When to change a mitre saw blade

[Freddyjersey2016]

I have a Axminster slide mitre saw - with a replacement Axminster blade fitted a couple of years ago - used regularly --
possibly a stupid question - how do i know when the blade needs sharpening / replacing?
With a hand saw you can tell its getting blunt, 90% of my cuts with this saw are in pine, so not so easy to tell

 

[Distinterior]

When was the last time you removed the blade and gave it a good clean....?

Cutting a lot of Pine with your blade will tend to require more frequent cleaning as pine has a lot of resin in it that gums up the blade teeth.

 

[AJB Temple]

There are a few possible signs:
break out below and at the end of the cut
slow cutting / feeling you need to force it rather than the cut being very easy
poor quality of cut
blackening (burn marks) on the cut ends
Blade tending to kick back

as above - try cleaning the blade if there is gummy residue visible. (unplug saw first).

 

[Jonathan S]

You could try the old thumb nail test.....lightly pass the tungsten edge over your nail plate, if it doesn't scratch the nail its time to sharpen.

Sent from my SM-J530F using Tapatalk

 

[Trevanion]

I think one of the problems is that it tends to be progressive wear on a saw blade, so you don't really notice it until it's really bad as you're constantly pushing that little bit harder every time without realising it. AJB Temple summed up the symptoms spot on.

I imagine if you're thinking your blade may be dull now, a new blade would be a night and day difference comparatively.

 

[sunnybob]

seems simplest to me to just swap the blade. if the new blade cuts the same as the old blade, put the old one back on. 5 minutes in total