Saw blade choice

[Greg Labacz]

I have a ryobi bt3100 saw and am doing some resawing on it because I have a small bandsaw which won't work. When I resaw using my combo blade with 50 teeth I get burn marks so I am thinking of getting a new blade. Everything I have read on the subject says I need a rip blade with 24 to 30 teeth, but, I also read that on a saw 2hp or lower i should think of a thin kerf blade to help the underpowered saw. Any suggestions and help would be appreciated.

Greg

[Neil Brooks]

Are the burn marks on BOTH sides of the cut ?

That could indicate alignment issues, if they're only on ONE side.

In any case, I'd FIRST try to slow your feed rate WAY down.....

[Kent A Bathurst]

What species?

[Bill Huber]

I am running a 1 1/2 hp Jet Contractor saw and my rip blade is a Freud 30 tooth glue line and I also have a Freud 24 tooth heavy duty rip blade that I use when I really don't need the glue line and are just ripping up lumber.

There have been a lot of post on thin and full kerf and at this point I really can not say which one is the best. All I can say is my saw does just fine and I get great cuts with the full kerf blades.

If you do a little searching on thin and full kerf blades, here on the Creek I think you can find a lot of info.

[scott spencer]

For resawing you'd do better with a good 24T thin kerf FTG blade like the Freud LU87, Infinity 010-124, DeWalt Precision Trim DW7124PT, CMT Orange 202.024.10, CMT ITK 250.024.10, etc. The Forrest WWII 30T TK might also work well...it'll leave a smoother edge but will be more prone to burn and labor the saw. A full kerf blade is 33% wider, and thus takes more power to spin....I think your saw is a prime candidate for a good quality TK blade.

Your 50T blade should be good for most other applications if it's a decent blade....be sure it's clean and sharp.

[Mitch Barker]

I have a thin kerf 24T Freud rip blade that i use on my old rockwell contractors saw. About 40 bucks at woodcraft. It glides thru the wood with no burning. I have a forrest WWII TK which i thought i could use for ripping, but the freud puts the WWII to shame. Surprisingly, crosscuts are pretty good too.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I am running a 1 1/2 hp Jet Contractor saw and my rip blade is a Freud 30 tooth glue line and I also have a Freud 24 tooth heavy duty rip blade that I use when I really don't need the glue line and are just ripping up lumber.

I run the same setup w/my Ridgid TS3660 and so far have no issues.

However - I believe if I were going to resaw w/it (the TS3660), I'd get a TK blade sans the glue line feature.
If for no other reason, the thinner kerf = less waste.
BTW - Amazon has the Freud LU87R010 right now for about $40.00 - I just ordered one.

[John TenEyck]

After using a top end Freud full thickness ripping blade on my 1 HP Sears saw for quite awhile I tried a thin kerf Freud Diablo ripping blade, which was maybe half the price. Amazing difference. The TK just zips through most anything with noticably less strain on the motor, and the surface finish is comparable to the FK blade. Crosscuts are surprisingly good as well, so I leave the blade on for most work unless I want really high quality crosscuts. Cheap and good is rare, but so it seems.

[Myk Rian]

I use a TK 7 1/4" 24 tooth Freud blade to rip the stock on both edges. That makes it easy to finish it on the band saw. If you can't rip that on the BS, use a ripping hand saw. Those initial kerf cuts make it easy, and act as guides.

[Greg Labacz]

I got the thin kerf 24T Freud rip blade friday from Amazon and put it on my saw, man what a difference !!!! It glides through wood like butter with no burn marks, I can also hear a difference in the sound of the motor ( less stress??).

[Kent A Bathurst]

..... less stress..........

Exactly - except in this instance, stress is defined as friction.

You have half as many teeth in play, and it's a safe bet that the design of the teeth is also different - you will most likely see a rougher cut surface than with your 50t combo. The 24t blade is designed to get wood the heck out of the cut, while the 50t combo is balancing that with a nice, clean cut.

The kerf thickness contributes as well, but my thinking is that #teeth and tooth design are bigger contributors to reduced stress/friction than the kerf.