table saw blade

[sunnybob]

I've had to abandon my quest for a new table saw, my price range only stretched to poor quality machines and I'm sick of buying stuff that does not work so am not going down that route anymore.
So, untill I get a windfall from somewhere my last ditch attempt to improve what I have involves a new (different) blade.

recommendations please for 250mm x 30mm blade that will give smooth cuts in hardwoods.

 

[MattRoberts]

Freud blades all the way. A 40-ish tooth for general use, and a 24 tooth for long rips

 

[MikeJhn]

+1 for Freud, also quieter than others I have used, for smooth cross cuts in hardwood you will have to increase the tooth count, I use a 60 tooth for most of my Oak work, but you can go up to 96 tooth if needed, but perhaps not available in 250dia.

Mike

 

[sunnybob]

Matt, I have done a lot of reading on the blades because I have no personal experience, but I am surprised you say 40 tooth.
i have 42 tooth blades and am deeply unhappy with them. I have 1 that came with the ryobi saw and an axminster one. Many places and people say 60 or even 80 tooth for fine cuts.
I dont often have softwoods, or even long rips, almost all of my work is on hardwoods.

 

[LancsRick]

Just to add weight to the suggestion..... Freud!

 

[sunnybob]

Mike, our posts crossed....
that tooth count is more in line with what I have read, although I dont use much oak in my box making. I like the brighter bubinga, walnut and maple.
Freud blades are so far 2 for 2.

Rick... 3 for 3 for Freud.

 

[MikeJhn]

Bob

I do have an 80 tooth blade, but its a fine line using it to rip cut between burning and feed rate, especially in a dense piece of Oak, great for cross cutting, but the faff of changing the blade between cross and rip cutting generally means the 60 tooth gets used the most for both.

Mike

 

[MikeJhn]

As a small aside, the Freud blades are available as a twin pack at 40 and 24 tooth generally at a cost saving, I have never seen any other offers on higher tooth counts though, but could be wrong.

EDIT: to add link: https://www.buyaparcel.com/p/freud-pro- ... LgQAvD_BwE

Mike

 

[sunnybob]

is there any need to go lower, down to 22 tooth?
What would that be used for?

 

[MikeJhn]

Cutting anything that you don't care about the finish, perhaps logs for the fire. :wink:

Mike

 

[MattRoberts]

Matt, I have done a lot of reading on the blades because I have no personal experience, but I am surprised you say 40 tooth.
i have 42 tooth blades and am deeply unhappy with them. I have 1 that came with the ryobi saw and an axminster one. Many places and people say 60 or even 80 tooth for fine cuts.
I dont often have softwoods, or even long rips, almost all of my work is on hardwoods.

Are you talking about a freud 42 tooth, or another brand? I use my freud 42 tooth even to cut birch ply, and the cut is very good.

I've not found other brands to be anywhere close

 

[MattRoberts]

Mike, our posts crossed....
that tooth count is more in line with what I have read, although I dont use much oak in my box making. I like the brighter bubinga, walnut and maple.
Freud blades are so far 2 for 2.

Rick... 3 for 3 for Freud.

Bob, the high tooth count will be perfect for cross cuts or for short rips of small pieces.

Is a balance though - The more teeth you have the less waste can be removed, leading to increased heat build up and burn marks when doing long rips

 

[stuartpaul]

Bob, - were you happy with the finish when you first had the saw?

If you were then get your current blades sharpened, - it can make a significant difference. Many people (including myself ) don't get them sharpened often enough!

 

[sunnybob]

When i first bought the saw, I knew nothing about cutting wood. I cant make you believe how much nothing I knew, after 50 years of working with metal.

As far as I knew, that was a good saw (the salesman told me so).
Over the last 3 years i have learnt about cheap and nasty equipment.
Now the ryobi wasnt cheap, and to be fair, its not really all that nasty, but I now know that any cut I make is very far below what I should be getting. So much so that I try my hardest not to use the saw.
I smoothed out the worst of the bumps in the table, and I made a zero insert plate, and I checked that all the spindles and bearings were good with no play or backlash, but the cut still falls short.
we had the thread where I tried to upgrade the equipment, but by the time I got a decent saw shipped to my house it was a grands worth. Not gonna happen.

The ryobi and axminster blades I have are both 42t.
Again, I have no experience of any other blade regardless of tooth numbers, hence this thread.
Thats why I'm hoping a 60 or more will improve the cut to a more acceptable level.

 

[PAC1]

For best results it is best to have at least two blades. One for Ripping with as few teeth as you can get. A second for cross cutting timber with 60+ teeth. If you cut man made boards such as melamine or veneered MDF then a blade with 90+ teeth is needed. Trying to find one blade to do all is folly and you end up either burning your way or chipping surfaces you wanted to be finished.

 

[Ttrees]

Are you jointing stock using a router Sunnybob?
Could the stock have moved by the time you got cutting on the saw?
I can imagine its not the handiest thing in the world to have to joint things that way
Do you have a reference to check against before you start cutting?

I found even a non perfect ZCI will affect the cut quite significantly
I can imagine a smaller blade will be more problematic too, but thats not the problem
if the parts of the saw are solid.
Guessing you never got the results you wanted from the saw from new, as the question is here

[EDIT] Have you been jointing using the tablesaw like in this video? skip to 40seconds in...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zatCdDecOdc

If so, you may need to use the other side of the blade for this use to even the wear out.

Tom

 

[MusicMan]

For best results it is best to have at least two blades. One for Ripping with as few teeth as you can get. A second for cross cutting timber with 60+ teeth. If you cut man made boards such as melamine or veneered MDF then a blade with 90+ teeth is needed. Trying to find one blade to do all is folly and you end up either burning your way or chipping surfaces you wanted to be finished.

+1 to that. +1 for Freud, whose other advantage is that they have thinner blades which cut faster and waste less kerf.

OK you can do the odd cut when the 'wrong' blade is fitted, and I leave a combo blade on for routine and less important stuff, but have a 24 (I think) tooth rip and 80 tooth crosscut and use them for anything serious.And definitely 80+ teeth for melamine etc.

 

[MARK.B.]

Freud for me, a little more expensive than some out there but imho you get what you pay for and they are worth every penny.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

^^^ what he said. A general purpose blade is much the same as a general purpose ...........well, a general purpose anything - it might pass but it won't do anything particularly well.

 

[sunnybob]

It isnt even getting a jointing edge as such, its about getting a smooth edge that does not need several minutes with a belt sander to accomplish that.

its good enough for what it is, which is a site saw for construction timbers, but in my ignorance at the time I believed that all saws cut perfectly all the time.

There will be a freud 60 tooth blade in my very hear future.
Thanks all.
Interesting fact. On this site this is the very first time I have seen a recommendation and NO OTHER choices. freud rules, ok!