190mm Circular Saw blade for Plywood

[DavidWyatt]

I just bought a Makita HS7601J/2 circular saw ( 190mm blade with 30mm bore) as I have a few home projects coming up that will involve dealing with sheets of ply and, being a hand tool guy, the thought of ripping them all down with a hand saw is putting me off to the extent where the jobs are already 6 months overdue...

I've spent the last couple of days reading up on blades and appear to be getting nowhere fast. Does anyone have a recommendation for a decent blade that will give a fine enough cut for making cupboards and drawers out of 5.5, 12 and 18mm birch ply? Looking at the Freud catalogue it looks like the LU2A or C would do it but then I can't seem to find them for sale anywhere.

 

[Spectric]

Any reason you did not buy a tracksaw, ideally suited to clean cutting of sheet goods, there has been many threads about them on here. I used to use a Bosch saw that had a 190mm blade and a length of angle iron as an edge, eventually bit the bullet and brought a Makita Sp6000 with some tracks. Ok so initial outlay is more and it opens up the path for buying a rail square for even more cash but makes things much simpler. Just lay the track on your cut line and run the saw to get nice clean edge which is achieved by the rubber splinter guard on the track.

I used to use these Bosch blades Bosch 190mm 60T Wood Circular Saw Blade Optiline 2608641188

but now use 48 tooth blades in the Makita.

 

[DavidWyatt]

Mainly because the price was right and, until I have spent much time using it, I'm not 100% sure I'll prefer it over just getting the hand saw out.

 

[Simon89]

I would go for a Freud (good value) 48 tooth blade. Should give you a nice finish.

when running sheet goods through my table saw, I often cut oversize to start and trim to size when broken down to smaller, more manageable, pieces

 

[Spectric]

I'll prefer it over just getting the hand saw out.

You must be in the younger age group, get to my age and you realise cutting sheet goods with a handsaw is just to much, anything more than a foot and out comes the tracksaw.