Cutting aluminum with carbide wood cutting blade on tablesaw

[nailshooter41]

When we build patio covers we cut the "C" channels, bracing, and heavy columns with a 10" chopsaw with a regular 60 tooth wood cutting blade that was retired from finish work.

I cleaned all the resin and buildup off it before using it on aluminum an it works great.

I can only imagine the same results in a table saw. No matter what though, wear your goggles. Those little aluminum chips really fly around and have sharp edges. They stick in my arm all the time and I just brush them off. But that wouldn't work in the eyes.

Robert

[Peter Huebner]

First up, you should have no problem whatsoever cutting alu with carbide.

The funny thing is, I do exactly the opposite: I got an aluminium cutting carbide blade from my sawdoctor; it has very close set teeth and a negative rake on it and I use this blade for super clean wood cutting - for instance when I use MDF panels with .5mm real wood veneer for frame and panel - with an ordinary sawblade this veneer will chip back up to 3mm from the (trailing) edge, with the aluminium cutting blade it doesn't. Cost me a small fortune but worth every cent :-)

-P.