Circular saw blade size

[Qwercus]

Hi all,

I have a site saw with a blade diameter of 315mm, it gets used for general ripping and cutting firewood. I need to know if I can fit a smaller blade size of say 250 or 200mm safely. The reason I want to do this is that I'm doing a laminating project that involves ripping a large quantity of small stock into thin laths of only 3mm thickness. If I use the larger blade it has a wider kerf and will covert a lot of stock into sawdust!!. The smaller blades will have a narrower kerf and are cheaper to buy so I could invest in a new one. There used to be planer blades that gave a very smooth finish but I haven't seen them advertised lately. Any advice appreciated,

Live long and prosper.

 

[marcros]

You can use a smaller blade but you may need to make a new riving knife. It needs to be within a few mm (5mm or so) of the blade. If the kerf of the blade is narrower, the chances are that your existing knife will be too thick.

 

[Qwercus]

Good advice, many thanks.

 

[Mr T]

Marcos is quite right. You mention planer blades, are you thinking of running the pieces through the thicknesser after cutting? To do this you will probably have to put them on a board as the thicknesser may not go down to that dimension. Also, unless the wood is very straight grained, the chances are it will shatter under the cutters.

Chris

 

[Qwercus]

No, the laminates will glue better if left rough sawn, only the outer faces need to be planed. The reason I mentioned planer blades is that I thought they were hollow ground with quite a narrow kerf. Now that TCT tipped blades are almost universal there's perhaps less choice in kerf width.


"There are holes in the sky where the rain gets in, the holes are small, that's why rain is thin."
Spike Milligan.