How many teeth on plunge saw blade

[Spectric]

Hi all

So when cutting ply or Mdf with your tracksaw fitted with the 165mm blade how many teeth do you use to get really clean edges?

 

[marcros]

I use the standard 48 tooth and get a good quality cut on ply and mdf. I have never cut melamine though, or veneer faced ply so I cant comment on those.

 

[Ollie78]

I find the standard multi purpose one pretty good is it 20 ish teeth.
Great on birch ply.
I tried a 48 but found very little difference except it was pants when cutting real wood so I just stick with the multi purpose.
I find the speed you push the saw to make quite a bit of difference. When I want a smoother cut I go nice and slow.

On the other end of the scale for ripping solid hardwood I found the panther blade 12or 14 tooth to be superior.

Ollie

 

[Doug71]

Same as Ollie I find the 28 tooth blade is good enough for most jobs.

 

[Doug B]

I’ve been using a 32 tooth blade for sheet materials with great results & a 12 tooth blade for ripping timber

 

[Spectric]

So it looks like the 48 tooth blade my saw came with is the one for sheet goods, and gives the best cut I can expect and all my ripping is done on the table saw so don't need to think of this. I do remember @JobandKnock saying that too many teeth will just clog up but not sure in what.

 

[Rorschach]

It's not just teeth, it's how fast you push it. If you push fast with a fine tooth blade you will still get a poor result and if you push slow enough on a coarse tooth blade you will get a very good result.

 

[deema]

This is the best reference I’ve ever found for making an informed selection on circular saw blades. It’s the first few pages of the Swedex catalogue. Well written, not full of technical jargon and let’s you know how to make an informed decision.
After trying various brands of blade, I personally prefer Swedex as I have found them to give the best finish, last extremely well, and have good noise reduction. Just saying so you know I have a bias, however that doesn’t diminish their technical info,

https://www.swedex.co.uk/uploads/NexDgEGb/ENTIRECATALOGUE2021-22.pdf

 

[JobandKnock]

I do remember @JobandKnock saying that too many teeth will just clog up but not sure in what.

In sheet materials, generally. You can use the higher tooth count at slower feed speeds, as @Rorschach says, but I find the results are no better than the lower tooth count OEM blades and they are more prone to scorching on 18 to 25mm material. Maybe they would perform better on thin sheet stock (in the same way that hacksaw blades with more teeth perform better on thin metals but clog on thicker stuff). I find it interesting that none of the OEMs or high end blade makers go above 54 teeth on their 160/165mm plunge saw blades and above 48 teeth they seem to be specialist blades for materials such as Corian.

Oddly enough, Festool do a 28 tooth blade for sheet materials which cuts really cleanly, and faster than the standard 48 tooth blade, with less risk of scorching. Cut quality isn't quite as nice, but good enough for sub flooring, cutting blanks for further processing (such as routing), etc

As for Swedex, I had a look at the UK distributor's site - the kerf sizes on the 160 and 165mm blades seem a bit random, or is that just me? My concern is that if you go below the 2.2mm Festool standard kerf the riving knife will potentially stick (we identified just such a problem with PCD blades on a TS55R cutting cement fibre board) - the suitable Swedex 160mm blades certainly seem to be 2.0 or 1.5mm kerf in the main

 

[Spectric]

So I will try finding the best push speed with my 48 tooth blade and do some trial runs to see if I can better the finish, so far not noticed any burn marks so must be in the right ball park

 

[JobandKnock]

Having extraction on also helps. Not to mention beong much better for your lungs

 

[Spectric]

When I do full sheets I am outdoors on tressles so use natural extraction, indoors just a basic Nilfisk industrial hoover that keeps dust levels ok along with mask and googles. I do find the plunge saw makes more dust than my table saw yet a smaller blade.

 

[user22161]

Hi all

So when cutting ply or Mdf with your tracksaw fitted with the 165mm blade how many teeth do you use to get really clean edges?

My Triton came with 165mm 60 tooth blade and gives very clean edges on MDF. Top face of Contiboard very clean with scribing cut first, bottom very slightly chipped. Blade available as spare - Plunge Track Saw Blade 60T | TritonTools.com