One Blade To Rule Them All?

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Jeremy Scuteri

Moderator
Jeremy
Do you use a single blade in your tablesaw for ripping, crosscuts and sheet goods or do you have dedicated blades for specific tasks?

What blade/blades do you recommend?

Thanks,
Jeremy
 

bobby g

Bob
Corporate Member
Jeremy,
I've used Forrest WWII blades in my table saw for years and like them. I also send them to Forrest for sharpening and have been very p[leased with the results.

bobby g
 

MarkE

Mark
Corporate Member
I used to use a combination blade for everything. Now I use different blades for rips, cross cuts, plywood, melamine, etc. It only takes a couple of minutes to swap out a blade and it does make a difference in the quality of the cuts, leaving less clean up of blade marks, burning, etc.
 

Jeremy Scuteri

Moderator
Jeremy
I used to use a combination blade for everything. Now I use different blades for rips, cross cuts, plywood, melamine, etc. It only takes a couple of minutes to swap out a blade and it does make a difference in the quality of the cuts, leaving less clean up of blade marks, burning, etc.

What kind of blades are you using now?
 

charlie jones

New User
Charlie
I use a Freud Premier Fusion for most everything unless I need to cut PT or something dirty. Then I get out an old blade.
 

zapdafish

New User
Steve
When I first started I did. Now I use the WWII for cross cuts and use a Freud for Rip cuts. It's quite a difference in feed rates when using a ripping blade and I no longer get the occasional burn mark. I have been ripping white oak so choice of wood may have something to do with my findings.
 

Dan Bowman

New User
Dan Bowman
Crosscuts can be a "money cut" because they need to be clean and sharp where they butt another piece, or things look pretty raggedy. I used to use a combination blade but found a good crosscut blade gives much better results. I'm happy to spend a couple minutes switching blades for the benefit. Right now I'm using an Onsrud rip and crosscut blade.
 

Bill Clemmons

Bill
Corporate Member
I have a number of specialty blades, but tend to keep a combination blade on the saw most of the time. If I'm making furniture I'm not too concerned about a "glue-ready" cut because I'm going to joint it anyway.
 

eyekode

New User
Salem
WWII here for most cuts. I will occasionally switch to a delta rip blade but mostly to get the flat tooth grind.
Salem
 

Bas

Recovering tool addict
Bas
Corporate Member
I use a Freud LU84R011 combo blade most of the time. When I am cutting lots of (nice) plywood, I switch to a specialty 80T plywood blade. Occasionally, when my combo blade is in need of a cleaning and I have lots of splintery wood to cross-cut, I'll switch to a 60T delta blade.
I also have a 24T rip blade when I'm cutting 8/4 hard maple. My saw can power through just about anything even with a combo blade, but there are fewer burn marks this way.

My previous saw was a hybrid saw, and I used a 60T Freud thin kerf blade as my general purpose blade. Yes, even with 60T it ripped quite well.
 

MarkE

Mark
Corporate Member
I used to use a combination blade for everything. Now I use different blades for rips, cross cuts, plywood, melamine, etc. It only takes a couple of minutes to swap out a blade and it does make a difference in the quality of the cuts, leaving less clean up of blade marks, burning, etc.

What kind of blades are you using now?

Freud. Good quality blades at a reasonable price.
 

ehpoole

Administrator
Ethan
On my tablesaw I use a 60-tooth ATB grind crosscut blade for most all of my general purpose work (including limited ripping). It works well exceptionally for crosscuting, ripping boards less than an inch or so in thickness, and for all sheet goods. However, I do switch out to 40-tooth combo blade for more extensive ripping (especially of boards greater than an inch in thickness). And, of course, there are my dado sets for when I need to make dado cuts. All of my blades are Freud.

I tend to favor the 60-tooth crosscut blade because it leaves a very smooth finish both ripping and crosscutting and especially with sheet goods.

I have a much wider selection of blades available and on hand for when they are needed, but in truth, 99+% of my non-dado work could be done with just that 60-tooth crosscut blade (about 95% of my work) and the 40-tooth combo blade (the remaining 5%) -- though I don't tend to rip a lot of thick (greater than 1") boards in my favored work. However, everyone's favored work and practices varies, and so too will their choices in blades.

My tablesaw is a 1-3/4HP hybrid (Steel City) cabinet model and it is usually the horsepower that dictates when I switch to the 40-tooth combo blade.
 

JackLeg

New User
Reggie
+? for a dedicated rip blade. I have a WWII also, but do a lot of ripping. Most of my crosscuts are made on the slider.

 

junquecol

Bruce
Senior User
Despite owning close to sixty blades ( I can't resist a bargin,) I'm basically a "two blade guy." Leitz 80 tooth for plys and Delta 7657 for everything else.
 

Acelectric

Wayne
Corporate Member
I've been considering getting the Freud Premier Fusion blade as my one blade to rule them all. Any of you guys had any experience with this blade? It claims to be excellent at cutting pretty much everything.
 

Canuck

Wayne
Corporate Member
I've been considering getting the Freud Premier Fusion blade as my one blade to rule them all. Any of you guys had any experience with this blade? It claims to be excellent at cutting pretty much everything.

I have been using the thin kerf version of this blade for about 18 months. It has been a good blade giving me nice clean crosscuts in red/white oak, poplar and walnut. I usually switch to a Freud 80 tooth plywood/melemine when I am slicing up a bunch of 3/4 plywood. I also use the Freud Glueline 40 tooth rip for most rips in hardwoods. I pretty much just leave the Fusion on the saw most of the time though.

My only small concern is when it is ready for a sharpening. Due to the compound grind, I was told that I would have to send it off to a Charlotte based Freud sharpening service. :dontknow:

HTH

Wayne
 

bob vaughan

Bob Vaughan
Senior User
If there were a single design that did it all, that's about all that would be sold. Look at handsaws. There was a ripping handsaw with a specific tooth configuration and a crosscut handsaw with another very different tooth configuration. The same is with a circular blade, a ripping blade and a crosscut blade. Combinations generally do both jobs rather badly compared to the specific purpose blade. Then there are blades for modern sheet goods.

There are better blades for cheaper money out there now than there ever has been. There's also a lot of cheap trash blades that work well enough for some. With so many makers and designs, its impossible for a single definitive answer to arise. The Forest WWII seems to be a very safe bet at least for cutting with the grain. Its my go-to blade for smooth cuts. Most rip blades leave a coarse finish, but don't put as much strain on the motor.

In 1975 I bought my first carbide tipped blade for $75,00. Adjusted for inflation, that's $323.00 in today's money. Back then, it was a major investment in tooling for me as that price would be for anyone buying a saw blade at that price today for a recreational wood shop.
 
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