# Saw blade question



## Barry747 (Jun 16, 2011)

After 9 years of woodworking (hobbyist) I finally broke down and bought a table saw, the Dewalt DWE7480. It's due in tomorrow. (Lowes screwed up the order-they admitted it-and it's been over a week, but that's another story.) The saw comes with a 10" 24 tooth blade that everyone says is cheap and should be replaced. I'm looking for some advice before I buy another blade or blades. As a note, due to the width of the riving knife, the blade must have a kerf of at least 0.94" so thin kerf blades are out. I would prefer not to replace the riving knife at this time. A reviewer wrote that Freud Diablo and Irwin Marples blades will fit but I'm open to any brand at this point. 

For most of my projects I use 4/4 hardwood, and sometimes pine, along with plywood either 1/2 or 3/4 inch thick. Occasionally, I'll rip a 2X4 for something or other. I'd like to get an edge that won't require a lot of additional work to clean it up although I do have a jointer and mounds of sandpaper. My projects will range from jewelry boxes to small tables.

As a hobbyist, the saw won't be used on a daily basis so I'm not looking to spend a lot for a professional blade or blades. With that said, I'm not looking for junk either. Based on what I've said, would you recommend one general purpose blade or should I spring for two blades, one for ripping and one for crosscuts? How many teeth and what tooth configuration? What brands should I look at?

As a newbie to table saws I really appreciate any advice you can give.


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## Stick486 (Jan 4, 2013)

Barry747 said:


> After 9 years of woodworking (hobbyist) I finally broke down and bought a table saw, the Dewalt DWE7480. It's due in tomorrow. (Lowes screwed up the order-they admitted it-and it's been over a week, but that's another story.) The saw comes with a 10" 24 tooth blade that everyone says is cheap and should be replaced. I'm looking for some advice before I buy another blade or blades. As a note, due to the width of the riving knife, the blade must have a kerf of at least 0.94" so thin kerf blades are out. I would prefer not to replace the riving knife at this time. A reviewer wrote that Freud Diablo and Irwin Marples blades will fit but I'm open to any brand at this point.
> 
> For most of my projects I use 4/4 hardwood, and sometimes pine, along with plywood either 1/2 or 3/4 inch thick. Occasionally, I'll rip a 2X4 for something or other. I'd like to get an edge that won't require a lot of additional work to clean it up although I do have a jointer and mounds of sandpaper. My projects will range from jewelry boxes to small tables.
> 
> ...


can't miss w/ the Freuds..

here's some information that you may be able to use...
some of the information is redundant but it doesn't miss much...


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## phillip.c (Aug 9, 2012)

Barry,

I would suggest you purchase a blade for ripping and a blade for cross cutting. I owned that saw and I had no problems with freud blades and the riving knife. If you try to use a general purpose blade you'll just be dissatisfied with the results and will end up buying additional blades.


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## Marco (Feb 21, 2009)

Phillip and Stick are right.

I use a 60 tooth Freud, a great all purpose blade that is worth the money yo re-sharpen.

Enjoy your saw!


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

Barry I'm not familiar with that saw but one thing to consider is that the more teeth the blade has the more power is required to turn it. The fastest cutting blade you will find is around 18 tooth. I have a full kerf 24 tooth Freud that is is glue line capable but I also have 3hp to turn it with. Full kerf usually means .125 or .126" kerf. A thin kerf blade is close to the splitter size you mentioned but they do take less power. Another option for faster ripping speed is to go down to an 8.5 or 9" blade but depth of cut suffers.

More teeth will usually mean a smoother cut as well as negative rake. You can buy a blade for cutting melamine and it does a pretty good job of crosscutting as a rule. Watch out when buying fine toothed blades. Some are only designed for a 1" depth of cut. I ruined one once when I was a noob trying to cut deeper.

You can learn a bit by going to someone like Forrest's site and looking at the chart of what their various blades are recommended for. Their blades are supposed to be the best but I've had very good luck with Freud blades. The very best blades I've come across, at least in terms of sharpness, are Onsrud's but I'm not sure if they are making them anymore.


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

I suppose that the issue of blades falls into the category of "What You Don't Know About, You Can't Miss". 

I started my interest in wood working five years ago and purchase a couple of combination full kerf Forrest blades, they were recommended to me by Mark Mueller of Incra Tools. 

I have tried some thin kerf Freud Bllades along the way. I have used all of them for both cross cuts and ripping and, I have to say that in my inexperience I see no difference in the way any of the blades cut for me. The cross cuts and the rips are satisfactory for a person like me that doesn't know the difference or what results I should expect. 

The expression "ignorance is bliss" is probably applicable here. 

I recently had one of the Forrest blades re-sharpened, after betting it back from Forrest it cut just like it did before I sent it in to be re-worked, it needed three teeth replaced, but it was still cutting just fine in my opinion which is not a very sophistigated opinion. 

As anybody knows that reads my threads and posts on this forum, they know that I am not afraid to show my lack of understanding about things that are just common sense to most people, but man do I get a great education from members that gracefully attempt to set me straight. So, I'm waiting to hear what is going to be said about my observation of the cutting results that I have described. 

This may cost me some money once I am more savvy about what I should be looking for in a blade. To me as long as the cut is straight and does not burn as long the feed rate is constant and reasonable, I'm happy as a clam. I will say that I do experience burning when I get overly careful and feed slower than I should, but that is my fault I suppose, but maybe not, heck, I don't know. 

Jerry


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## kywoodchopper (Jul 18, 2013)

Hi Barry, I don't think you want a blade that is .94". That is almost an inch. I have Freud, Tenryu and Forrest. All do great jobs. Malcolm / Kentucky USA


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## routergieck (Feb 11, 2013)

If you are doing a lot of smaller wood size (jewelry boxes) projects and are not depth limited I would suggest you go to the thin 7 1/4 blades available at most box stores. Freud are as good as any. These blades are only 1/16 inch wide and result in a very smooth cut with little waste and low power requirement.
Dennis


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## BrianS (Nov 7, 2004)

Barry, use the stock blade until it dulls on you, then replace it. When I bought my Rigid, that was the common complaint, the stock blade is junk. Iirc, it was a 40 tooth combination. I used it to cut a lot of wood and was satisfied with it. I have since replaced it with a 50 tooth Freud combination blade. Yes, there was a HUGE difference. Now, I'm not blessed with 3hp like Charles is, but the Freud cuts great on a lower powered saw.


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## richjh (Jan 14, 2013)

Barry, 
I have Freud blades for laminate and veneer work. I use Forrest Woodworker II for general cutting. I have a 40 tooth in the TS and an 80 tooth in the cutoff saw.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

The folks here have just about said it all. I have three blades, one for ripping, one finer one for crosscuts (it has 4 teeth in a row, the first three have slanted tips, but fourth is flat). That second one cuts a glue up quality edge. The third is an 80 tooth blade that is particularly nice for plywood or any cut where I want a perfect, baby's behind cut. All my blades are Freud, but there are many others, Forrest, for example. It is the blade, not the saw that makes the cut. I save my old manufacturer blades for cutting cheap fence slats for some odd outdoor projects where redwood is the best material. These blades go in the sliding miter saw.


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## N'awlins77 (Feb 25, 2011)

This board, and most of it's memebers, turned me on to the Freud blades. I purchased a general purpose and a fine tooth for my dedicated plywood sheet saw. Made a complete set of kitchen cabinets and every one of my Freud blades are as sharp as new. I also keep them clean with Trends tool and bit cleaner.


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## Barry747 (Jun 16, 2011)

kywoodchopper said:


> Hi Barry, I don't think you want a blade that is .94". That is almost an inch. I have Freud, Tenryu and Forrest. All do great jobs. Malcolm / Kentucky USA


Malcolm, That was a typo that i copied from a product description on Amazon. Of course, you are right. It should be .094". Poor proof reading on my part. Sorry about that.


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## Barry747 (Jun 16, 2011)

I'd like to thank everyone for their recommendations and suggestions. 
Stick, I will read the doc's you posted and i'll go to the Forrest site and see what they have posted there. 
It seems like the consensus is for Freud blades so they'll be the first ones I look at.
My saw comes with a 24 tooth blade. Should be ok to to rip with while its sharp but I'm guessing that i won't be happy with the crosscuts. If that turns out to be true the first blade i'll buy will be a crosscut. 

I learned a long time ago that the difference between education and experience is that with education you learn from other people's mistakes and experience are your own mistakes. I thank all of you for helping me with my education. As i sit here waiting for the UPS guy I'm anxious to begin my experience. Hopefully I'll still have all of my fingers at the end of it:haha:


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## MAFoElffen (Jun 8, 2012)

For your saw, I'd stay with a thin kerf. That is what the riving blade that came with is sized for. Even if you were to want to try a full kerf blade to see how it did, first I would recommend that you also get a thicker riving knife... because the thinner riving knife would not prevent a kickback while using a full kerf blade.

Second- Once you get a thicker riving knife, so you can stay safe... Be conservative while trying it out. I read that the Bosch 4100-09 is rated at 15 amps, which works out to 1.4 HP... It says it will do all styles of blades and tooth counts, to include dado's and molding heads.

But... I would say thaT A 6" dado would be max diameter (and possibly pushing it to try to drive that!) What I used to recommend to apprentices, was at least 1.5 HP to drive a dado set. With 1.4 HP, it should have enough power to drive a full kerf blade. But would would have to judge that by seeing it the load was excessive on the motor... Everyone seems to rate motors differently, from one manufacturer to another.

When I started looking up the blades that Bosch says works with that... I stopped at the 4th Blade recommendation, which all those were thin-kerf blades.... but ranges from 24 tooth to 80 tooth blades. What I would recommend with those (to get a better quaility cut from those, is use a blade stiffener set (Bosch sells them in pairs).

On most my 10" TS'es, the 2 blades I use _most_ are a 40 tooth rip and a 60 tooth crosscut.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

I definitely agree with the blade stiffeners. Even Forrest recommends using them. I found them an absolute necessity on a chop saw with a mid quality blade. My picture frame miters werte horrible until I installed a set on it. I would also say they are a really good idea with a thin kerf blade for ripping. 

I differ from Mike in blade of choice. I prefer a 24 tooth ripping blade as my go to blade and unless I need a really fine cut it gets used for my crosscuts in many cases.


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## Barry747 (Jun 16, 2011)

Thanks guys. Actually, this is a Dewalt and it doesn't support a dado set. For the type of work I do I am willing to forgo that since I can always use a router either on my table or hand held with a straight edge.

Most of the blades I looked at are thin kerf. My original statement was a little off base. I am learning as I go. I guess what the reviewer meant about the width of the kerf is that it had to be no thinner than .094". Most of the blades I looked seemed to be at least that but some were thinner.

The saw came in yesterday and it's great. Only tiny tweaks to get everything into alignment. Love the fence system. I'm not thrilled with the blade but I'm going to use it to make a stand for the TS and a crosscut sled. Only problem is that the throat plate has a 1/8th inch bow in it. I'm going up to Lowes this afternoon and see what they're going to do about it. I called their customer service yesterday and they were very accommodating and said someone would call me today from the store. I doubt that's going to happen based on history so i'll take the plate to the store and see what they say.

Thanks again for your advice.


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