Saw blade for Hardieboard

[Ben Helmich]

I need to rip a sheet of hardie board into strips. I do not want to buy a sawblade. This is a one time deal. I’d rather use one of my old cheap blades. What kind of old saw blade should I use? A high tooth count or low tooth count?

[Mike Kees]

Ben definitely the lower count blade. I just purchased a blade for my skilsaw (7 1/4") the other day, it only has four teeth.

[Jamie Hoskins]

Yep, less teeth is better. I think I used a 24 tooth on my tablesaw as it was an old blade and it worked fine. 18 or less would be even better.

Wear a good mask, that stuff is terrible for you.

[Alex Zeller]

The last time I did it I bought one of those cut off wheels for cement that fit a circular saw for dirt cheap at the local hardware store. I used a circular saw that I had kicking around forever and I wetted the sheet down with water and it was still like a cloud of dust. I came to the conclusion that all I needed to do was cut one side just deep enough to cut the fiberglass and then it can be snapped like sheetrock, but that was cement board. I think with Hardie board you'll need to cut all the way through. I did try with an old carbide blade but the small pieces of cement were flying everywhere. Maybe Hardie board will cut better with an old saw blade.

[Richard Coers]

Yep, less teeth is better. I think I used a 24 tooth on my tablesaw as it was an old blade and it worked fine. 18 or less would be even better.

Wear a good mask, that stuff is terrible for you.
You cut fiber cement board on a table saw? That can't be good for the trunion or elevation gears!

[Jamie Hoskins]

You cut fiber cement board on a table saw? That can't be good for the trunion or elevation gears!

It was 3 rips about 3' long each. I wanted them to be exact. I have also cut aluminum using a non-ferrous blade. I don't know if it will cause issues or not, but I don't do enough of it to get too worried about it.

[Richard Coers]

It was 3 rips about 3' long each. I wanted them to be exact. I have also cut aluminum using a non-ferrous blade. I don't know if it will cause issues or not, but I don't do enough of it to get too worried about it.
Aluminum is way different than cement board. Not much dust to get in the gears and trunion grooves with aluminum.

[Jared Sankovich]

I cut hardie backer with a 4.5" angle grinder running a $8 diamond blade.

[Ken Krawford]

Don't forget to wear a mask. You don't want to inhale that dust !

[Jon Grider]

Utility knife...score several times and snap off. The dust is not as big factor. Use a table top edge as a fulcrum when snapping. Maybe this is n/a for your application.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Get a shear. No dust, fast and accurate.

https://www.murdochs.com/globalassets/hlr-system/product/hard-goods/manufacturer/b-manu/b-dp/products/dewalt-864420-dcs498b/product-photos-s7/dewalt-864420-dcs498b-main.jpg/DesktopPdpHeroImage

[Ben Helmich]

Well, fudge. That didn’t work. Used an old non carbide combination blade on the cabinet saw. Apparently was smaller than the riving knife. Removed the riving knife. Seems like the blade got hot and quit cutting. Quit feeding. Teeth were turning red. Dust collection was great, though. Made one rip with the skill saw. It cut, but was way too dusty for the garage shop. I’m done with this little experiment. Just gonna go my some cheap trim boards for my deer stand. Thought I could trim it out and make it last longer for a $50 sheet of hardie board. Live and learn.

[Bill Dufour]

I use a little HF 4" skilsaw with a water hookup. The slurry quickly flows and hides any lines you try to follow. I did make a few outlet box cuts with a router in a template so I did not have to see what I did. Clouds of dust and a shower after. The 4x8 sheets were the closest I could match to 70's masonite pannels that was all going to be painted anyway?
Bill D.

After I was done I realized I should have set up a sprinkler downwind to bring down the blowing dust.

[Jim Becker]

I had to put a 4" hole thorough our Hardiboard siding a year or so ago to relocate a dryer vent. I went through two hole saws before resorting to my Festool Jigsaw and several additional blades. That's for a cut of just the circumference of a 4" circle through about 1/4" of material. Nasty stuff to cut...you really need tooling appropriate for cement board. And no way would I do this on my table saw for the reasons already mentioned.

[Mike Kees]

The saw blades made for it use industrial diamond teeth.

[Justin Rapp]

hardiboard can be cut with a hardiboard scoring tool and snap it like sheet rock. 10 bux at the big box stores

[Dave Sabo]

Seems like false economy your not wanting to spend 30 bucks on a dedicated blade to cut something you paid about the same for.



https://www.amazon.com/D0704DH-Diablo-4-Inch-4-Tooth-Polycrystalline/dp/B00155SPKQ/ref=asc_df_B00155SPKQ/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309807921328&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14963106952069149038&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9010956&hvtargid=pla-583271955591&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0856RR3RR/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B0856RR3RR&pd_rd_w=4F1nJ&pf_rd_p=f0355a48-7e73-489a-9590-564e12837b93&pd_rd_wg=8MMi0&pf_rd_r=R3P56N6GTRR11R6CFY32&pd_rd_r=f6f8352b-4da2-4d8f-a4ef-e16cf5d0506a&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyUEtQWU1EN1RYQjFKJ mVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwOTgwMzM2MUdQTVYwSTRPVjdNUiZlbmN yeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMTA3MjY2MVlDWTZaWERPS0dUWiZ3aWRnZ XROYW1lPXNwX2RldGFpbF90aGVtYXRpYyZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2t SZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

[Adam Herman]

score / snap. the dewalt carbide utility knife blades work well. or a jig saw with a Dimond grit blade for not straight cuts. blade seems to last fine.

[Jack Frederick]

You say you want it to be precise. Scoring and snapping will leave a rough edge that will have to be sanded/filed. The diamond wheel on the angle grinder will work well, but you will not get a smooth edge unless you are really good with it. The hardi blade is your best bet for a finished edge.

[Ben Helmich]

That Diablo blade was $47 at my local home depot when I needed it. It was a one time use for me. I paid about the same for the sheet of Hardie. So, no, I didn't want to spend the extra $47 and Amazon didn't fit the schedule. And that blade wouldn't fit my table saw. Not worried about damaging the saw cutting one sheet of Hardie one time. Was more worried about the mess.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

That Diablo blade was $47 at my local home depot when I needed it. It was a one time use for me. I paid about the same for the sheet of Hardie. So, no, I didn't want to spend the extra $47 and Amazon didn't fit the schedule. And that blade wouldn't fit my table saw. Not worried about damaging the saw cutting one sheet of Hardie one time. Was more worried about the mess.

For your hunting blind trim, forget the Hardie and get a stick of LP Smartside to work with. It's basically water resistant OSB, really tough stuff. Our siding jobs are 10 to 1 LP vs Hardie now, and I'm very happy about it. Cut it with normal tools, just sawdust. Paint the cut edge and forget about it for decades.

For those of you you haven't used a shear on Hardie, you are missing out. I won't allow our guys to cut the dang stuff with a saw unless its the very last option and dust is collected because it's such nasty stuff to breath. That shear I posted a pic of solves all of that. Also if you rip Hardie into smaller strips, it becomes even more fragile.