Replacement Table Saw Blade

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Dana Fish

Dana Fish

Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2011
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Location
Portland, ME
Hello ... I'm looking for input on a replacement table saw blade. I am mainly looking to trim up some small blocks of wood into usable pen blanks, etc. I only have small craftsman table saw with not a lot of power so I need something that will cut easy. I would like to keep the price reasonable.

Any thoughts?
 
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For most pen blank style cutting, I recommend finding a thin kerf 7 1/2" blade. You will be much more limited on thickness (1-1.5 should be no problem), but it will give you a lot of benefit over a 10" blade.
- Lower $$ (less than $20 for a really decent blade)
- Less power used (thinner kerf = cutting less wood = less power needed)
- Less waste (kerf is about 1/2 that of a thin kerf 10" blade)

For segmenting, I use something similar to this: http://www.amazon.com/Freud-D0760X-...EU0S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299781493&sr=8-1 and by doing so, I can normally segment straight from the saw (no sanding).
 
+1 on a thin kerf blade. I have found that chop saw blades work well. Also look into getting a blade stabilizer. I have a small Craftsman table saw that I did not like when I first got it. Then I put on the stabilizers and the thing would cut straight and true with no wobble in the blade.
 
For general use? 40T is good..

In general:
Lower teeth count for rip
Higher teeth count for crosscut

If you want a combo (rip or crosscut) 40-50 is normal.

Wood Magazine reviewed the top 10" blades under $50. The Rigid 1050c scored the highest. For $49 bucks at the BORG, its a great blade for not much dough.

I had a 40t diablo on my 1979 Crastman saw for 2 years. Worked fine. Some times it would bog in stock over 2"...
 
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A cheaper option.

I have a 36 year old table saw and usually use the Woodworker II from Forrest Mfg. I was told that I could save some wood by using a Freud Diablo blade from Home Depot. It's a 7 1/4" blade and leaves a 1/16" kerf that is pretty darn smooth. I've used it for inlays, squaring blanks and more and it holds up well. It's a carbide tip blade and if you use some stabilizers it is plenty stiff to do most of what we need doin'. I think I paid less than $20 and the Forrest runs nearly $120 so it's a lot easier on the wallet.
WB
 
alphageek said:
For most pen blank style cutting, I recommend finding a thin kerf 7 1/2" blade. You will be much more limited on thickness (1-1.5 should be no problem), but it will give you a lot of benefit over a 10" blade.
- Lower $$ (less than $20 for a really decent blade)
- Less power used (thinner kerf = cutting less wood = less power needed)
- Less waste (kerf is about 1/2 that of a thin kerf 10" blade)

For segmenting, I use something similar to this: http://www.amazon.com/Freud-D0760X-...EU0S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299781493&sr=8-1 and by doing so, I can normally segment straight from the saw (no sanding).
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Definately what he said. I use the D0724x which you can find for under $10. I don't waste my 10" quality blades when cutting pen blanks in bulk.
 
Dana, if I could have just one "good" blade for my tablesaw it would be (for value sake) a Freud 40 tooth ATB combination blade. When I say for value I mean it is a compromise down from a Forrest Woodworker II. With this blade (and it is available in thin kerf) you can perform most cuts (rips or crosscuts) in a wide variety of materials.

However, at $50-70, it may be more than You want to spend .... so .... If all you want to do is rip pen blanks on a small saw, get a thin kerf blade in a small size meant for a portable circular saw (skilsaw). I like a 7 1/4" or 8 1/2" Makita with about 18 teeth (carbide). Freud also makes them for a little more money. The benefit of the smaller size blade is an underpowered saw will seem to have more power.
 
I had some time today and started reading a few threads I had missed and this is one of them. I am not an expert on tools or suggesting what blades to buy but I see a few things here that I personally would not do or suggest. But this is me.











Boz said:
+1 on a thin kerf blade. I have found that chop saw blades work well. Also look into getting a blade stabilizer. I have a small Craftsman table saw that I did not like when I first got it. Then I put on the stabilizers and the thing would cut straight and true with no wobble in the blade.
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I would never use a chop saw blade in a tablesaw. A chopsaw blade has a negative tooth as opposed to a positive tooth on a tablesaw blade. What that means is when you use a chopsaw blade on a tablesaw the material will have a tendency to want to push upward and backward . You want the material to push downward on a tablesaw. A good thin kerf blade does not need stabalizers. Stabilizers are made to take the harmonics out of the blade which cause the vibrations and some jagged cuts. If a good blade is cut and designed right this harmonics is not present thus the reason you see all those relieve cuts in saw blades and everyone keeps trying to improve on the design. 7-1/4" blades are made for skilsaws for framing and rough carpentry thus do not have the design for such things as relieving harmonics in the blade.

Dana Fish said:
Is there a preference as to how many teeth the blade should have? 40t? 60t?
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The preference in the teeth of a blade is or has to do with what you are using the blade for. Rip blades have less teeth as opposed to crosscut blades which have more teeth. Now for general purpose combo blades that do both sort of well you are looking at a 50 tooth blade. I highly recommend any of the Freud blades. The more specialized you get the more money.

Dana Fish said:
Hello ... I'm looking for input on a replacement table saw blade. I am mainly looking to trim up some small blocks of wood into usable pen blanks, etc. I only have small craftsman table saw with not a lot of power so I need something that will cut easy. I would like to keep the price reasonable.

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

Here is where you started this topic Dana and to answer that question at least from my point of view comes from your description of what you want to do. When people talk about cutting pen blanks I have to laugh when they start talking about all this fancy saws and high ticket items just to cut pen blanks. They are not needed. You can cut a pen blank with any saw on the market starting with a hand saw and working your way up through the bandsaws, scrollsaw, tablesaws, mini chopsaws and others. You do not need precision to cut a pen blank. Precision comes into play when doing segmenting in a pen blank and then the decisions are needed to how you want to get this done.

I do suggest a thin kerf blade but I suggest a 10" blade for a 10" saw. I do not buy into the idea a 7-1/4" blade for underpowered saws. You will never notice the difference to use a thin kerf 10" blade as opposed to a thin kerf 7-1/4" blade. The difference comes in the thickness of the blade which can be what some look for when again doing segmenting. A 10" tablesaw is designed to run a 10" blade. The difference in thickness of those 2 blades is so slight. When cutting you only want the blade to clear the top of the wood by the kerf of the tooth configuration. Stabilizers are not needed for good quality thin kerfed blades such as the Freud line and other top brands. They limit your depth of cut whenever used. I mentined above why people use stabilizers on a 7-1?4" blade.

So to sum up I stress this is only my opinion so do what you want but get yourself a good quality Freud combo blade 50 tooth thin kerf 10" blade designed for a tablesaw. Good luck and happy cutting.
 
marter1229 said:
Can you use the stableizers on a miter saw?

Terry
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Not needed Terry if you use a good blade to begin with and I am pretty sure that the arbor will not allow for the use of one. If you have runout in your arbor no stabilizer will correct that. If you are looking for more precision you may need to tune the saw up.
 
I can't edit my previous post so I'll correct it here ... I meant to say a Freud 50 tooth ATB not 40. I'm not entirely sure but I think its a LU84 something or LU83 something for the thin kerf.
 
marter1229 said:
I am looking for an excusse to throw my Ryobi away.
I can cut a 2x2 in half and then but the 2 pieces together, and there will be a cap.
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Not sure I can help with the excuse except that I would never own a Ryobi tool in my lifetime for sure. Poor man's excuse for tools if you ask me. Send all the letters you want it won't change my point of view:biggrin:

To answer the reason for poor gap problems could be the blade is not 90 degrees to the bed. Or the bed is not on a level plane both sides of the blade. Take a true 90 degree angle and with the power cord disconnected, lower the blade and raise the guard. Place the square against the bed and slowly bring it to the blade making sure you miss any teeth on the blade. Do this for 4 quaters of the blade and observe any gaps. If there is gaps and they are basically the same all around the blade then the blade needs to be tilted till 90 degrees. Never go by marks on a saw. If there is a gap on 2 sides then the blade is either bent or the arbor is bent. There is your excuse. :smile: This is the method to check for gaps top and bottom and not side to side.
 
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I have the Ridgid blade kludge77 spoke of. Home Depot has them for $40 here, and occasionally they go on sale for $30. I have one on my table saw (and one spare), and its sweet for the price. Made in Italy (Freud), leaves a great edge and cuts so quiet i never hear the blade cutting on thinner material. Not sure about thicker material, i usually use the miter saw for that stuff.
 

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I'm undecided between these two blades... any final input before I purchase today?

28800-01-500.jpg


$59.99 at Rockler

065f99c5-bfae-455f-834d-7681475b7662_300.jpg



$29.99 at Home Depot

Any final thoughts???
 
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Dana Fish said:
I'm undecided between these two blades... any final input before I purchase today?

28800-01-500.jpg


$59.99 at Rockler

065f99c5-bfae-455f-834d-7681475b7662_300.jpg



$29.99 at Home Depot

Any final thoughts???
Click to expand...



Top one, top one, top one. This is a combination blade and is more useful, not that you couldn't cut with either one. I am not sure on the kerf size on the bottom one either. Remember to make your blade last longer clean the carbide off once in awhile to get rid of the resin that builds up especially from cutting oily woods. You can probably beat that price on Amazon.com or just type in Freud blades in google and you will find tons of places that sell them unless you are just looking to walk in a store and buy them. Lowes or Home Depot may carry the top one as well.


We were talking about the use of stabilizers. See how the zigzag cuts are designed in the blade??? This is to reduce harmonics and vibration. When you use a stabilizer some of those are so large you cover these up and defeat the purpose of them. Every blade company has their own design and they all keep trying to make a better mousetrap. This is only my opinion. One of many:smile:
 
jttheclockman said:
Dana Fish said:
I'm undecided between these two blades... any final input before I purchase today?

28800-01-500.jpg


$59.99 at Rockler

065f99c5-bfae-455f-834d-7681475b7662_300.jpg



$29.99 at Home Depot

Any final thoughts???
Click to expand...



Top one, top one, top one. This is a combination blade and is more useful, not that you couldn't cut with either one. I am not sure on the kerf size on the bottom one either. Remember to make your blade last longer clean the carbide off once in awhile to get rid of the resin that builds up especially from cutting oily woods. You can probably beat that price on Amazon.com or just type in Freud blades in google and you will find tons of places that sell them unless you are just looking to walk in a store and buy them. Lowes or Home Depot may carry the top one as well.


We were talking about the use of stabilizers. See how the zigzag cuts are designed in the blade??? This is to reduce harmonics and vibration. When you use a stabilizer some of those are so large you cover these up and defeat the purpose of them. Every blade company has their own design and they all keep trying to make a better mousetrap. This is only my opinion. One of many:smile:
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The Combination blade has a Kerf of 0.091 and the Diablo 10 40t has a Kerf of 0.098 just for reference purposes.
 
The top blade is a near twin to the Ridgid blade that can be had for $40. Tooth and gullet design are the same, the only real difference i see is the anti-vibration slotting.
 
The top one is the LU84xxx and, no question in my mind, the best blade (under $100) to have on your tablesaw ... if you can have only one blade.
At work we requested some new Freud blades ... our manager, thinking she was going to save us some money, purchased the Diablo (not neccesarilly the same model as this one). They were noticeably inferior to the regular Freud models we were use to.
just my $.02
 
World's Thinnest Carbide Blade

Check this out. This is billed as the thinnest carbide blade in the world. Although the stratospheric price of $175 is making me feel a bit lightheaded. If the reviews are correct, this has to be a pretty amazing thin-kerf blade. (There are 7 very positive reviews.) I'm going to do some additional research for reviews, but this might be a really nice blade for segmenting.

It is .053" thick -- that is less than 1/16" by a fair amount. The info on the website says it leaves rips and crosscuts thinner than a dime. That is thin!

I have a thin-kerf blade on my table saw, and really like it, but it is around 3/32", or .094", almost twice as thick.


http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=22633&filter=33300&pn=33300
 
Polarys425 said:
I have the Ridgid blade kludge77 spoke of. Home Depot has them for $40 here, and occasionally they go on sale for $30. I have one on my table saw (and one spare), and its sweet for the price. Made in Italy (Freud), leaves a great edge and cuts so quiet i never hear the blade cutting on thinner material. Not sure about thicker material, i usually use the miter saw for that stuff.
Click to expand...

This is the one I have in my unisaw right now. A really good blade for the money...
 
word of caution:
while there are many advantages to be said about thin kerf blades (and Fine WW had a whole article about it) there is one disadvantage you should keep in mind: most blade saw guards use a "riveting knife" that is too thick for a thin kerf.
 
So I was thinking about buying a new blade for the table saw, when I found a used 12" craftsman band saw with stand and extra blades for under $50. Too good to pass up, so it's now in my garage. The table saw blade will have to wait for now :biggrin:
 
Dana Fish said:
So I was thinking about buying a new blade for the table saw, when I found a used 12" craftsman band saw with stand and extra blades for under $50. Too good to pass up, so it's now in my garage. The table saw blade will have to wait for now :biggrin:
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Congrats on the score!
Does it have a tilting table? Does the table have grooves in it or solid?

If it's the model with the grooves I would suggest filling them with something ... If I remember correctly I used a plaster product of some kind. The reason I did it is small cut-off pieces would catch in the grooves and not allow me to turn or feed the workpiece. I gave that saw to my Dad when I purchased my Jet MANY years ago. I just got it back when he passed away recently. The table's grooves that I filled .... still pretty smooth with only a few places that need to be refilled. :smile:

Bandsaws ... all bandsaws, can benefit from some tweaking. Check out Mark Duginske's book for some good info.
http://www.amazon.com/Band-Saw-Handbook-Mark-Duginske/dp/0806963980
 
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