Question about blades for SawStop

[Robert Engel]

Well, unfortunately one of my favorite blades (Freud glue line 30T) can't be used b/c of shoulders, as well as my Dadonator set.

I'm currently using a Forrest WWII 40T and a few other blades, all of which have been re-sharpened several times and I think for this reason I can't get the brake adjusted close enough. I have read that some blades aren't actual 10" but in metric.

On these 2 or 3 blades I kind of quit checking the gap distance and just change the blades, figuring the increased gap would cause delay in braking maybe milliseconds? I know that is probably stupid thinking, I'm just too cheap to spend $300 on new blades just yet and I literally just had them sharpened.

This may be a question for SawStop, just looking for other's feelings about this before I start buying new blades.

And on that subject, any comments or opinions on SawStop blades? The stock blade that came with the saw is not so great.

[Jim Dwight]

Robert, if the gap is too large your SawStop will not start. You will get a flashing light but I don't remember what code it gives, the manual will say. If the saw starts, then the gap between the blade and the shoe of the cartridge is OK. I think I have only one resharpened blade in my stack of blades but my sawstop will use it when I adjust the gap for it. If you run out of adjustment on the cartridge position then you either have to run in bypass mode or replace the blade.

I may not strictly follow SawStops instruction about "shoulders" on blades. I am not 100% sure what they are talking about and I don't think it should affect the brake function much if at all. I agree with you that the blade mine came with is not so great. I use Freud blades almost exclusively. They are inexpensive enough I don't usually get them re-sharpened. I do not use any dado blade at the moment but I would not use one with full circle chippers, however. That one makes sense to me. But the "shoulders" argument does not. My only cartridge activation was with a dado stack and I would not have wanted the cartridge to stop any slower. Much less mass in a normal blade, especially the thin kerf I normally use.

[Darrell Bade]

Guess I don't know what a shoulder is. I run a Freud glue line rip blade on my ICS. My ICS is 13 years old, don't remember ever reading about blades with shoulders but I must admit I haven't looked at the manual in 13 years.

[glenn bradley]

Guess I don't know what a shoulder is. I run a Freud glue line rip blade on my ICS. My ICS is 13 years old, don't remember ever reading about blades with shoulders but I must admit I haven't looked at the manual in 13 years.

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[Justin Rapp]

I agree with what Jim says. The saw won't start if the gap is too big, or if there is no blade in the saw. However, you invested in a SawStop. If one blade is no longer usable, it's the cost of safety. If you want a blade that is going to last you a long time, take a look at the Forrest WWII. They have a 30t thin kerf rip blade, model WW10307100. They also have a full kerf model. The blades are amazing and if you send back to Forrest for sharpening service, you should get a fair number of sharpening out of it. When I bought my first blade, it was at a woodworking show 13 or 14 years or so back. The rep at the show told me I should get 10 or 11 sharpenings before the blade is ready to replace. One of my blades is has been sharpened about 7 or so times and runs fine in my sawstop.

btw- I do have a full kerf flat cut frued rip blade that has shoulders. I run it in my saw stop to cut box joints and also used it to cut slots dado's for box and drawer bottoms when I don't feel like changing out the brake for a few quick cuts. However in this application, the blade is either protected in my ibox jig or not a through cut so the chances of skin contact are further reduced.

[Johnny Barr]

I can understand not using full size chippers on dados (I use the Dewalt set which is on their approved list) as the extra weight would make it harder to stop but I also mainly use Freud blades and I have had an activation (metal contact) on one of their general purpose blades that does have shoulders (I think I know what that means but I'm not sure) and it was lightning fast. If that was my finger then I'd be confident not to see blood. I was more concerned with changing my pants.

[Jim Dwight]

I have only had one activation as I think I mentioned above and it was with a dado set. My hand was thrown into the blade because of kick back. Totally my stupid decision. But the fact that my hand was moving very quickly caused a broken bone, 6 stitches, and some lingering nerve damage. My point is just that I think the primary variable affecting the degree of damage is how fast your hand is moving when it contacts the blade. Not so much shoulders on the blade. I think damage will be relatively minor except for something like kickback where your body is moving unusually quickly. I'd love to see data but my guess is dado setups, especially a full stack, are going to stop slower. Thin kerf, because of mass, quicker.

[Darrell Bade]

Well I guess after looking at my glue line rip blade I see what a shoulder is. I dug the manual out for my 13 year old ICS. No mention in it about shoulders or specific dados, just says use ordinary blades or 8" dado sets. All this stuff must have been added sometime in the last 13 years. It is what it is today, just glad I don't have brain fade from reading that at one time and forgetting it 🧐.

[Justin Rapp]

I was curious to see if the specs for ICS were different regarding shoulders. On sawstop's web site, the current owners manual for the ICS does have the same warnings. It recommends not using them as it can take longer for the saw to stop. That is personal choice after that I guess.

[Roger Feeley]

It’s funny you should ask. I emailed Amana recently about this very subject. Most of my blades are Amana and they run a bit small. here’s their reply:

Thank you for your email. The Amana saw blades are manufactures at our plant in Israel and with the exception of the Amana Miter /Double Miter saw blades(which are Imperial dimensions) they are all in Metric dimensions. The 10" saw blades are 250mm and the Dado sets are 8" diameter, you are correct. If you are looking for the imperial size saw blades you will need to purchase our AGE Series saw blades as they are all Imperial sized blades except for a few blades that are in millimeters. I will copy a link to our web page below. To my knowledge there is not any movement in the industry to conform to any standard.

https://agecuttingtools.com/products/saw-blades.html