Thread: Which blade for TS55

Hi Les,

The FESTOOL Universal saw blade (160x2,2x20 W28) is very capable for ripping 25mm hardwood and leave a pretty nice finish...up to a full 50mm really. The Panther is great where speed and volume are an issue and you need to get a lot of ripping done fast.

Hi Les,

I used to help make canoes out of cedar strips in Japan. For a timber as soft as ceder, a blade like the Panther would be best as the gullets fill faster than the teeth can cut.

With a hard wood however, each pass with a tooth isn't going to be able to take as big a bite, so the universal blade will give you more bites per second, and not be likely to fill the gullets.

It would be an interesting test to run the blades agains the clock on different densities of timber.

Till such a test is done, I would suggest the universal blade for ripping hardwood and the panther for ripping your softer timbers.

FWIW

Steve

Thanks Anthony and Steve for the useful info. I have 2 of the 48T blades that get alternated when a clean is needed. I must say that the blades stay sharp for a long time when keeping them clean. I only wish to buy one other blade that will be used occasionally for only specialized ripping such as re-sizing a small door which is easy with the TS55 on the track. Larger ripping jobs are done on the table saw. Looks like the 28T blade will be the go. Glad that all the new blades have the same kerf size (2.2mm).
Regards
Les

The advice given proved to be spot on. The W28 Blade has given excellent results when ripping 22mm Euro Beech. When trimming some frames for panel doors, the cuts across the grain at the corners was also very good. The good about this is that the Festool blades have also come down in price recently.

Regards
Les