Best saw blade for veneered mdf

[Knipester]

Hi I’ve just acquired a s/h hammer K3 winner saw and as it doesn’t have a scribe saw fitted. As I cut mainly real wood veneered mdf sheets I require a clean cut in both sides of the panel. I have the dilemma to pay Felder for the retro fit scribe blade kit (£500ish) or make a zero clearance insert and buy the best blade I can find for the job.

Felder silent power blades look excellent but pricey and there is more than one tooth configuration that claims great veneer cutting (hollow & trapezoid). Please can anyone recommend the best tooth arrangement for this job and if there are other brands that I should also look at?

Thanks

 

[custard]

That's an interesting question. I also have a Felder, and it does have a scribing blade fitted, but I don't always use it.

I always assumed a scribing blade was the best solution for veneered boards, but then I spent some years training at the Barnsley workshops and, despite also having scribing blades, their protocol is not to use them, What they do use however is a freshly sharpened, fine toothed cross cut blade.

Their argument is that it's extremely difficult to set a scribing saw so that it's absolutely perfect. A skilled operator will get very, very close, but that's not quite the same thing. And even a minute gap from a scribing saw will, over time, fill with household grime and can look unsightly. By using a top quality saw with a flawless blade you're not exposed to that risk.

Worth thinking about and running some experiments. On some super brittle veneers I'll use a scribing blade, but on 90% of timber veneers I don't.

 

[Knipester]

Thanks custard, do you have any experience with different tooth configurations? Trapezoid or 3 chip hollow?

 

[Trevanion]

https://www.scosarg.com/cmt-285-saw-blade-d-300-d-30-z-96-b-3-2

Excellent.

 

[Knipester]

Thanks for the recommendation, my main concern is tear out on the underside. I think that there are certain teeth configurations that will perform better than others at this task? Or am I over complicating this?

 

[Trevanion]

I think that there are certain teeth configurations that will perform better than others at this task? Or am I over complicating this?

A little over-complication, but it is a fair question.

The blade I linked to has ATB (Alternate Top Bevel) ground teeth.

It cuts like a knife on each side of the cut, resulting in a very clean cut edge even on the underside. I would still use a zero clearance plate if possible though, every little helps. You can get blades with a higher bevel angle but these are hard to find, they're also pretty fragile and blunten quickly.

TCG (Triple Chip Grind) is a more durable blade but can be a bit rougher in plywood, better for non-veneer faced MDF and Melamine faced.

 

[custard]

The key is a freshly sharpened cross cut saw on a good saw with a moderate feed rate. Cross cut will probably mean ATB but why not just experiment, in my experience sharpness trumps pretty much everything!

 

[Knipester]

I’ve just had a quick look through my blade collection and I have a marples atb 300mm blade and a cmt 281 melamine & chipboard blade. I’ll try these for starters

 

[Simon_M]

Two things to try (at your risk of course):

1. Raise the blade so that it cuts down (and not across) on the "best side".

2. Folk-law (and not to be trusted) Lower the blade so that it just touches the "back" side and (carefully) cut "backwards" before the "normal" cut.

NB if you have a cross cut sled, the supported workplace is cleanly cut. It also helps to support the other side e.g. a piece of ply/MDF that's the same height as the sled's base to support any off-cut.

It's sometimes preferable to take a cut close that's "about right - plus" and then another to "perfect" it.

Going slowly (of course) increases the teeth per inch traversed.

 

[Knipester]

I’ve just had a quick look through my blade collection and I have a marples atb 300mm blade and a cmt 281 melamine & chipboard blade. I’ll try these for starters