Need help with miter saw blade

[Louis Brandt]

Hello,
I just bit the bullet and bought the DeWalt DW716 12 inch double bevel CMS. It’s available at Lowe’s with a $50 gift card rebate.
Being somewhat of a newbie with respect to blades (I do have an old Craftsman RAS), I have a question about the blade that came with the new saw. According to the DeWalt website, the blade that comes with the DW716 is a carbide blade, and on the outside of the carton, it states that a carbide blade is included, but when I look a the blade, it doesn’t have the word "carbide" anywhere on it. I’ve never seen a blade that was carbide that didn’t have the word "carbide" on it.
The blade on the saw is a DeWalt DW3126, and it’s a thin kerf, 60 tooth blade. It’s labeled as "Construction fine finish crosscut". I telephoned DeWalt customer service and was told by a rep that the blade is a C2 carbide tipped blade. I was ready to tell them that I wanted them to ship me a carbide blade to replace what I thought was a non-carbide blade.
Does anyone know how to tell if a blade is carbide if it doesn’t say so on the blade?
Louis

[Scott Thornton]

I don't know if there is a way to tell...however, I would add this...

The blades that come with these saws aren't very high quality, if you're going to be doing any fine cutting, I would recommend an after market blade...

Forrest is the best (on sale at Amazon now), CMT is also very good...or use your gift card and get a good Freud blade...

Manufacturers include blades so you can use the saw out of the box, most aren't worth anything...

[Doug Shepard]

If it's a carbide blade you should be able to see that the teeth aren't stamped out of the same piece of metal as the rest of the blade but welded (brazed ?) onto the saw plate. The carbide teeth would probably have a noticable difference in appearance - sheen or color of the metal - plus they're usually just slightly wider than the plate thickness too.

[Bob Childress]

Louis,

The DW3126 is a carbide blade with a 0 hook angle for finishing cuts. Just run your fingers along the edge of the blade and you will see that they catch on both sides of each tooth, a sure sign that the carbide tips were put on later because they are wider than the plate. On an HSS blade your fingers will tend to "catch" on only one side of the point at each tooth, not both sides.:)

[Greg Koch]

Hmmm DeWalt "likes" the DW3126....$75

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000DD6QQ/104-4817134-4136765?v=glance&n=228013

I just bought a Forrest ChopMaster at Amazon for my DW706 saw.