Thin kerf blades with 3HP saw

[Aaron Liebling]

I have a bunch of nice thin kerf blades (Freud) that I've been using with my existing (underpowered contractor) saw. I'm finally upgrading to a 3HP sawstop and am wondering whether it's worth it to move to non-thin kerf blades? My work is some panels, but more cutting thick stock (6/4-8/4) for furniture. I'm not doing huge volume, but it's nice to have the cuts as clean off the saw as possible.

I assume for sheet goods, my existing thin kerf plywood blade will work just as well on the new saw, but what about my crosscut and ripping blades? The main issue I know of with thin kerf blades is them potentially not cutting as cleanly/straight in thicker wood. Is the difference enough to justify getting new blades? I also assume I'd want to get all new blades due to riving knife alignment being slightly different for thin versus full kerf blades.

The new saw is enough of an upgrade that it's going to be better in either case, but am I missing out on perfection by not using full kerf blades?

[Lee Schierer]

To use your thin kerf blades you might need a special riving knife. I know the come with a riving knife but do not know how thick it is.

[glenn bradley]

Cutting well milled material with a TK blade is a non-issue. Stabilizers may minimize tooth marks for thicker stock. Some folks run TK rip blades on purpose. I have a collection of TK blades but, moved to full kerf on my 3HP saw.

[Ed Aumiller]

Have a 3hp saw (powermatic) and use both regular and thin kerf blades...
Have not had a problem with the TK blades not cutting straight in thick wood...
Actually use them more than planned to because they do a great job...
Only problem is remembering to adjust fence properly when using them...

[Clark Hussey]

I have a Freud TK Blade I use on my 3 hp sawstop. The rising knife is not an issue.

[Charlie Jones]

I use a Freud Fusion thin kerf for 90 percent of rips and crosscuts on my 3hp Unisaw. I have never had a problem. You can see some fine marks from ripping but I sand anyway.

[Dave Mills]

To use your thin kerf blades you might need a special riving knife. I know the come with a riving knife but do not know how thick it is.

The SawStop riving knife is 2mm thick; thinner than most thin kerf blades.

[ChrisA Edwards]

I have a 3HP Sawstop and use a Forrest Woodworker II thin kerf rip blade. I also bought a thin kerf riving knife from Sawstop directly. It's hard to find it on their website, but they do sell one.

[Aaron Liebling]

Great..sounds like a non-issue. I've generally been super happy with my blades so didn't really want to replace them. Re: sawstop and thin kerf blades/riving knife in general, I also found this:

https://www.trentdavis.net/wp/2019/10/23/thin-kerf-blades-and-riving-knives/

[Paul F Franklin]

I have all full kerf blades, but have used thin kerf in the past and really had no issue with them. The cut that is most likely to show an issue with thin kerf, IMO, is a skimming cut on thick stock. In that situation the forces are all on one side of the blade and the potential for some deflection is greatest.

One point I'd like to make is the advantage of having all your blades have the same kerf. The fence scale is always correct, jigs will work with any blade, the zero clearance insert is always zero clearance and will stay zero clearance. My combo blades, rip blades, plywood blades all have either .125 or .126 kerf, and I find it just saves time knowing they are all the same. Not a huge deal, obviously, but one less thing to have to keep straight.

[Jim Dwight]

I have a 1.75hp PCS and have had some bad experience with tripping the saw's thermal overload relay with full kerf blades. But I am currently making myself a new dresser out of 4/4 cherry and put on a full kerf 50 tooth Infinity all around blade and it is working great.

I tried to use the 2.3mm riving knife with thin kerf Freud blades (using a Fusion or a 24 tooth ripping blade) but I had trouble getting the riving knife positioned so that it did not push on the wood on one side or the other. That makes sense if you look at the thickness of the blade versus the riving knife. 2.3mm is about the thickness of the teeth on a thin kerf blade. Normally the riving knife is the plate thickness, not the tooth thickness. So I bought the 2mm riving knife and will use it with thin kerf blades from now on. They swap easilly. Sawstop only asks $15 for them but shipping pushes it up a little. You have to order them as a part, not an accessory. They are different websites.

I wouldn't think you would need to use a thin kerf on a 3hp saw but no reason you couldn't if you already have the blades. But I would get the 2mm riving knife, I think you will need it. I've used both thin and regular kerf blades for years. Thin kerf need sharpening or replacement quicker but can produce good quality cuts. I'm really impressed with the Fusion. I will need to use thin kerf for challenging cuts on my saw but I am happy that it is working so well with a full kerf at the moment.