Thread: What are THE BEST blades available in Australia?

yep, another fan of AKE blades. German precision at a respectable price. You wont find them at Carbatec. Most sharpening/ Toolmakers will have them or will order them in. If you're in the area, I use Jalor toolmakers for all my cutting needs. They will have to order it in.

Jalor Tools Pty Ltd
Fcty19/ 5 Samantha Crt Knoxfield VIC 3180 - map
ph: (03) 9763 1377

The main benefit I have noticed with having dedicated rip blade is the speed/time it saves.

Don't forget to factor in the time it takes to change blades

I'm not saying there is no advantage to using a rip blade, just that for the way I work, I don't see the need. I'm very lazy and haphazard in my work. There's no way I would have the patience to plan out and do all my ripping in one go. I tend to make bits as I go along, so I'll be ripping for awhile and then change to cross cutting or other operations. Then more ripping etc etc. If I was more methodical, then there might be an advantage, but truth be known, I would end up ripping with the cross cut blade or cross cutting with the rip blade half the time depending on what blade is on the saw.

So I keep the combo blade on there, which does a perfectly acceptable job of both, and use the bandsaw for a lot of the ripping. I usually joint an edge first anyway, whether ripping with the table saw or bandsaw, and then the cut edge is first to go under the thicknesser if I go that way, or at the very least over the jointer (but I'd probably always use the thicknesser after a bandsaw rip).

The last thing is that I find it very handy having a bandsaw and drop saw for the times when there's a dado blade installed on the table saw

And now we start the peeing competition about how "my blade on my saw will out-rip any bandsaw" etc etc.

I couldn't resist tonight - there's a new saw out there in the shed, some new blades all very pretty, so I thought I might just try one or two out, see if there is any perceivable differences and get a feel for how the trials might work.

Was just crosscutting a lump of 4x2 I happen to have, so certainly wasn't expecting much, if any differences.

I had a 48 tooth GMC blade in the saw (one of those $8 eBay jobs), so started with that. Yep- it cut. Standard sort of finish I'd expect to see on a crosscut.

Then I started changing blades. Oh boy - even on such a soft piece of crapiata, the differences were very noticeable. Blades were outperforming other blades all over the place.

Interestingly, the blade with the smoothest finish with least tearout was not the most expensive, nor did it have the most teeth of them all. But could it crosscut!

One blade, without any noise reduction technology integrated in its design started to resonate in harmony with the TS. Got rather freaky there for a while :

I wonder if you'll get the same results when you use some wood?

Do you have any 60tooth triple cut Triton blades? If not I'd happily lend you one for comparison. (235mm though)

It certainly will be interesting (real wood that is).

I have (and will) be including both the premium range and triple cut range of Triton's (just for the hell of it, seeing as they are soon to be gone) I'm pretty sure I have one of each (rip, combo (ie medium no. teeth), and crosscut (60+ teeth).

My main saw came with Leuco rip and cross cut blades which I find excellent. Don't know how their pricing compares to others though!

Also have an irwin combination for cutting up fence palings (fire wood), it vibrates when slowing down, generally a cheap and nasty throwaway.

Definetly not a fan of the combination blades and would rather plan my work into rip and cross cut. I also have another small 8" bench with a thin kerf cross cut IVA blade, used when bigger saw has ripping blade and I need to cross cut only a few pieces.

Makita 1214SCMS has standard Mak blade, this tends to wander if I am not carefull (will have to buy a nice blade for this in the near future), so I tend to use this to cut stock into lengths for joint and thickness then complete all the accurate work with sliding table and incra mitre jig on main saw.

Constant feed rate would be best handled by a power feed unit, purpose built for woodwork gear (spindle moulder etc).

Definetly not a fan of the combination blades

Why is that, out of curiosity?

Must say comments like that mystify me. You make it sound like they're no good, yet muggins here has been using one for four years now - the same one, with no sharpening.

Perhaps the one you have based your extensive research on was no good?

Because I prefer to rip my timber with a ripping blade and crosscut with a crosscut blade.

Very simple.

I wasn't asking you.

I've got no problem with that, it's your prerogative. Just curious as to why Stringy is "definitely not a fan" of combo blades. Fairly strong opinion there, so must be a reason behind it other than "I prefer to blah blah".

Why didn't you say so you silly. I was getting ready for another round.

Ah, I don't normally rip wood on a bandsaw. Big boards are easier to manage on a tablesaw (bigger table surface and outfeed table). My bandsaw has a small talbe and I don't have a outfeed table. A tablesaw is a lot faster when you have many boards to rip.

Yet you are aware that some people do all their ripping on a bandsaw? You see, everyone is different. What we must not do is judge other people's methods by our own experiences. It is a difficult thing to learn

Let's look at the facts then. What do you believe to be the chief benefits of using a rip blade when ripping, versus a combo blade?

Why is that, out of curiosity?
Cross V Combination; more tearout on the back of boards and panels with combination.
Rip V Combination; uses more power to cut at same feed rate, if feed rate slowed to compensate the risk of burning increases with combination.


Must say comments like that mystify me. You make it sound like they're no good, yet muggins here has been using one for four years now - the same one, with no sharpening.
No sharpening for four years! Our uses are obviously quite different as both my rip and cross cut have been sharpened on average 3 times a year over the last 2 years. My combination has'nt been sharpened though and I have had it for the same ammount of time as the others! I am starting to think that the cross and rip are rubbish, oh but then I actually use them!

Perhaps the one you have based your extensive research on was no good? [/quote]
The one I have is no good because I have used it and the rip and cross work better(this little guy has the wrong fingers raised)!

Well there you go. I don't get a lot of tear out generally, but mine is a fine cut-off blade - probably better for cross cut than for ripping.

More power? What, your electricity bill goes up? Don't get any burning either. Actually I'd stack the ripped edges I get up against a rip blade any day. It's just slower.

My usage is very low. For example, I haven't used the saw for two weeks and it was a month at least prior to that.

No I'm not suggesting a combo blade is a good choice for a professional user. But for a hobby user like me, I reckon they're great. I'm a BIG fan of them. But then, I only have experience with the one I'm using.

Maybe you should try a different one. And the finger thing: right back at ya buddy...

See no one is wrong here. If your usage is low then it is easier to just stick with 1 blade. My usage is high, not to the level of a professional but certainly more than an average hobbyist.

I understand that the combination blade is somewhere between a rip blade and crosscut blade. Obviously you can use it to rip but I choose not to. A rip blade is designed to rip wood so I go along with it. It cuts wood faster with less effort. When I have a lot of ripping to do especially for hardwood I would use my rip blade.