Thread: Which tablesaw blade to buy

Hey mate:

For what its worth, I have a low opinion of CMT blades (I know, I know, go easy on me guys, you CMT lovers), as the carbide on the teeth seems to chip and wear more than other brands when cutting hardwood.

And I have a high opinion of Freud blades. I have had many in my time and they seem to strike a great balance between affordability and long wear.

(Note: I am just a hobbyist and so I do not require a professional level of performance from my tools. Blades which see daily, heavy use would probably need to be better quality than either CMT or Freud offer...)

I've got a CMT 80tooth high angle ATB fine melamine/crosscutting blade and i've cut lots of MDF, Hardwood and Aluminium without trouble with chipped teeth yet.

Originally Posted by LuckyDuck

For what its worth, I have a low opinion of CMT blades as the carbide on the teeth seems to chip and wear more than other brands when cutting hardwood.

I have to agree that CMT blades dull quite quickly with melamine and hardwoods. Both ATB and HDF teeth. They are nice when new and sharp, but quickly struggle, especially when ripping hardwood.

Torquata look a little cheap and don't have all the fancy laser cut squiggles, but they cut great and so far have lasted better than CMT.

Being lazy this arvo I used a fairly new Torquata 24 tooth Rip blade to cut melamine and I was amazed it did a fantastic job with almost no chipout (just as good as my CMT special Melamine blade).

Easly the best blades ive ever used are AKE, and the best cheap blade is the Bosch Optline

Thanks for the feedback guys, you've given me some good food for thought. I was suprised to hear the bad reviews about the CMT blades as I thought for their price they would be the bees knees. Now I know that the Torquata brand isn't too bad I might explore that avenue.
Lignum, how expensive are the AKE brand blades? Would they be worth the extra money? I wouldn't mind a blade with the laser cut grooves to reduce the noise from resonance as my current blade mades more noise than the motor.

Cheers,

Evan

Tex what other blades do you have?
Personaly I use three blades one of those Torquata 24T ATB alanm mentioned and a dymoxian 80T TGC for ultra fine cut plus a Makita 64T ATB for general purpose.

Cant speak highly enough of the Mak blade... I brought the 80T Dyamoxian for cutting melamine the mak does a better job of less chipout!
The Mak been through hell and back I've had it since my caraudio days so its done heaps of MDF, its never been sharpened and it still cross cuts hard wood nearly as good as the 80T job!(the mak is a small kerf 2.8mm)
The 80T does have a smoother cut finish though, I might put it on my CMS later.
I notice Timbecon dont sell the dymaxion any more...

Harry, the only blade I have is the one which came with the saw which is a 60T (Not sure of brand). It's not a bad blade for soft woods but I was shocked by how quickly it became blunt after I ripped a small amount of Merbau.
I'm not sure if it's worth the money to have it sharpened, that's why I was thinking of putting the money into buying a decent blade which stays sharp longer and is worth paying to be sharpened.

I'm only a hobby ww. What do you guys think about my Irwin 238cm 60T for teh table saw. It does a clean cut in MDF and hardwoods. How will it last and will it be worth re-sharpening or is it a consumable that you just throw out when it get's stuffed?

Originally Posted by Tex79

Lignum, how expensive are the AKE brand blades? Would they be worth the extra money?

Tex, AKE are up in the higher $$$$ range and that reflects on the quality. You will never get complaints from those who use or have used them. They are beautifull blades with a superb cut. Worth every cent (the few extra bucks now will be forgotten in a month or two) A good investment that will make your table saw feel like its twice as good as it is

I am using a Freud Industrial 50 tooth with 10 degree hook (full kerf) and get great cuts. FWIW, the AKE (and Forest WWII if available in OZ) ) are probably worth the extra money, but if a good blade at a fair price is wanted, the Freud performs very well.

Originally Posted by Knurl

I'm only a hobby ww. What do you guys think about my Irwin 238cm 60T for teh table saw. It does a clean cut in MDF and hardwoods. How will it last and will it be worth re-sharpening or is it a consumable that you just throw out when it get's stuffed?

Sorry, mate. It's a tosser.

Originally Posted by Tex79

Harry, the only blade I have is the one which came with the saw which is a 60T (Not sure of brand). It's not a bad blade for soft woods but I was shocked by how quickly it became blunt after I ripped a small amount of Merbau.
I'm not sure if it's worth the money to have it sharpened, that's why I was thinking of putting the money into buying a decent blade which stays sharp longer and is worth paying to be sharpened.

Tex, 60T on a 10" blade is not really ideal for ripping anything. I'd be looking at a 40T or less (24T would be good) for ripping on a 10" saw. Is your blade really blunt or does it just have resin build up on the teeth? It was interesting to see how much general cutting improved when I cleaned my 48T general purpose blade.

I also have 2 Dymaxion blades, a 100T "triple chip" toothed blade for really fine cross/square cutting and laminate work, and a 96T low noise blade that makes little more noise than the the TS running without a blade. Both can rip very very slowly and quietly (esp with the 96T) compared to the 48T which is a real banshee in comparison.

Originally Posted by Lignum

Tex, AKE are up in the higher $$$$ range and that reflects on the quality. You will never get complaints from those who use or have used them. They are beautifull blades with a superb cut. Worth every cent (the few extra bucks now will be forgotten in a month or two) A good investment that will make your table saw feel like its twice as good as it is

I use AKE....brilliant professional quality.

I think I paid about $160 for a 48(or 40, cant remember) TCT 12" general purpose blade from a tool maker/sharpening service. Monster chunks of carbide on them that will last many a sharpening.

Originally Posted by Knurl

I'm only a hobby ww. What do you guys think about my Irwin 238cm 60T for teh table saw. It does a clean cut in MDF and hardwoods. How will it last and will it be worth re-sharpening or is it a consumable that you just throw out when it get's stuffed?

A quality blade designed to be resharpened many times will have very generous sized TC tips and usually an accompanying price. The actually number of resharpenings you can get from a blade is related to the size/thickness of the TC tips and the amount of tooth chipping that needs to be remove. I have looked at the Irwin blades in Bunnings and for light work I reckon they will stand at least a couple of resharpenings. If the teeth are not chipped, you have nothing to lose by having a go at touching the teeth up yourself with a small diamond lap. It's not necessary to generate razor sharp edges on the tips, just polish the front cutting face of the TC tips and do not touch the sides or the top of the tips . Keep the lap as dead square to the original face as you can.

Many TS users think their blades are blunt when they are actually just gunked up with resin and what they mainly need is a good clean.