regular or thin kerf?

[Garth Keel]

In the process of downsizing, I now have a 2 hp hybrid table saw instead of a 5hp w/router. my question is: do I need to switch from regular to thin kerf blades?

[John Lankers]

No, I wouldn't.
Just listen to the saw and adjust your feedrate accordingly.
Edit: Keeping your sawblades sharp and clean makes a big difference too.

[Art Mann]

I would only go to a thin kerf blade if the saw didn't perform well with a full kerf blade. I will say this. I have a 1.5 hp contractor saw and when I switched to TK blades, it felt like I had swapped it for a 3 hp cabinet saw. Some people say that a TK blade will vibrate and give you a poor cut, even with a sharp blade. That has not been my experience.Even so, I would still prefer standard blades if I had a more powerful saw.

[Prashun Patel]

They say the new thin kerfs are pretty stable relative to their ancestors.

That being said, i would personally start with full kerf and just get a good proper ripping blade for rips, not a combo.

[Scott Cenicola]

That being said, i would personally start with full kerf and just get a good proper ripping blade for rips, not a combo.

This. I used to work mostly with pine, but my taste has moved up to cherry and maple. Tried using my 60t combo on 3/4 maple and the rip cut was terrible. I figured try the stock 40t rip blade couldn't be any worse so I gave it a try. Significantly better with just the stock Grizzly blade. Now I'm in the market for higher quality dedicated rip and cross cut blades.

[Jim Becker]

Thin kerf blades may be a little more efficient for the lower power saw, but not enough that I would remotely consider replacing existing full kerf blades and the cost involved doing that. If you were starting from scratch, I might recommend differently, but for downsizing...keep your tooling and enjoy it.

[Garth Keel]

Thin kerf blades may be a little more efficient for the lower power saw, but not enough that I would remotely consider replacing existing full kerf blades and the cost involved doing that. If you were starting from scratch, I might recommend differently, but for downsizing...keep your tooling and enjoy it.



Thanks for the input. Good things to consider,

[Myk Rian]

I have a 1.75hp Steel City. It doesn't care what blade I use.
The .75hp RAS is a different story.

[richard poitras]

Full kerf would be my vote.

[Lee Schierer]

I routinely use full kerf blades on my 1-1/2 Hp contractor saw and cut maple and cherry with no problems using dedicated rip and 60 tooth cross cut blades by Freud. A 2 Hp saw should have no problems, but may cut a bit slower than the super Hp saws. The saw needs to be well tuned to get cuts that are high quality and burn free.

[Ray Newman]

If your saw has a riving knife or a splitter, will the thin kerf blade provide a wide enough kerf to feed the stock without binding on the riving knife or splitter?

[scott spencer]

I wouldn't replace without justification. If your current 1/8" full kerf blades are good quality, are sharp, and are suitable for a given task, I'd use 'em. When it comes time to replace with a new blade, consider a good quality 3/32" TK then.

[Mac McQuinn]

I used to have issues in the basement w/ a 1.75hp Jet Contractor saw, kept popping breakers. I went to a Mitsushita TK and problems disappeared. I moved everything into the garage and stuck with the TK, I really enjoyed how well it cut and didn't bother to switch back to a full cut. "0" vibration, a lot less dust to catch and cut was very smooth.
Mac

[keith wootton]

matsushita not mitsushita. +1 for another happy w/ thin kerf. forrest for me though. only makes sense to switch if you are having issues. keith

[Jim Dwight]

My table saw is a Ryobi BT3100 with a 15A universal motor. So not very powerful. I have both full kerf and thin kerf blades and can see very little difference. As has been mentioned, it is MUCH more important to have the right kind of blade on the saw, and that it be clean and sharp. With a clean and relatively sharp Freud 32 tooth ripping blade, full kerf, I can rip 3 1/2 inch hardwoods with my little Ryobi. I have to move a little slow but can push steadily through the cut. I would definitely use full kerf blades on a 2hp saw.

[Phillip Gregory]

In my experience the only times you will really notice thin kerf vs. full kerf are:

1. When using a relatively underpowered saw. I have seen zero difference in performance with using thin vs. full kerf blades on my 3 hp cabinet saw even when doing something ugly like ripping 2 1/2 or 3" thick rock-hard old, dry oak. However I also have a late-1980s ~1 hp Craftsman 10" iron CMS that will certainly let you know you tried to cut through something larger than about a 1x4 with a full-kerf blade.

2. You will run into issues using a thin-kerf blade if you have a tablesaw with a splitter or riving knife designed for full-kerf blades. You will bind up and the results are not that enjoyable.

3. Thin kerf blades tend to be less expensive than full-kerf blades. For example, Freud's Diablo line are all thin kerf; you have to pay about 50% more to get a regular-line Freud blade that is full kerf. Ditto with pretty well everything you pick up at a BORG being thin-kerf only. The DeWalt, Irwin, etc. blades there are invariably thin-kerf only.

[Roy Turbett]

If your saw has a riving knife or a splitter, will the thin kerf blade provide a wide enough kerf to feed the stock without binding on the riving knife or splitter?

I had that problem with my 3 hp Unisaw and Biesmeyer splitter. I couldn't use the splitter with the thin kerf blade for the reason you site. However, it wasn't a problem with my 5 hp Industrial Sawstop and riving knife because the riving knife on the Sawstop isn't as wide. I used a Freud Diablo thin kerf rip blade to trim a 2 1/4" hard maple workbench top from a school shop without a problem until I hit a nail some kid had buried. Fortunately I had the saw in bypass mode.

[Allan Speers]

I agree with everyone else, but one thing to note:

These days, the term "thin kerf" is not so clear. 10" blades come in all sorts of thicknesses. Freud thin-kerfs are around 0.091, but I've seen some high quality ones (Tenryu) as thin as 0.075. My 10" Onsrud "thin Kerf" combination blade is 0.098 - yet the Forrest Woodworker I (standard kerf) is only 0.100, and Infinity tools offers a "standard-kerf" rip blade at only .097. The Forrest Woodworker II is 0.125, so that's getting up there, and quite a few industrial 10" are 0.130 and thicker, but also a lot of "standard kerf" carbide-tipped blades are only ~ 0.110,

- So you might want to pay close attention, and get something in the 0.100 - 0.110" range.

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Given the large swing in thicknesses available, that question about splitters is really pretty interesting.