Tom Walz
10-28-2010, 12:19 PM
Freud Saw Blades
There was a discussion a while back about Freud saw blades. Many people really like them. One person posted and said that he had trouble with burning with them.
I recently asked to do an analysis of the composition of the Freud tips and the effect on cutting.
If you are using a Freud blade and the label on the box says TiCo tips. TiCo stands for Titanium and Cobalt.
Titanium in saw tips increases the lubricity or slickness of the tip. Generally a saw blade with titanium in the tips can be fed faster. The other side of this is that titanium saw tips handle heat differently than tungsten carbide saw tips. Tungsten carbide saw tips tend to put the heat of cutting into the tip. Pure titanium carbide saw tips tend to put the heat of cutting into the material being cut.
In our early experiments with pure titanium carbide or titanium carbonitride saw tips we found that people develop a good, steady feed rate based on the saw blades they have been using. If you are using a blade with titanium in the tips you might want to consider adjusting your feed rate up a little. The blade should be able to handle it and you should get better cuts.
I don’t know the exact chemistry of the Freud tips. However, when we did the pioneering research in this, we used various percentages of Titanium and Tungsten and the above facts held true all the way across. As the percentage of titanium increases you see more or the effect and vice versa.
Just so I am clear, this is not meant as a criticism of Freud in anyway. There was discussion here with two differing viewpoints and this is an attempt to explain how both sides were accurate in their assessments.
There was a discussion a while back about Freud saw blades. Many people really like them. One person posted and said that he had trouble with burning with them.
I recently asked to do an analysis of the composition of the Freud tips and the effect on cutting.
If you are using a Freud blade and the label on the box says TiCo tips. TiCo stands for Titanium and Cobalt.
Titanium in saw tips increases the lubricity or slickness of the tip. Generally a saw blade with titanium in the tips can be fed faster. The other side of this is that titanium saw tips handle heat differently than tungsten carbide saw tips. Tungsten carbide saw tips tend to put the heat of cutting into the tip. Pure titanium carbide saw tips tend to put the heat of cutting into the material being cut.
In our early experiments with pure titanium carbide or titanium carbonitride saw tips we found that people develop a good, steady feed rate based on the saw blades they have been using. If you are using a blade with titanium in the tips you might want to consider adjusting your feed rate up a little. The blade should be able to handle it and you should get better cuts.
I don’t know the exact chemistry of the Freud tips. However, when we did the pioneering research in this, we used various percentages of Titanium and Tungsten and the above facts held true all the way across. As the percentage of titanium increases you see more or the effect and vice versa.
Just so I am clear, this is not meant as a criticism of Freud in anyway. There was discussion here with two differing viewpoints and this is an attempt to explain how both sides were accurate in their assessments.