Table Saw blades what to get?

[OM99]

Hi,

looking for a all round decent table saw blade in the £20-£30 price range, the one i currently have cut through mdf fine and give a decent clean cut, how ever i did cross cut some pine with it and ended up with quite a large amount of splinters, the blade is 40 teeth from what iI gather, would a 60 teeth blade improve the cut a lot?

Blade size is 10 inch with a 30mm bore.

 

[marcros]

a 60 tooth would give a better cut, but you should get a pretty good one from a 40T. For a few years, I only had a rip cut at about 24T and a general purpose 40T one. I never had a situation with a large amount of splinters. Is it definately sharp? is the wood flat, so that the cut isnt happening 1/4" off the table?

for blades, I would have a look at cutting solutions, or wealdon tools. dont buy a budget blade- you would be better with a blade costing a little more that you can have resharpened many times, rather than a £20 one that doesnt have enough carbide on to resharpen. It is a while since I had a cutting solutions blade, but I think it was within your budget. If it was more, it wasnt by much.

 

[RogerP]

I've tried many different makes over the years and I'd strongly recommend Freud blades.

http://www.screwfix.com/c/tools/cut... saw blades&gclid=CIe0jrTH38UCFYPHtAodTXoAGA

Other places also sell them so worth doing some web price comparisons.

 

[dzj]

Also very important, to have someone who sharpens your blades properly.
These people will often give good suggestions regarding purchase, maintenance and so on.

No point buying an expensive blade only to have it ruined by an amateur.

 

[blackrodd]

As Roger P said FREUD do some really good blades and good selection of bore sizes too, the older smaller centres being
less plentiful and therefore a bit pricier.
I'm not too keen on using the different sized reducing centres, sometimes not fitting too special.
Regards Rodders

 

[John15]

Axcaliber from Axminster

John

 

[dejaa]

Silent silver.

After using many different blades over the years I finally got some of these with a new Felder panel saw.

Can honestly say there performance outstrips any other blades i have used. The 24 tooth ripping blade is especially good, it has sufficient tooth clearance to prevent binding even when making deep groove cuts. Of course i acknowledge they are a bit more expensive, but most things worth are - and in long run will pay you back in increased throughput and time saved

David

 

[Steve Maskery]

40T on a 10" should give excellent results. It's even suitable for ripping thinnish stuff (1"). If you are getting bad tearout I'd say it needs sharpening.
The other thing you can do to make it cut smoother is to make a Zero Clearance Insert, it really does make a humongous difference.

I currently have a Thin Kerf Freud combination blade on my saw. The finish is excellent, even without a ZCI, but I admit that ripping is a bit slow. But at least I'm not constantly swapping blades.

I did have an absolutely excellent rip blade from Cutting Solutions. I forget the brand, but it was superb, not expensive. Ask Doug Perry for is advice and he will sell you the right blade.

 

[OM99]

thanks guys for all the useful info.

the table saw is second hand and the blade in it might defo need sharpening, but will buy a new one as it quite rusty too. Will keep it as a backup for mdf as it cut that pretty well.

would that one do?

http://www.uktoolcentre.co.uk/Shop/p~96 ... ge-nosto-1

Seems to be a decent price for it

 

[RogerP]

I have one and it works very well.

 

[MMUK]

Another vote for Freud blades

 

[OM99]

Another quick question, as i don't have a planer/jointer would the 60 teeth one give me a smooth enough cut (with the grain) to allow me to glue the plank together?

 

[Steve Maskery]

You won't be able to rip with a 60T blade, not unless you have a week to do it or it is very thin stock.
24T for ripping
40T for cross-cutting
60T+ for laminates

But in your original post you said you wanted to cross-cut. How, then, are you wanting to join the boards. I don't think I understand what you are trying to do. Can you explain further, please?

 

[OM99]

You won't be able to rip with a 60T blade, not unless you have a week to do it or it is very thin stock.
24T for ripping
40T for cross-cutting
60T+ for laminates

But in your original post you said you wanted to cross-cut. How, then, are you wanting to join the boards. I don't think I understand what you are trying to do. Can you explain further, please?

Steve,

very new to all this, got no idea as it show what blades does what. I just want to cover all the angles for various cuts

From what your saying i need a decent 24T for ripping and being able to join boards and a decent 40T for doing cross cut, or would i get away with just a 40T for both?

Might take longer to rip but that would be ok by me. I never realised that the more teeth you had on a blade the harder it was to rip.

http://www.uktoolcentre.co.uk/Shop/p~96 ... X-40T.html would this one allow me to do both?

thanks

Oli

 

[Steve Maskery]

If you have more teeth then the gullets are smaller and therefore can carry away the sawdust less effectively. Big gullets are fast. More teeth offer a finer cut. It's all a compromise.

The thickness of your workpiece matters too. If you are ripping 1" stock then you can do that OK with a 40T x-cut blade. But the same blade would probably stall on 3" stuff, as the gullets would get clogged. You would not try to rip a board by hand with a tenon saw, would you? It's the same thing, just powered.

Sam Maloof said that he glued up his walnut chair seats straight offf the saw, so if it's good enough for him...

If you really are at the start of your learning curve (and we all were once) I can recommend a very good resource (but not in this part of the post, you'll have to go to my signature...)

S

 

[OM99]

Steve,

thank you very much for all the insight, very unlikely to ever rip 3" inch thick stock. If i ever do will get a 24T blade.

Will buy that 40T one as it a great price and good for everything i am most likely to do.

Very nice website, looks like i might need to also invest on your DVD's when fund allows

Oli

 

[Steve Maskery]

Oli
Please think very carefully before you buy. If you are ripping, that otherwise excellent blade will give you very poor results. It is not the right tool for the job. If you want to cross-cut plywood, then it will be great, I am sure. If you try ripping, it will not do a good job, you will try to push harder and therein lies a whole lot of very negative outcomes.

Do you have a short fence for ripping? Do you know why a short fence is better than a long one for that operation?

I don't mean to be rude, really I don't, it is only counter-productive, but it does appear to me that you are embarking on the learning journey, rather than have travelled much of it. As I say, we were all there once, so that is not a criticism. But a TS can hurt you. Badly. And very, very quickly. And you are particularly at risk if you are a novice. I hurt myself within a week of buying my first TS, because I didn't understand what I was doing. I have the scar on my arm to prove it.

Using the wrong tool for the job is not a good idea.

 

[OM99]

Steve,

i was just watching some of your videos, lot's of very good information, i did watch the riping one and the short fence and also the push sticks.

At the moment i don't have a fence long or short, i am going to build a cabinet for the saw to extend the existing table top to something decent. will build a fence and a short one to seat on top. And also some push stick, got some spare mdf lying around unless another material is better for that?

looks like i will buy both the 40T and this one too http://www.uktoolcentre.co.uk/Shop/p~96 ... ddtobasket

Oli

 

[Steve Maskery]

I have to say, that is an excellent price.
What thickness is your riving knife? That is a thin-kerf blade.

 

[OM99]

Steve

i have absolutely no idea what thickness is the riving knife.

Which one is thin kerf? they both say 2.8mm kerf size, is that not the norm?

Oli