[TWheels]

I am completely new to table saws and am not certain as to what are the better blades. My intentions right now are to use my new table saw for baltic birch plywood, big box store white wood and plastics, but I can see using oak and maple. In another thread, my Bosch REAXX adventures, @Cherryville Chuck and @DesertRatTom suggested the Freud glue line blade. My response was as follows.

I currently own a Timberline blade for plastics. I am looking into the Freud blades. I had not previously considered the glue line blade. I had considered the Freud 10 In. 50 Tooth Combination Saw Blade with 5/8 In. Arbor (LU84R011) blade and maybe a finish blade along the lines of Freud D1080X Diablo 10" 80-tooth ATB Finish Saw Blade w/ 5/8" Arbor & PermaShield Coating.

I would greatly appreciate critiques of my thoughts and additional ideas.

Thaks very much

 

[163481]

I've been using Freud Diablo blades for several years. I have 10" 40 tooth combination blade in my table saw and a 10" 60 tooth miter/table saw blade in my miter saw. I've been pleased with the results of both. I've even cut Plexiglas and very light gauge aluminum on the table saw. I have not tried a glue line blade.

 

[MT Stringer]

I have the Freud glue line rip blade - cuts smooth.

However, my general purpose do-it-all blade is simply an Irwin Marples 50T blade from the big box store. I don't own or have any experience with the high dollar blades.

Also, I have a cheep 24T rip blade.

 

[DaninVan]

Tom; If you're ripping lumber you might want to consider a combination blade ie less teeth and a slightly different architecture. Ripping with a fine tooth blade is hard on the blade and the saw motor...you'll also likely get burn marks along your cuts.
My go-to tool supplier carries Italian made CMT blades; I like them.(especially when they're on sale).
Review: CMT 10, 50 Tooth PTFE coating - by Tennessee @ LumberJocks.com ~ woodworking community

 

[Stick486]

Freud here too...
good investment/return for your money...
their CS is outstanding too...
be aware of look alike counterfeits... the real deal Freuds are made in Italy...
now educate yourself to what grind and tooth count for what application...

.

 

[DesertRatTom]

Saw blades can be a complex topic. I use the Freud Glue Line rip blade for a lot of my cutting. It does a decent job for the occasional cross cut. I have an 80 tooth crosscut for ply mainly, and it does cause burns if I try to use it for ripping. Higher quality blades have heavier carbide teeth and can be sharpened several times, cheapie blades can't and are somewhat disposable.

A couple of safety items to get along with blades. A Wixey digital angle gauge, about $30. Set zero on the table top, then attach to the blade and tilt it to the exact angle you need. Get careless about this angle setting and you won't be able to glue up your project. UNPLUG the saw whenever you are going to do anything involving getting near the saw blade, most certainly when changing blades.

Get a Grr Ripper, pictured below. This device keeps you safely away from the blade while you can push the piece forward, against the fence and down to the blade all at once. This is such a basic safety item, I generally won't make a cut without it.

Tune up and aligh your saw. There are hundreds of YouTube videos on how to do this. You want the miter slot and blade absolutely parallel, then the fence aligned with that (but ever so slightly out from the line of the blade so your work piece doesn't get trapped and kick back at you at 100 mph -- BIG ouch and maybe a cracked rib.

Do not stand in line with the blade, stand off to the side--usually to the right. If something kicks back, you're out of the way. Cutting a large flat piece? Get someone to help you and/or, take the time to make an outfeed table so longer pieces have support beyond the blade. Youtube has lots of videos on how to make one. Mine folds and is easily removed from the saw, but it gets a lot of use as a second assembly table. Rockler has a hardware kit for making one that made it easy to assemble and adjust to be nearly level with the saw's steel top. You can also make a real table to do the same job, or even a chest of drawers for storage. Whichever you choose, it will increase safety and make for better control of your cuts.

I also like to use a feather board to help hold material in line. The first tooth is slightly shorter than the rest. It marks the amount of overlap needed for the rest of the teeth to apply appropriate pressure.

Here are pictures of the Grr Ripper, Wixey and a feather board:

 

[honesttjohn]

I use Diablo (made by Freud) for most everyday cutting and have a Ridge Carbide for the good stuff.

 

[billyjim]

Freud glue line rip is my go to blade.

 

[Semipro]

I use a Forrest woodworker II combination blade ( saves switching blades between cross cuts and ripping cuts )

 

[Cherryville Chuck]

Tom I don't have much experience with combination blades but I know that Herb does. For general ripping the Diablo 1024 does a very good job and I've seen it as cheap as $38. For smooth crosscuts in ply particularly you'll need the D1080 blade. I know Freud has a new 50 tooth combo blade that I hear is very good and may do both fairly well but the more teeth you run, the more power you need. Maybe someone has tried that blade and can give a review.

 

[JOAT]

I got a carbide tip 10" blade, years back, from Big Lots. For $10. And quite surprisingly, it cut very nicely, and still does. Wouldn't bet I could find another that good tho. Seems to be good quality, but regardless it answers my needs very nicely.

 

[Mike]

For years I used a Freud Diablo 10" 50 tooth combination in my Craftsman table saw. I cut everything from pine to Plexiglas with it and got a decent cut. This blade is a tough to beat bargain.

I have tried many different blades over the years from Craftsman, DeWalt, Bosch, PC, Irwin, Vermont American, even the Guhdo-GMAXX with its special proprietary coating. Only the variable tooth PC was a dud. The best cuts I have achieved comes from one of my thin kerf Forrest Woodworker II blades with the stabilizer. This was on some glued up maple that was a true 4x4". One pass, flip the board and made a second pass and the end result was a finish like it had been fine sanded with nothing to indicate it wasn't a single pass cut. That impressed me!

The bottom line on this is the 50 tooth Diablo will handle most work you throw at it for a low cost. If you are working on something special with expensive wood put on a Forrest blade. Most important is to store your blades in some type of protective holder when they are off the saw. Protecting the carbide from chipping is the same for saw blades as it is for router bits.

PS: Replacing the saws standard V belt with a link belt will almost always give you a smoother cut.

 

[roofner]

The blade mike mentioned is a clone of the feud and pricewise hard to beat. Irwin marple 50 tooth. This blade is sold at Lowes $34.

 

[Stick486]

The blade mike mentioned is a clone of the feud and pricewise hard to beat. Irwin marple 50 tooth. This blade is sold at Lowes $34.

the ones made in New Zealand are very good...
the ones from china are a crap shoot...

 

[MT Stringer]

I have two of the 10 inch Irwin Marples 50T blades. They are made in Italy. They have served me well. Over the past 5 years, I have cut a lot of wood with them - hard, soft, and ply. I have one mounted on the 10 inch DeWalt portable saw and the other one on the table saw. No issues or complaints.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/IRWIN-Marples-10-in-50-Tooth-Standard-Tooth-Carbide-Circular-Saw-Blade/3817511

 

[TWheels]

Saw blades can be a complex topic. I use the Freud Glue Line rip blade for a lot of my cutting. It does a decent job for the occasional cross cut. I have an 80 tooth crosscut for ply mainly, and it does cause burns if I try to use it for ripping. Higher quality blades have heavier carbide teeth and can be sharpened several times, cheapie blades can't and are somewhat disposable.

A couple of safety items to get along with blades. A Wixey digital angle gauge, about $30. Set zero on the table top, then attach to the blade and tilt it to the exact angle you need. Get careless about this angle setting and you won't be able to glue up your project. UNPLUG the saw whenever you are going to do anything involving getting near the saw blade, most certainly when changing blades.

Get a Grr Ripper, pictured below. This device keeps you safely away from the blade while you can push the piece forward, against the fence and down to the blade all at once. This is such a basic safety item, I generally won't make a cut without it.

Tune up and aligh your saw. There are hundreds of YouTube videos on how to do this. You want the miter slot and blade absolutely parallel, then the fence aligned with that (but ever so slightly out from the line of the blade so your work piece doesn't get trapped and kick back at you at 100 mph -- BIG ouch and maybe a cracked rib.

Do not stand in line with the blade, stand off to the side--usually to the right. If something kicks back, you're out of the way. Cutting a large flat piece? Get someone to help you and/or, take the time to make an outfeed table so longer pieces have support beyond the blade. Youtube has lots of videos on how to make one. Mine folds and is easily removed from the saw, but it gets a lot of use as a second assembly table. Rockler has a hardware kit for making one that made it easy to assemble and adjust to be nearly level with the saw's steel top. You can also make a real table to do the same job, or even a chest of drawers for storage. Whichever you choose, it will increase safety and make for better control of your cuts.

I also like to use a feather board to help hold material in line. The first tooth is slightly shorter than the rest. It marks the amount of overlap needed for the rest of the teeth to apply appropriate pressure.

Here are pictures of the Grr Ripper, Wixey and a feather board:

I do agree this is very valuable advice. I have owned the Grr Gripper for several years, since shortly after @harrysin posted his discovery of it. I have also owned a Wixey digital angle gauge and use it often in my DIY home improvement projects.

The manual that comes with my REAXX describes one way to align the blade.

I have multiple feather boards and fully appreciate their importance, as used with my router tables. It never occurred to me to not use them when possible with a table saw. As I was composing this response I came to wonder if there were some way to have vertical feather boards on the table saw fence, much like on some router table fences.

For me reading the manual is wired into my central nervous system. Anybody ever set up an ultracentrifuge capable of spinning a mass of titanium to generate 200,000 x g force, or an automated PCR apparatus or a genome sequencer? You do not do those things without thoroughly reading and understanding the manuals.

 

[TWheels]

Saw blades can be a complex topic. I use the Freud Glue Line rip blade for a lot of my cutting. It does a decent job for the occasional cross cut. I have an 80 tooth crosscut for ply mainly, and it does cause burns if I try to use it for ripping. Higher quality blades have heavier carbide teeth and can be sharpened several times, cheapie blades can't and are somewhat disposable.

A couple of safety items to get along with blades. A Wixey digital angle gauge, about $30. Set zero on the table top, then attach to the blade and tilt it to the exact angle you need. Get careless about this angle setting and you won't be able to glue up your project. UNPLUG the saw whenever you are going to do anything involving getting near the saw blade, most certainly when changing blades.

Get a Grr Ripper, pictured below. This device keeps you safely away from the blade while you can push the piece forward, against the fence and down to the blade all at once. This is such a basic safety item, I generally won't make a cut without it.

Tune up and aligh your saw. There are hundreds of YouTube videos on how to do this. You want the miter slot and blade absolutely parallel, then the fence aligned with that (but ever so slightly out from the line of the blade so your work piece doesn't get trapped and kick back at you at 100 mph -- BIG ouch and maybe a cracked rib.

Do not stand in line with the blade, stand off to the side--usually to the right. If something kicks back, you're out of the way. Cutting a large flat piece? Get someone to help you and/or, take the time to make an outfeed table so longer pieces have support beyond the blade. Youtube has lots of videos on how to make one. Mine folds and is easily removed from the saw, but it gets a lot of use as a second assembly table. Rockler has a hardware kit for making one that made it easy to assemble and adjust to be nearly level with the saw's steel top. You can also make a real table to do the same job, or even a chest of drawers for storage. Whichever you choose, it will increase safety and make for better control of your cuts.

I also like to use a feather board to help hold material in line. The first tooth is slightly shorter than the rest. It marks the amount of overlap needed for the rest of the teeth to apply appropriate pressure.

Here are pictures of the Grr Ripper, Wixey and a feather board:

I firmly believe a shortened, generalized version of your post, @DesertRatTom, should be made a "sticky" that appears at the top of the Tools and Woodworking subforum

 

[Cherryville Chuck]

Tom with a poor fence too much pressure from feather boards can be a problem. There are some meant to attach to the fence and apply most of the pressure downward. Board Buddies are one type.

That's not a great quality video but he seems to be doing a decent review. It seems to me BJ used them, I think on his TS and router table. They might be a good idea for you as they would eliminate the need to keep a good hold 100% of the time on your work and take over most of the alignment requirements for you.

 

[rrrun]

I use Woodworker II thin kerf combination blades: 3/32" thick, which is 25% less blade to drag through a rip cut with my underpowered horse and a half 10" saw. I have 2; the one on the shelf just got back from the factory where it was resharpened. I've been doing this for 10 years now, and am just about to replace both blades as the factory advises they are about done.

I think 10 years is an acceptable life for a premium blade, right?

HIGHLY agree with the recommendation of the GRR-Ripper. I have 2 that I keep set up differently, and I now use them on every rip under 1". I've made this change within the last couple of years, and I am safer because of it.

 

[JIMMIEM]

For years I used a Freud Diablo 10" 50 tooth combination in my Craftsman table saw. I cut everything from pine to Plexiglas with it and got a decent cut. This blade is a tough to beat bargain.

I have tried many different blades over the years from Craftsman, DeWalt, Bosch, PC, Irwin, Vermont American, even the Guhdo-GMAXX with its special proprietary coating. Only the variable tooth PC was a dud. The best cuts I have achieved comes from one of my thin kerf Forrest Woodworker II blades with the stabilizer. This was on some glued up maple that was a true 4x4". One pass, flip the board and made a second pass and the end result was a finish like it had been fine sanded with nothing to indicate it wasn't a single pass cut. That impressed me!

The bottom line on this is the 50 tooth Diablo will handle most work you throw at it for a low cost. If you are working on something special with expensive wood put on a Forrest blade. Most important is to store your blades in some type of protective holder when they are off the saw. Protecting the carbide from chipping is the same for saw blades as it is for router bits.

PS: Replacing the saws standard V belt with a link belt will almost always give you a smoother cut.

Looks like my shop....only yours is neater....could you give me some tips on how you do it?
I've got a Craftsman of similar vintage with the stamped wings.....got it when Jimmy Carter was in the White House. Mine is only 1 HP. Does the 3 HP require 220? I will upgrade at some point but I think I'm limited to 1 1/2 HP.....maybe a Leeson.