Need a new TS rip blade.

[Larry Jaques]

Or Makita SP6000K?

-- We're all here because we're not all there.

[Larry W]

A rip blade would not have 90 teeth. A good general purpose blade like the Forrest WW2, some of the Freuds or CMT, (I'm not familiar with exact model numbers for these) or a few other good quality blades will do very well for most use. A dedicated ripping blade is nice to have if you plan on doing a LOT of ripping, or ripping thicker stock, especially on a contractor's saw or other saw with 1.5 or less HP. Most 10 inch rip blades have 24 or fewer teeth. (Man, I remember when I had 24 teeth... Those were the days!)

[Larry W]

Sure, they were invented (by marketing dept perhaps?) to make the blade companies a few more bucks. I've used thin kerf blades with and without the stabilizers and can't tell the difference. What's more, I can't really tell the difference in normal use between a thick and thin kerf blade in my Delta Contractors saw. Not unless I'm say ripping 8/4 hard wood or similar, anyway. That said, I do prefer a standard kerf blade, but not for any stability reasons. I just find it a lot easier to calculate things with 1/8" instead of 3/16.

[Swingman]

As most of us don't work under laboratory conditions, citing your own personal experience, as others have done, and with _your_ own equipment in actual shop conditions, would carry much more weight.

And "YMMV" does have a very specific meaning/intent when addressing these types of issues.

[Morgans]

"Larry W" wrote

I found a high speed steel rip blade that someone before me had purchased. That was the time that you sent your blades out to be sharpened and reset when they got really bad. You touched them up yourself when they just got a little dull.

But I digress. I was ripping some really wet air dried yellow pine, and it was giving me fits. I decided that all my blades were not sharp enough for this job. Then I remembered the old rip blade I had seen on a shelf. This thing was a 10" blade, and I think it had 8 teeth. I put it in just to see how bad it would be.

Surprise. It went through the rest of that hard ripping wood at least twice as easy, and I was amazed.

So I agree; less teeth is better. 24 teeth should do well.

[Leon]

I have personally witnessed think kerf blades warp from heat during use... they "pop" back into position after they cool.

[Leon]

I have a good rip blade, I never use it. I only use a Forrest WWII reg kerf

40 tooth for all cuts. I lied, I use the rip blade when cutting contaminated wood. I even resaw with it full depth.

My Forrest blade is 10 years old.....and is resharpened every 18 months or so.

If you invest in a Forrest you will not have to wonder if you have one of the best...and in the long run it will be cheaper.

[SonomaProducts.com]

I have always assumed that stabilizers were invented long before the modern manufactyring techniques with laser cut reliefs and the nearly perfectly balanced blades they can manufacture nowadays.

[SonomaProducts.com]

Yep, my personal experience has generally been the same as the lab experiements. However, I never started using thin kerf on a regular basis until after I read the report that debunked the deflection problem. So I assume that my experience is tainted by my beliefs just like someone who believes deflection will happen will believe they see it. So the lab provides the empirical (sp?) evidence.

Anyway, I am just so happy to see an actual wood working topic I had to spout. Trying to dust up some trouble is just a way to prolong the pleasure. Actually surprised to see certain responders, having assumed I was a strong kill file candidate long ago.

[Lew Hodgett]

"Morgans" wrote

---------------------------- My first carbide tipped blade was a 10"-8 tooth Sears & Roebuck special.

Why 8 teeth?

It was low cost.

Lew

[Larry Jaques]

If it's on the shelves, it serves a purpose. Unused, unsold hardware costs money to keep there, so it doesn't last.

My ryoba cuts straight and smooth most of the time, but I've been bitten a couple times. A knot pushed it 1/4 of an inch from where it was supposed to go in a porch cover tubasix once. That was fun. I noticed that it was getting harder to saw with. Thin circular saw blades are vulnerable to the same forces. I have one thin Freud 7-1/4" blade on my skilsaw now and find that it doesn't always cut square. If I put a straightedge from corner to corner on a tubasix, I can see daylight in the middle.

Gimme a standard blade, please.

-- We're all here because we're not all there.

[Leon]

Totally agree, I recently got rid of my jointer, it collected dust and was in the way.

[Jack Stein]

I agree. I have 8, 12, 24, 40 and 60 tooth blades. I bought the 40, and was given the 60. The 8 tooth is the oldest and cheapest of all my blades and it cuts like butter. The cut is a little rough but I've glued up stuff without running it through the jointer and had no problem. Smooth surface is a non-issue but chip out and straight cut is all important. Sharp 24 tooth is good. 90 tooth is stupid for normal work, imo. My 60 tooth hangs on my wall...

I was cutting a 10° taper though half a Wolmanized 2x6x12' for a rail cap

and my underpowered saw was dying in the wet lumber with just a 1 1/2" depth. Switched to my 40 year old 8 tooth and hello dolly, cut the full 2 3/4" depth in one pass.

[Larry Blanchard]

I got extravagant and bought a Freud Fusion 10" last year. I don't see how any blade could do a better job. That said, if I had to do a *lot* of rough ripping at one time, I'd switch to a rip blade just to save my Fusion for the cuts that count.

I've got a thin kerf Freud LU something or other that I've used for ripping for several years. Does OK.

For plywood I use a cheap blade from Lowes or HD and replace it after each large project.

[Larry Blanchard]

Maybe they haven't, but I have. What's the problem? I had none.

[dadiOH]

I don't. The table saw has a rip blade and it is never changed. I forget the tooth count, no more than 40, probably less.

The cross cuts I do on it aren't great, bit rough and blows out the end, but I don't expect them to be and they *never* will be with a chisel tooth rip blade.

Not necessarily, I use my radial arm saw for them :)

[SonomaProducts.com]

Wow, that is infact a great way to test it. Yeah, if you do get deflection it will widen the zero clearance.

2 points.

[jtpr]

Guess mine is good then...

[CW]

I used to have a one horsepower tablesaw. Never used thin kerf blades on it. Never had any trouble cutting whatever I wanted on it. Blade design and feed rate are much more important than blade thickness.

[krw]

Quite obviously a standard kerf blade will use 33% more power than a thin kerf. If the saw has enough power with a standard kerf blade, of course you won't see a difference. If it's marginal thin-kerf is a good idea.