Thread: What are THE BEST blades available in Australia?

More power? What, your electricity bill goes up?
It probably dose, but the 5hp motor just tended to labour more with the combination!

Actually I'd stack the ripped edges I get up against a rip blade any day. It's just slower.
The edge definetly should be as good if not better. I have never had tearout problems when ripping only cross cut.

Maybe you should try a different one.
The only reason to do this would be so I would'nt have to change blades (not an issue) and initial purchase of 1 blade instead of 2, these are very good reasons and why combination blades are made.
There is nothing wrong with the one I have, it's fantastic-has stayed sharp for years! Attachment 72569

Firstly, it takes less then 1 minute to change the blade. Normal speed, no rush.

Secondly, speed is one thing but a blade with less teeth means the table saw does not need to work as hard to cut the same amount of wood and you don't need to push the wood as hard.

Less than one minute? No way! I don't believe you. One minute to take off one blade and put on another? You must have one of those quick release things like on a bike. It would take me nearly a minute to wind up the blade, take off the insert and find the blade spanner.

But even if it was one minute, that's still 60 metres of ripping. And I reckon the one second more per metre is conservative. It's probably a lot less than that.

Maybe we should have a race? Where's Lou

Silent, how much wood did you rip in the past 2 weeks? So shut up.

Seriously it is less than a minute. I do it all the time.

I just went out and took the blade off, put it in it's box, took it out again and put it back on. It took 2 minutes and 10 seconds.

There's no way I could do it in less than a minute. Everything is near the saw. It just takes that long:

Get blade box
Lift the guard
Remove insert
Get spanner
Loosen arbour nut
Remove arbour nut and flange
Remove blade
Put blade in box
Take blade out of box
Replace blade
Replace flange
Finger tighten arbour nut
Tighten with spanner
Put spanner and blade box away
Replace insert
Drop guard

Less than one minute, no way. Time yourself next time

OK for the benefit of our viewers, I will do that tonight.

Secondly, speed is one thing but a blade with less teeth means the table saw does not need to work as hard to cut the same amount of wood and you don't need to push the wood as hard.

Missed this. Mate, if you had a decent saw with a 3hp motor, that wouldn't be a problem

OK, OK, I'll stop now

I'll buy a rip blade if it will make you happy.

Silent - I'll send ya one (course it will only be a GMC..... )

Glad you guys are playing nice again....

Nothing wrong with a good argument

Silent, focus on the blade mate, not the saw.

I love my JET and I actually use it.

Less than one minute? No way! I don't believe you.
Takes me seconds to walk over to my other saw and turn it on.

Damn, I agree! My main saw actually takes probably 10min to change the blade and that is not adding the cup of coffee. I would still rather change the blade though!

But even if it was one minute, that's still 60 metres of ripping. And I reckon the one second more per metre is conservative. It's probably a lot less than that.
Very dependant on what is being cut. I have been cutting a fair bit of 2 1/2" tallow wood, and would not contemplate using anything other than rip.


Maybe we should have a race? Where's Lou
This sounds good, I'd be in that! I wonder if some of those teflon coated ones are slicker to change? Will it be quicker to change a rip, cross or combi?

Glad you guys are playing nice again....

We's just having a bit of Friday fun

But I do have a serious message: The CMT # 285.040.10M Industrial Fine Cut Off blade at ~$60 is a very good all-rounder for the hobbyist woodworker. It's no average combo blade. It will rip surprisingly well and gives good performance in cross cut mode with little or no tear-out on bottom edges. If you're in the market for a single blade set up for weekend warrior work, it's well worth considering.

Less than one minute, no way. Time yourself next time

your right Silent it takes me 80 to 90 secs to change a blade . I just tried it 4 times

Still reackon its worth it to save cutting time and time at the jointer.


BTW...most the time i work in the same haphazard manner...making bits as I go. But like I said before if I know i have a big job to get through then I think changing the blade is well worth it.


cheers
BD

The 280.048.10M is one of the CMTs that I have to review - slightly more teeth so should do a little better in crosscut.

I was very impressed with the 285.080.10M (80 tooth CMT) last night...

I (as a totally inexperienced novice at TSaws) was changing blades last night in about 1 1/2 - 2 minutes. Of course I have a shaft lock and quick release riving knife on this beastie

Regarding the time, I included the walking to the wall where the box is etc., not just starting with the blade sitting on the saw and the spanner in my hand.

It's marginal in any case. I suppose from my point of view, I don't see any real benefit in swapping to a rip blade when the results I get from this blade are entirely satisfactory and if it takes me a second or two longer for each rip cut, it's no real disadvantage to me. If I was getting burnt edges etc, then yes I would see the benefit, although I still joint or thickness virtually every edge I rip, so even if it looked like it had been hacked off with a bread knife, it wouldn't really matter too much to me.

The way I see it, you guys are trying to justify your purchase and I'm trying to justify mine. At the end of the day, if we're all happy, it doesn't matter I know there is a well-established discipline involving which blade type to use when but I think that some of these hybrid blades have blurred the line a bit.

I believe the CMT blades are good value, not over priced at all. I reckon $60 to $70 for a good blade is fine. I think you might find that the trade off with the 48 tooth blade is that it will suffer a bit in rip mode. Slightly slower feed rate and so more chance of burning.

The other thing is I guess you tend to work within the limitations of what you have got, or I do anyway. If I don't get a perfect edge in cross cut, I'll make sure that edge is never seen, or I'll cut a bit over and use a block plane to clean it up. Panel edges are never seen, ends of stiles are chamfered, as are bottoms of legs etc. etc. You'll never see tear-out on my stuff unless you pull it apart, or if you do it's because I didn't care enough about it.