Why a lot of fuzz for table saw blade coating?

[Osvaldo Cristo]

I have used a lot of different blades in my table saws for the last (almost) three decades. I am not a heavy user, so I have limited to medium quality blades from Bosch and Makita with very good results. Although I also have used DeWalt and Irwin, they are in a lower league, IMHO.

Last year I purchased my first Freud blade. This year I purchased two more. Guy, those stuff are in a complete different class by themselves! Precise, clean, silent and robust. Beautiful also!

Although I am plenty glad with them, I cannot understand the Marketing fuzz they use to promote their red coating on the plate. The teeth are 1/8" wide and the plate with the coating is thinner. If it used with appropriate technique I would expect your piece of wood will never touch the plate, so why the reason for coating such blades? Perhaps for thinner blades used on hand power saws (like Diablo series) it could be useful but I cannot see the purpose for the coating over the plate for such heavy duty saw blades.

It is not an exclusivity from Freud. Other blade manufacturers also uses the same argumentation... am I loosing anything?

Thanks in advance for your time to help educate me.

[Steve Eure]

I may be wrong, but I believe it is to reduce friction on the wood. Helps to keep it from binding.

[Jim Becker]

Steve, the problem I have with the friction theory is that the part of the blade that is coated "shouldn't" ever be touching the wood since it's thinner than the tooth width. They may be easier to keep clean, however,

[Bruce Wrenn]

Send them out to be sharpened, and there is a chance they will come back with no coating. Sears originally started this with their chrome blades. I forget the exact name they used. Main purpose of a coating is to prevent rust and pitch build up.

[marty fretheim]

Probably just a pure marketing thing. Red looks racier!

Marty

[Mark Bolton]

If you look at any blade that sees heavy use there is contact and buildup on the plate. If nothing else the coating helps when there "is' contact and then makes it easier to clean off.

I agree with Bruce they a lot of sharpening outfits have a spinning table with belted abrasives to clean the plate as opposed to cleaning them in a solvent soak. We clean our coated blades ourselves before we send them off and tell them not to abrasive the plate.

If you look at forest blades they are not coated.

I agree with Osvaldo that the Freuds are great and can be had for a bargain often times. They are one of our goto blades but we are not so delicate with them so price as compared to forest and the other higher end blades is an issue.

[Clint Baxter]

Interesting thing is that most of Freud’s Industrial blades have no coating. There are a few offerings with their red non-stick coating, but the vast majority come with nothing more than some of their lettering. As such, probably safe to call it marketing. A quick look also noted that most of those coated industrial blades were either thin kerf versions or plywood/melamine blades. Maybe those applications might be more likely to benefit from the coating.

Clint

[Martin Wasner]

Probably just a pure marketing thing. Red looks racier!

Marty

Winner winner

[johnny means]

Actually, when cutting wood the blade will always be contacting the material. Even in a perfectly adjusted set-up with a perfectly a true blade that never deflects the sawdust from the cut is consistently swirling through the space between the wood and the blade body. This is espesically a problem with thicker material and material with adhesives in them. Eventually, like exhaust on a city car, this stuff begins to stick and build up, further shrinking the gap thus increasing friction. A well machined and lubed blade will cut better for longer than a not so well machined blade. IMO coatings are a way to mimic the effects of better machining.

[Rick Potter]

Ever rip pressure treated or wet 2 X 6's? Saw dust and chips stick to the blade body like glue.

[Larry Edgerton]

I wish I lived in that perfect world where the material never touches the blade.

For a cheap blade the Frueds do a good job, definitely good value. They started that a long time ago on their high end cutoff blades that had almost no clearance, they were black at first. Then Freud went discount store, although they do still have an industrial line that is pretty good.

Me, I like the coating. There is no downside, its stops rust, if you live in a world where the wood touches the blank, less friction, easy to clean, especially when you cut foam. Use them on site tools, would say they are above average for that. I have no control of moisture on site, so the no rust thing is big in this climate. Also I like the red blade, really stands out for safety.

[Mark Bolton]

Interesting thing is that most of Freud’s Industrial blades have no coating. There are a few offerings with their red non-stick coating, but the vast majority come with nothing more than some of their lettering. As such, probably safe to call it marketing. A quick look also noted that most of those coated industrial blades were either thin kerf versions or plywood/melamine blades. Maybe those applications might be more likely to benefit from the coating.

Clint

A lot of our goto day to day blades are all Freud industrials. All full kerf. And all coated and red. I wouldn't be so concerned about the coating, its being able to buy a full kerf, thick plate, heavy carbide, blade for under a hundred bucks when you find them right. We have much more expensive blades that we use on occasion but the Freud Industrials are on our stuff the most.

[scott spencer]

I've got several blades with coatings and several without....all stored in an open rack in an unheated garage. The uncoated blades are far more prone to oxidation than the coated ones. Seeing a $120 WWII blade or a $95 Gold Medal blade with black oxidation marks bothers me some. The coated blades do seem easier to clean, but that's not much of an incentive to me, but the corrosion resistance is a big plus IMO.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Many of Freud's industrial blade have their "Silver Ice" coating, instead of the red. Dado sets came in both silver,or black