesn't matter as much on a 3HP+ saw.

[Noah Katz]

http://www.amazon.com/DeWalt-10-inch-40-Tooth-General-Purpose/dp/B0042T9YZM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1286710714&sr=8-2