Has anyone ever actually measured blade flex?

[Rich Engelhardt]

I see it - blade flex - mentioned quite a bit.
Usually when discussing miter saws.
I got to wondering if anyone ever took the time to actually measure how much force it takes to flex a blade and by how much?

[Jeff Duncan]

There's a lot of factors that will play into it, the simplest being the size and thickness of the blade. But if you go and push on say a 12" blade mounted on your miter saw, you'll see it flex with minimal effort. I honestly don't know if anyones ever measured it as I can't see much need for that type of information? Of course if you have a chop saw, some measuring equipment, and a little free time......:D

good luck,
jeffD

[Joe Jensen]

It seems to me that if you have a sharp enough blade and you are letting the blade do the work and not forcing it, blade flex is not a concern. Am I missing something?

[Tom Walz]

Yes,

People make careers out of it.

One way is slow motion photography but it is tough to see a saw blade buried in the cut. You can spin a blade without cutting and get some idea. Typically cut quality is meaured. Good saw mills monitor cut quality constantly. When things go bad you can get 2x4's that look more like ribbon candy than anything else.

Wood is a terrible thing to have to cut. It has soft spots and really hard spots. It moves, and flexes, and twists and pinches. It constantly wants to shove the sawblade off straight.

It is a constant battle to make a blade that is as thin as possible and yet stiff enough to cut straight. If you figure that making the cut width (kerf) 0.001" thinner can mean an additional profit of $50,000 annually to a Weyerhaeuser saw mill then you can see why there is so much research.

The saw industry very badly needs better steel. We can build saws with ceramic tips that can run much longer than carbide but the steel won't stand up.

Good saw steel has to be imported because we don't make it in the US.