Thread: Table saw blade

The tooth geometry is a major factor. There are substantial differences between hand saws and circular blades as well. Generally though, with circular blades, lower TPI (40 or so) lends itself to ripping blades and higher TPI (60/80+) will be your cross cutting blades. If you're after a good table saw blade, you will be better off ordering something through a woodworking supplier like Timbecon/Carbatec/Gregory's Machinery/Henry Bros/Whatever-you-prefer. The Diablo blades at Bunnings are pretty good though. If Bunnings were my only choice, I'd get the 60T or 80T for cross cutting and a 40T for ripping. Personally I've got Sawstop brand table saw blades and a Diablo in my circular saw and mitre saw. The best comparison I can do is between the Diablo in the mitre saw and the Sawstop 80T cross cut, the SS wins hands down. I can cut melamine with no pre scoring and incredibly minimal chipout on either face with it.

For hand saws, a lot of the modern hardened tooth saws (those that can't be re sharpened) are designed to do both rip and cross cuts. They're not excellent at either, but not terrible either. I've got one of these and it's going strong after 5 years of weekend use. Bunnings also has Spear and Jackson saws that you can order in. They are not hardened and can be resharpened, so you can grind resharpen them as rip or cross cuts instead of the 'universal' teeth pattern they come with. I've got about half a dozen beat up hand saws that I will one day refurbish... but for now the Stanley plastic fantastic does the job.

If you can I'd be looking at less than a 40 toothed blade for ripping.
For a 10" blade I'd be looking at 20-24 Teeth - proper ripping blades have deep gullets to cope with the large amount of sawdust generated.

I agree with Bob on this. No more than 24 teeth if its a 10'' blade for ripping. I use a 24 tooth to rip and a 60 or 80 to crosscut. Days when a bit lazy I've said just one rip as a can't be bothered to change blades. You really notice the difference.
As to a rip handsaw keep a look on ebay for a good old one and give it a makeover. Nobody but the custom sawmakers do them now and you would be looking at big $.
Regards
John

I stand corrected on the tooth count for a ripping blade

We've got 28T and 32T 400mm blades for ripping...they do alright

A true rip blade will often have a flat top tooth, instead of a beveled top, but that's not essential

as already mentioned 10" (250 or 254 mm) table saw rip blades should have around 24 teeth and have flat top teeth.

You may find a variant called a "glue line rip" which has around 30 teeth and an alternate top bevel grind a Triple Chip grind -- every second tooth has the outside corners ground back at 45 degrees.

also be aware that blades come in regular 1/8" (3.2 mm) and thin 3/32" (2.4 mm) kerfs. Try and avoid using a thin kerf blade with a regular kerf riving knife or splitter.

Originally Posted by ian

You may find a variant called a "glue line rip" which has around 30 teeth and an alternate top bevel grind -- every second tooth has the outside corners ground back at 45 degrees.

That'd be a Triple Chip grind. Alternate top is a regular crosscut blade grind.

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

That'd be a Triple Chip grind. Alternate top is a regular crosscut blade grind.

thanks for the correction. Have gone back and edited my post

Whether hand saw or circular saw the principles are the same.

Rip teeth act like a number of small chisels and remove "slithers" of timber. Crosscut blades sever the fibres like a knife (actually like two knives) and have a more complex shape to them. Rip teeth are normally fewer (as others have said) but bigger.

Conversely crosscut teeth are more numerous (the more there are, the finer and smoother the cut) and smaller for the given space.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by phaser

Also searched for a rip hand saw but it kinda looks like you can't buy them anymore.

Phaser

You can buy rip saws: Just not brand new. Refurbished vintage hand saws can be as good as they were when first made. Most of my user saws are in the region of one hundred years old. Some are completely original. Some have new handles similar to the project you are contemplating with your back saws posted on the other thread.

There are a few specialist saws makers around also. They are mostly overseas in the US in particular, but also the UK and Europe. The irony perhaps is that they emulate the saws from the golden age of saw making when these hand tools reached their pinnacle. The problem was that by the time of WW1 there was almost no room for improvement and because of a deteriorating market in the face of powered saws and the increasing requirement to mass produce the product fell into decline. Saws produced from the mid fifties onwards are not highly regarded compared to saws before that time. The exception to this is the resurgence in hand tools including saws in recent years and the growth of a specialist be-spoke industry

Regards
Paul

If you are looking for a new hand saw, the Thomas Flinn & Co options https://www.flinn-garlick-saws.co.uk/ are IMO very well priced at around half the cost of a saw from one of the US makers.

Flinn's Last Man Standing video is also worth watching https://youtu.be/NiW5E8vYaPo

Originally Posted by ian

If you are looking for a new hand saw, the Thomas Flinn & Co options https://www.flinn-garlick-saws.co.uk/ are IMO very well priced at around half the cost of a saw from one of the US makers.

Fantastic video, and a very valuable link - thank you. Now if I only could figure out which saws I need!

IMHO A table saw blade of the "Combination" style serves very well in ten inch (254MM) models. It may be different in saws accepting 305MM blades.

There are many "General Purpose" blades that are configured as 40 ATB (Alternating Top Bevel) teeth. These are very good blades but tend to bog down as the thickness of stock goes over 19MM. I tend to avoid these style of blades.

The true combination blade which has Raker (square top) teeth on a large gullet and ATB teeth on small gullets seems to be superb for most cuts in most materials. Brands are Freud Diablo or Irwin Marples just to name a couple. These blades are very easily recognizable by the groups of a Raker tooth on a large gullet and four ATB teeth on small gullets. The configurations are usually 8 or 10 groups of teeth. (40 or 50 total teeth, respectively.) The 40 tooth blade seems to work exceptionally well as the main blade in small shops.

If a smoother cut is needed, an excellent choice would be to use a 'Radial Arm Saw Blade' in the table saw. The negative hook angle of the RAS blades will yield a smoother cut. A little slower going but a smoother cut. When looking at a RAS blade the teeth tend to lean back from the cut while in table saw blades the teeth lean into the cut. BTW - For safety, never, ever use a table saw blade in a RAS.

Originally Posted by rrich

BTW - For safety, never, ever use a table saw blade in a RAS.

I don't often speak in definites, but from my experience that is categorically not the case. The only blade I have ever been genuinely scared to use on our RAS was a dedicated RAS blade with negative rake; it was grabby, self-feeding and was just generally uncontrollable. Took it out after a couple of days and never touched it again. We always used normal ATB before it and we will continue to only use them now.