Makita Miter Saw Blades

[Justin Rapp]

So - I am 99% sure I know the answer to this, however I upgraded my 20 year old dewalt miter saw to a Makita LS1219L SCMS. The blade that came with the saw is a 60t Makita blade that seems 1/2 way decent. I am so used to seeing low tooth count general purpose blades as the stock blade in a miter saw.

I was going to immediately swap out the blade to a Freud 72T Thin Kerf Sliding Compound Miter Saw Blade that has a neg 5deg rake. The blade in my old miter saw is a freud 80t, and while it's been recently sharpened, I have no clue what the rake is on it and figure it will go to whoever buys my old saw.

My first project for this saw is redoing a significant amount of the molding in my house. (It will be painted Poplar).

So the ultimate question if anyone has experience with this blade, how does it hold up, how well does it cut, etc. Or swap it for a known entity.

[John Kananis]

I'm pretty sure that Tenryu makes the blades for makita. If it is a Tenryu, they make quality blades. No experience with that saw through.

[Rich Engelhardt]

My Makita 10" cordless track saw blade is every bit the equal to the blade that was on my Festool TS55EQ.

[Dave Sweeney]

I got many years of service out of the blade that came with my 10" Makita slider. I think that you will not be disappointed with that 12" blade.

[Jonathan Jung]

I have the exact same saw. The blade is made in China. I checked the runout on it and it's similar to Tenryu, Freud, Dewalt (UK-made), which I also use. It cuts very well. I put it on my dedicated trim saw (non-sliding) and cut some 5" wide joints in 8/4 walnut this week. It cut straight and true, monitoring feed speed.

On your saw, does it make a straight cut through the sliding motion? Mine cuts an arc, concave to the left side of the cut. Also the fence on mine is not flat, so I get a different cut whether I cut off the left hand side or right hand side.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Makita 10" 80 tooth blades are among my very favorite blades. I can't buy them locally, so we use the freuds you mentioned. They are ok. I dislike 12" scms, especially when they are burdened with thin kerf blades. Just too much deflection. A 10" blade of the same design is so much stiffer. The freud deflects like the rest of them. Personally if I'm cutting something precise, I use one of the old trusty 10" saws and leave the 12's for carpentry.

[Justin Rapp]

Thanks all - i'll use the current blade for now and see how it goes. All the wood just showed up this morning! :)