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[Trevanion]

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[mynamehere]

Great guide Trevanion, thanks for the write up!

I just googled one of them PCD blades, never heard of 'm before, you don't get much change out of £400,- for a 10" one...

I bought a few router cutters from Wealdon and have been very happy with the quality, they make/sell circular saw blades as well, are they as good as their cutters?

Cheers,

Ferenc

 

[mynamehere]

Almost forgot... and +1 for Steve's DVD (or MP4), for a beginner (like me) it's got some good and finger saving information!!

 

[Trevanion]

I bought a few router cutters from Wealdon and have been very happy with the quality, they make/sell circular saw blades as well, are they as good as their cutters?

Wealden certainly make good router cutters but I've never tried their circular saw blades, I have a funny feeling I remember someone mentioning that their blades were made by another company but I could be wrong. They certainly look pretty good value for money.

 

[MusicMan]

Excellent guide, Trevanion, thanks.

 

[RichardG]

Very useful guide, thanks.

One question that has always puzzled me is why circular saw blades are sold by the number of teeth and not TPI? A 200mm blade with 80 teeth will be finer than a 300mm blade with up 80 teeth so wouldn’t TPI be better?

Richard

 

[RobinBHM]

I personally find blade sharpness is almost more important than blade type for quality of cut.

On a saw bench altering blade height can have quite an impact on breakout.
Blade set low -breakout on upper face
Blade set high -breakout on lower face
Esp noticable on ply or veneered boards.

Ripping solid timber I find the lowest tooth count best to avoid burning.

 

[John Brown]

I just bought a all steel blade with 80 teeth for an old hand held circular saw. I bought it for cutting some 5.5mm ply, as the tc blade I had only had about 16 teeth. It's only 160mm diameter, if memory serves. Should I be cautious about this? I didn't realise all steel blades were considered dangerous.

 

[Trevanion]

I personally find blade sharpness is almost more important than blade type for quality of cut.

I'd like to think if you're buying a new blade it's at least sharp out of the packet! :lol:

It's a good point when your blade begins to get dull though, no matter the type of blade, if the teeth aren't sharp it won't cut properly.

 

[Trevanion]

I just bought a all steel blade with 80 teeth for an old hand held circular saw. I bought it for cutting some 5.5mm ply, as the tc blade I had only had about 16 teeth. It's only 160mm diameter, if memory serves. Should I be cautious about this? I didn't realise all steel blades were considered dangerous.

A new one is possibly not too bad if it has been made to a good standard, I'm surprised you managed to pick one up to be honest. If you're only cutting 5.5mm plywood with it there shouldn't be too much of a worry with using it as it's not really a heavy-load application like ripping down 3" timbers where a lot of strain is put onto the blade where it can cause all sorts of issues.

 

[Trevanion]

One question that has always puzzled me is why circular saw blades are sold by the number of teeth and not TPI? A 200mm blade with 80 teeth will be finer than a 300mm blade with up 80 teeth so wouldn’t TPI be better?

I'm guessing it's because they're always a set diameter such as 300mm, whilst say bandsaws can vary in the length drastically between machines so it is better to measure an inch of the blade rather than count 389 teeth on a single blade, since a 300mm blade is always 300mm it is measured by how many teeth are on the whole blade.

Plus it would have to be a radial inch rather than a linear inch.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

I am continually suprise at how much time and effort people will put into this forum, for no obvious benefit to themselves.

Thank you.

 

[SamTheJarvis]

I am continually suprise at how much time and effort people will put into this forum, for no obvious benefit to themselves.

Thank you.

I'd like to echo this. Quite a few of my fellow woodworkers don't really pay much attention to their blade choice and it seems to me to be fairly critical to getting good results

 

[Sideways]

Excellent post - thanks !
Having needed to buy a selection of new and used blades recently I'd second all the recommendations for (#1) Swedex, Atkinson Walker, CMT Chrome in that order and add Leitz Pro blades at the top of the list as the best of them all.

 

[FatmanG]

I am continually suprise at how much time and effort people will put into this forum, for no obvious benefit to themselves.

Thank you.

The people who make threads like this are heroes IMHO just for the injuries that their efforts prevent. Thankyou very much.

 

[sammy.se]

+1

Thanks to all the forum members who are generous with their knowledge and experience

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

 

[Trevanion]

I've added a bit more to my original post.

There's now a comparison photo and accompanying paragraph underneath "manufacturers" which shows three different blades on top of each other to show different carbide sizes with different quality blades, I've also added a bit more to "American blade nonsense"

There's also a new section "Care for saw blades" which goes over cleaning and maintaining blades.

I've also added a "Forum users list" which I thought would be an interesting idea, feel free to say what blades you like to use and I'll add them to the list

 

[sammy.se]

Great post made even better, thanks!!

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

 

[Sideways]

Cheers for keeping the post up to date
One the topic of cleaning blades, there are plenty of things that will help shift resin buildup. I've had success with turps / white spirit (actually on bandsaw blades) and after finally trying it out, I'll join in the recommendations for the CMT Orange spray. That works great on saw blades and router cutters alike.

 

[maznaz]

I initially found this forum because of this post, so thank you!

For anyone looking for FTG blades in the UK, someone pointed out in another thread that CMT Orange Tools are selling grooving blades in the UK via amazon and ebay among others. They're labelled something like "CMT Orange Tools 240.020.06r – Straight Grooving Cutter Circular Saw Blade 150 x 2 x 35 Z 12"

The numbers in the description pertain to diameter (mm) x kerf (mm) x bore (mm). Note that's the description, not the model number, so you're looking for the part separated by X's not dots. Hope this helps someone as I spent ages looking for blades like this in the UK!