low rake angle blades for RAS- hard to find

[Lynn Kasdorf]

I was given a craftsman 10" radial arm saw (man, these things are everywhere for next to nothing) and I want to set it up for doing construction cutting of barn siding, and other misc framing crosscuts. Any ripping will be on done the table saw. Ripping on a RAS is too scary for me!

On my other RAS (a monster walker turner) I use a zero rake angle blade, and it works great- little tendency to grab and come hurtling towards the operator. Of course the moving part has the mass of a small car, so it takes quite a bit to accellerate it...anyway...

I figured I'd stop by the borg and pick up a couple cheap 10" ras blades. The problem is- I didn't see a single blade on their wall that had a zero degree rake angle. In fact, none of the blades mentioned a RAS (I guess these have been completely OSHA'd out of existance and they don't sell blades for RAS anymore because everybody has dutifully discarded their RAS at the request of OSHA).

Am I going to have to go to a "real" brand of blade (read- expensive) in order to get one that is relatively safe on a RAS? I was hoping for a cheapie since it is going to see quite a bit of wear.

[Dave Falkenstein]

Amana has some RAS blades, surely less costly than Forrest:

http://www.amanatool.com/blades-fv/ra1024.html

[Charles McCracken]

SCMS blades are usually a good bet for RAS when they have low or negative hook angles and should be readily available in the Big Box stores.

[scott spencer]

Ebay often has a decent selection at good prices if you don't want to spend much, 'cept you can't browse and carry it home with you...

[JayStPeter]

I think the Forrest WWI is specifically made for RAS. It has a 5* hook angle. Most blades made for miter saws have low/negative hook angles. There should be tons of choices, even at the big box, for low/negative hook blades made for miter saws. For the purposes you stated, I personally wouldn't get too hung up on the exact angle being zero.
As far as cheapies for my MS, I like the Dewalt construction blades. They seem to split the difference well between really cheap blades and premium, while still residing on the cheaper end of the cost scale. I used a 60 tooth version to build my deck and was quite happy with the quality of cut not being too ragged for the occasional exposed edges while still cutting quick and not getting too bogged down in PT. It also worked extremely well for my composite decking and vinyl railings. It happens to have a 5* hook angle just like the WWI.

Jay

[Pete Harbin]

Like Charles said, SCMS blades usually have a low or negative angle hook. I've seen them at HD or Lowes.

Pete