12" Rip Blade For Softwoods

[Joe Wood]

I need a real nice rip blade, mainly for western red cedar 2x and 4x. I don't want a thin kerf!

I'm looking at the Freud Glue Line Rip. I see Triple Chip, and Heavy Duty?
https://www.google.com/search?q=Freud+Glue+Line+Rip&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=Freud+Glue+Line+Rip+12%22&tbm=shop

I see 30 and 24 tooth blades, what's a good choice for me? Doesn't have to be Freud.

[Joe Wood]

So does anyone have any suggestions for me??

[John Lanciani]

You definitely don't wand the Freud glue line rip, its only recommended for 1" thickness or less. For 2"+ softwood I'd be looking for an 18 to 24 tooth flat ground 1/8" kerf ripping blade.

[John Lankers]

Because of the fibrous nature of softwood (cedar in particular) I personally would chose a blade with lower tooth count and the "glue line" cut quality has a lot to do with feed rate. I have no personal experience with the Freud Glue Line Rip blade. Make sure you have a riving knife or splitter installed, this stuff can corkscrew on you.
As a side note, for certain projects I find it better to rip on the bandsaw and then run it through the planer.

[Bill White]

Where I worked, we ripped heart pine which was resinous big time and tough on blades.
We went to the Freud "silver coated" rip blade with 18 tpi IIRC. Worked like a champ. Cut down resin build up on the plate, cut very smoothly, and held its edge well.
Look it up.
Bill

[Dave Cav]

You might try the Oshlun SBW-120028. It's available on Amazon, not very expensive, and a pretty good general purpose rip blade. I have one, purchased back in 2009, for my Delta 12/14" table saw. You won't find as big a selection of dedicated rip blades in 12" as you will in 10" as most people don't have 12" table saws, but they are out there. Oshlun blades probably aren't quite as high quality as some of the high dollar blades, but I have several of them and have been happy with them.

[Joe Wood]

Oh I wish I could rip on the bandsaw sometimes but some of the pieces are 10 12' long 2x12!

so I went with the Oshlun 28 tooth! Going to be much better then what I've been using.Looks like a nice blade, thanks for the recommendation Dave!

[Steve Demuth]

Oh I wish I could rip on the bandsaw sometimes but some of the pieces are 10 12' long 2x12!

How does being a 12' long 2X12 mean you can't rip on a bandsaw? What am I missing?

[Joe Wood]

well I have a pretty shakey 8' x 2' OSB I can stand up as an infeed table .. what type infeed outfeed setup do you have??

[Jim Becker]

My rip blade is a Forrest WW-II in a ripping configuration. While mine is 10" and 20T because I bought it when I still had my cabinet saw, I still use it on my 12" blade capacity slider for "those times" when I need to deal with thick stock efficiently.

[Steve Demuth]

well I have a pretty shakey 8' x 2' OSB I can stand up as an infeed table .. what type infeed outfeed setup do you have??

I built extension tables about 4' long that bolt to the bandsaw table to use when doing long Rosaes and rips in volume. I can augment those with roller stands. But if I'm just doing a board or two, it's not worth the time attaching the tables - I just line up multiple roller stands. If the table is 20" or so deep, then stands at 2' and 6' from the table, indeed and outfeed, will handle 10' rips nicely.

[Joe Wood]

Well, that Oshlun 28 tooth is giving me the worst rips I've ever experienced .. It sure looks nice, copper plugs in expansion joints, nice hefty blade body,
but terrible ripped edges.

[Dave Cav]

That's unfortunate. Mine works fine; maybe you got a bad one. Maybe send it back to Amazon and ask for another? Could you post a picture of the ripped edges?

[Earl McLain]

I just finished a "farmhouse" table project for our pastor's wife using southern yellow pine (not my choice, but they're the kind of family that will honor the dents & dings as memories). Finished size was 108" x 40", ripped 2 x 12's into 5" wide boards. Could only get about 2 rips between blade cleanings because of the pitch. Switched back & forth between a Freud glue line rip 10" x 24T and an Amana 10" x 20T. I found it hard to tell the difference between the 2 cuts. Left a 40T WW2 on for one rip, and it was not nearly as nice as the other two blades in the softwood. For cherry I tend to favor the Amana, and in oaks & poplar i'd give the Freud a slight edge.

I'd be just fine with NEVER doing another project in pine!!

earl

[Lee Schierer]

I have the 10" Freud Glue line rip blade and it cuts maple at 1-1/4 as well or better than the thin kerf blade that preceded it. I have a Craftsman contracto saw with a 1/5 Hp motor and it handles this blade well.

However, I spent a lot of time aligning my saw so that the fence is parallel to the miter slots as is the blade. Cut quality on rips is highly dependent on blade alignment.