Table saw blade recommendation

[Rezi]

Hi, I had a wade through the old posts to try and find the answer but after 10 pages I gave up so, sorry if this has been answered a million times.
I want to get a spare blade for my table saw (Axminster 216mm) and I emailed Cutting Solutions, as recommended by several people I remember, but they haven't answered in over a week. Where else should I try?

 

[9fingers]

Hi, I had a wade through the old posts to try and find the answer but after 10 pages I gave up so, sorry if this has been answered a million times.
I want to get a spare blade for my table saw (Axminster 216mm) and I emailed Cutting Solutions, as recommended by several people I remember, but they haven't answered in over a week. Where else should I try?

I tend to go for freud blades. given your location maybe ebay would be worth a look?

Bob

 

[Lurker]

Freud.

Fitted a new one two weeks ago, that I apparently bought 3 years ago.
Ordered a spare from the same Amazon supplier that was a pound cheaper than last time, arrived this morning.

My thinking was the price can only rise from now on and the money in the bank is loosing value.
Her majesty applies the same logic to gin

 

[Trevanion]

http://www.thewoodhaven2.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=23&t=5266 :eusa-whistle:

I like the Italian CMT blades (I rate them higher than Freud but there isn’t much in it, take a look at the thread I linked to for a comparison) which I usually get from Scott and Sargeant here, you may have a supplier closer to home though.

It all depends on what you do with your table saw though, exclusively ripping natural timber, or cross cutting timber and cutting man-made sheet materials, or a bit of both?

 

[Rezi]

Thanks for the replies, I'm normally in Hungary but I'm actually back in the UK at the moment. I use my table saw only occasionally and mostly for ripping and cross cutting small pieces hard and soft. Rarely sheet material.
I'll have a look at the Scott and Sargeant site, thanks.

 

[9fingers]

Thanks for the replies, I'm normally in Hungary but I'm actually back in the UK at the moment. I use my table saw only occasionally and mostly for ripping and cross cutting small pieces hard and soft. Rarely sheet material.
I'll have a look at the Scott and Sargeant site, thanks.

Both screwfix and toolstation carry a fair range of freud blades.

Bob

 

[Trevanion]

Weirdly, all of CMT's 216mm blades have a negative 5-degree rake angle, which isn't the most ideal for what you want, and the majority of the CMT blades that S&S have do have quite a long lead-time, the last time I ordered blades from them I had to wait a month to get them, they blamed Brexit and importing problems.

Your best bet would probably be a Freud in that case, as Bob suggests. I would suggest this one:

https://www.ffx.co.uk/product/Get/F...16-X-2.4-X-30-X-48T-General-Purpose-Saw-Blade

According to the Freud catalogue it's a 48-tooth 15-degree ATB with a positive (It doesn't say what it is exactly) rake angle which should be about right for what you plan on doing with it, it won't excel at ripping but it will do a reasonable job with smaller sections and it should be more than adequate for crosscutting.

 

[Rezi]

Thanks very much Trevanion. I saw the CMT blades on the S&S site and added 2 to my basket while I went looking for some planer blades. Thanks for pointing out that the negative rake is not suitable, I'll go for the Freuds in your link instead.

 

[RogerS]

What sort of blade are you after ? Size...teeth etc as I have a fair few that were sharpened before I moved house 4 years ago and never (or hardly used).

 

[Steve Maskery]

You most definitely do NOT want to put a negative rake blade on a tablesaw, it will lift the workpiece up in the air. They are for cross-cut saws where the centre of rotation is above the workpiece, not below it.

My go-to blade is a Freud thin-kerf. ATB (Alternate Top Bevel) with five or six teeth close together (i.e. small gullets) followed by a gap (i.e. a big gullet). It's not perfect for either ripping or cross-cutting, but it is competent at both and will cope with a range of thicknesses. Unfortunately, I've never found those blade in the UK, I got mine from the USA (even though they are made in Italy). The equivalent ones today are branded Diablo. They are still made by Freud but in China rather than Italy, if I understand things correctly.

The other blade that gets regular use is a 1/8" Flat Top Grind rip blade. Atkinson Walker IIRC, from Cutting Solutions.

I didn't realise that you could still get CMT stuff over here. Axminster used to sell them. I had lots of CMT router cutters which were all excellent. And now all gone . If you have them I'd like them back, please!

 

[Trevanion]

You most definitely do NOT want to put a negative rake blade on a tablesaw, it will lift the workpiece up in the air. They are for cross-cut saws where the centre of rotation is above the workpiece, not below it.

Not necessarily, a negative rake can be quite useful in a table saw for cutting up veneered or coated plywood/ MDF/MFC panels. They will raise a workpiece if you push it through too quickly as it's scraping rather than cutting the material away, but if you go steady and have the blade at a suitable height it's not much of an issue and you'll have an excellent cut finish to your panels.

Y
My go-to blade is a Freud thin-kerf. ATB with five or six teeth close together (i.e. small gullets) followed by a gap (i.e. a big gullet). It's not perfect for either ripping or cross-cutting, but it is competent at both and will cope with a range of thicknesses. Unfortunately, I've never found those blade in the UK, I got mine from the USA (even though they are made in Italy). The equivalent ones today are branded Diablo. They are still made by Freud but in China rather than Italy, if I understand things correctly.

I've seen these from across the pond. How good are they compared to a regular blade though? That pattern of blade made sense with plain-steel blades as you would have the four teeth set and you would leave the fifth unset to remove the waste but it seems unnecessary on a TCT blade where the carbide is all the same width and removing the same amount of material. I do wonder where it's more marketing gimmick rather than an actual improvement over a conventional blade, much like the American glue-line-rip blades which are just TCG tooth blades with some marketing nonsense printed on the side. Thankfully, there aren't so many gimmicks here.

I didn't realise that you could still get CMT stuff over here. Axminster used to sell them. I had lots of CMT router cutters which were all excellent. And now all gone . If you have them I'd like them back, please!

There are a couple of vendors for them, namely Scott and Sargeant but there are a couple of others also. I recently picked up one of their "Chrome" blades for my mitre saw, definitely a quality item.





There isn't a hell of a lot in it comparing Freud and CMT, but the CMT does have marginally larger carbide teeth and I do think they last longer personally, this photo shows a 24T Freud and a 24T CMT laid on top, the Freud hasn't been sharpened (Although it is very much due):



I've also been trying out their 165mm track saw blades, which seem to work very well at a very reasonable price point compared to Makita's own blades.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Not necessarily, a negative rake can be quite useful in a table saw for cutting up veneered or coated plywood/ MDF/MFC panels. They will raise a workpiece if you push it through too quickly as it's scraping rather than cutting the material away, but if you go steady and have the blade at a suitable height it's not much of an issue and you'll have an excellent cut finish to your panels.

I do have one such blade, bought for just that purpose. I hate it. It's like fighting anti-gravity all the time. I can't remember the last time it used it.

I've seen these from across the pond. How good are they compared to a regular blade though?

What do you mean by a "Regular" blade? A regular rip blade or a regular crosscut blade? It's not as good as either. It's a compromise. But it saves me having to change the blade every two minutes and it's a compromise I'm happy with for most jobs.

 

[Trevanion]

What do you mean by a "Regular" blade? A regular rip blade or a regular crosscut blade? It's not as good as either. It's a compromise. But it saves me having to change the blade every two minutes and it's a compromise I'm happy with for most jobs.

I'd consider a regular "combination" or "general purpose" blade to be a medium tooth-count ATB blade, such as a 48-tooth on a 300mm blade rather than a 24 tooth ATB or FTG for dedicated ripping or an 84 tooth ATB for fine cross-cutting.

CMT also makes the type you use, but they don't sell them in Europe, only in America. This makes me think they're just an American style with little actual benefit if any at all but sell better there because they look different to a regular blade and are emblazoned with all sorts of marketing hype, which seems to draw the American crowd as with many other things.

That's just my own completely theoretical opinion however, if I got my hands on one and actually tried it I may have a different verdict, or it may solidify what I thought.

 

[Rezi]

What sort of blade are you after ? Size...teeth etc as I have a fair few that were sharpened before I moved house 4 years ago and never (or hardly used).

Roger, my table saw takes 216mm blades, 30mm hole and I think, for my usage, a general purpose (48 teeth) blade will suit me. I'm just a hobbyist messing about with bits of wood. If you have anything that fits those measurements let me know, thanks.

 

[Steve Maskery]

48T on a 216mm blade sounds a bit fine to me. Great for cross-cutting, probably, but I think you will struggle to rip with it.