Mitre saw blade choice for hardwood

[ukworkshipper]

Hi All,

After much reading I am still highly confused on the choice of 210mm blade for a mitre saw. Could someone please spare some advice?

I need to make very clean crosscuts on oak hardwood floors (14mm thick x 70mm wide), because these will go side-by-side with ceramic tiles on another section of the living room. I know more teeth should give a finer cut but what about the type of teeth? I have read that alternate bevel is ideal for hardwood, but the bosch blade guide suggest triple chip grind (TCG) (flat top + trapezoidal) for "parquet". So now I am confused.

I have limited buying choices between a Bosch 48 teeth alternate bevel or a TCG with Bosch 64 teeth or 60/80 Parkside blades, but all these last 3 higher teeth blades are "all materials" blades. It's a small area where I need to be super precise so I don't need a blade that lasts forever.

Should I go for the higher teeth count or alternate bevel?

Many thanks!

 

[AJB Temple]

Honestly, you are overthinking this. 7cm wood strips by 14mm thick will be easily cut by pretty much anything. You only need a good cut on the top face for floorboards. I've laid about 120 sq metres of oak boards (much wider and thicker) in current house, random lengths and widths, and even though I have a 12" Bosch chop saw, in practice I cut most of the boards by hand with a tenon saw. Quick and makes very little mess. Accurate fine cut.

 

[TRITON]

On my last saw i was using an AB 80t top end blade,(negative rake of course).
Alternative bevel is probably going the give you the cleanest cut.

I'd cuts with a glass like finish, on everything.

 

[ukworkshipper]

On my last saw i was using an AB 80t top end blade,(negative rake of course).
Alternative bevel is probably going the give you the cleanest cut.

I'd cuts with a glass like finish, on everything.

On what diameter blade? I can't really find any AB 80t in my budget.

 

[ukworkshipper]

Honestly, you are overthinking this. 7cm wood strips by 14mm thick will be easily cut by pretty much anything. You only need a good cut on the top face for floorboards. I've laid about 120 sq metres of oak boards (much wider and thicker) in current house, random lengths and widths, and even though I have a 12" Bosch chop saw, in practice I cut most of the boards by hand with a tenon saw. Quick and makes very little mess. Accurate fine cut.

You are probably right, I should also get a tenon saw, but I have to buy a blade for my miter anyway, I might as well buy something that's adapted for the job, I will use it for sure on other projects down the line and it will be most likely cross cuts of hard and softwood. It's also just good general knowledge.

Did you use a guide to make 90 angle cuts with the tenon saw?

 

[Doug71]

I use a 60 tooth blade from Saxton in my mitre saw for everything from cutting up firewood to fine joinery, cheap blades but I've always found the quality of the cut to be fine.

https://www.saxtonblades.co.uk/prod...-compatible-with-festool-bosch-makita-dewalt/

 

[meccarroll]

60 to 80 teeth Tripple chip negative rake would be good for laminate but might get cloged up with wood waste and start to overheat if used for hardwood.

For hardwood 60 teeth would be enough and alternate ground.

Negative rake is pretty much standard on mitre saws.

The number of teeth partly depends upon the material you are cutting and how well it will clear the blade, having too many teeth can result in waste material not clearing which results in the blade rubbing and heating then blunting very quickly. So I would suggest when using a 210mm blade for cross cutting hardwood no more than 60 teeth is necessary.

I use a 250mm 80 teeth tripple chip in my panel saw for cutting Melamine faced chipboard and Laminate but would change the blade to alternate ground and reduce the teeth to say 60 for ply and cross cutting hardwood.

I find an alternate ground blade will cut wood better than triple chip but a tripple chip cuts chipboard better than an alternate ground blade.

It is better to have a few different blades is possible.

 

[TRITON]

On what diameter blade? I can't really find any AB 80t in my budget.

That was a 210mm Trend production series. I bought a couple of them yonks ago, only ever used the one of them.

 

[ukworkshipper]

60 to 80 teeth Tripple chip negative rake would be good for laminate but might get cloged up with wood waste and start to overheat if used for hardwood.

For hardwood 60 teeth would be enough and alternate ground.

Negative rake is pretty much standard on mitre saws.

The number of teeth partly depends upon the material you are cutting and how well it will clear the blade, having too many teeth can result in waste material not clearing which results in the blade rubbing and heating then blunting very quickly. So I would suggest when using a 210mm blade for cross cutting hardwood no more than 60 teeth is necessary.

I use a 250mm 80 teeth tripple chip in my panel saw for cutting Melamine faced chipboard and Laminate but would change the blade to alternate ground and reduce the teeth to say 60 for ply and cross cutting hardwood.

I find an alternate ground blade will cut wood better than triple chip but a tripple chip cuts chipboard better than an alternate ground blade.

It is better to have a few different blades is possible.

Thank you for the very useful feedback. I will get an AB 60 teeth blade and see how that works. Thanks all for the excellent advice.