I tried a DeWalt blade in my table saw and it worked well, however I found the Freud Diablo 7-1/4" 60 tooth blade for circular saws to cut even better. They are/were cheap I found some on sale at Home Depot for $20 for a packet of 2. (This was 3 or 4 years ago) But even at today's prices using a quality circular saw blade on a table saw makes sense since you throw them away after they dull rather than having them resharpened. The smaller diameter blade with 60 teeth allowed me to cut 1/8" boxwood and ebony edging for fancy boxes with little waste. I also used them to cut stacked and glued together black-white-black-white veneer sheets leaving edges smooth enough to glue in place with no sanding. Of course the small diameter limits the thickness of the wood. One can cut to just about 1." But I found that to be more than adequate for most of my work with precious woods. By the way, what I would do when cutting these 2 foot long strips 1/8" to 3/32" wide was to clamp down on the table saw a sheet of masonite and raise the blade through it to get zero clearance.
Only once did I need a thin kerf 10" blade and that was when I had to make back splats 5-1/2" wide 24" long for 50 chairs out of alder. The 10" blade could cut half way through and then I would flip the board and cut again to finish the job. It turned out that the extra splats I could get out of 6 and 8 quarter wood made it worth while especially since I needed knot free wood and most of the alder available didn't yield 2' with no knots.

 

Hi @Dr. T.R. Morris, and welcome to the fun. I stopped using narrow kerf blades when I discovered they can flex and mess up a cut. So I only use full kerf blades. My favorite is the industrial Freud Glue Line Rip blade. It has two features I love. It makes such a smooth cut either ripping or cross cutting that barely needs sanding. It also has a flat topped tooth every fourth tooth so it leaves a flat bottom cut, which is terrific for cutting slots for splines, and if you make several passes, can give you a flat bottom for a joint. I keep it in my saw all the time and rarely use anything else. Just my take on this. Not sure if they make a 8.5 inch version.

As to the riving knife. If it's too thin, it's easy to bend and a devil of a time trying to get it straight again. The full kerf is 1/8 th inch, give or take a couple of thousandths.

Getting the blade exactly 90 to the table is very important for fitting pieces together. So I recommend getting a $30 Wixey digital angle gauge (Amazon). I use it often when doing a project. Ever try to glue a 90 degree cut to an 89 degree piece? Precision counts, especially when using expensive timber.

 

Thank you, Tom! I think I too am already over the thin kerf blades. Messed up a lot of my repurposed oak planks and cost me a day figuring out the issue already. I'll get the angle gauge and match the Kerf of the original blade or bend the knife so it works with 1/8" and leave it there.

 

Welcome to the forum @Dr. T.R. Morris

 

Welcome to the forum, Doctor.

 

Here's what I found: First I conformed that the stock Dewalt blade kerf is 0.094"

1) Freud full Kerf (1/8") 8" 48T Industrial Heavy Duty Multi-Purpose Blade. $60 https://amzn.to/3U4MihN... Does the riving knife become kind of irrelevant with that wider blade kerf by allowing a 1/16 wiggle? Should I live with that or bend the knife "a bit" toward the fence?

I could also keep using the Diablo 60T (0.079" blade kerf) and bend the knife away from the fence.

 

On Tom's recommendation, I kept looking for a 8" Freud Industrial blade with a full 1/8" kerf that had ATB-F teeth and... found one! 40T 4ATB+1F with a chip clearing gap. LU84M008($45 on Amazon) My only question is whether my stock DWE7485 riving knife can be used. I think I'll be happy enough to commit to this fine thick multipurpose blade for the foreseeable future. Should I try to bend or adjust the riving knife toward the fence a smidge to make up the 0.027" (3/128") difference in blade kerf divided by 2? [(0.125"-0.071")/2]

Alternately, Freud also makes a thinner 40T combination ATB-F blade LU83R008 that's with a 5/64" kerf (0.083") that's a smidge larger than the stock Dewalt blade (0.071"). I figure (0.083-0.071)/2=0.006", is pretty insignificant, but what do I know? Not much. So I could just buy a stack of this blade, deal with a bit of blade flex comp to full kerf, keep using my stock riving knife with +0.006" slop, stop thinking about compatibility, and get back to woodworking. That's my inclination at this point.

 

@Dr. T.R. Morris how did this search for a replacement blade that worked with the stock RK work out for you?

I am in the market for a replacement blade but info on this particular Dewalt model is sparse