I need to cut a fair bit of birch plywood and oak-veneer plywood for some cabinet and bookcase projects.
I want to get a good blade that cuts smooth with minimum tearout but don't want to break the bank.
Any recommendations for blades in the $30-50 range? (or is that too low)
Thanks
blueman wrote: > I need to cut a fair bit of birch plywood and oak-veneer plywood for > some cabinet and bookcase projects. >
Based on the cost of the material above, the cost of a blade gets lost in the wash for a project like this.
I have a set (24T,50T,80T) of Freud blades, they work for me.
Some of the pros on this list use other blades they prefer.
The point is that blade cost ranks well down on the list of reasons to buy or not buy a particular blade.
Have fun.
Lew
Freud Diablo 80T. I cannot imagine a blade doing better than what this does for plywood. I'm sure there are other good ones, but this has worked very well for me.
Have to third with the guys on the Frued blades. I been using them quite a bit over the last few years on everything and think they are the best deal going. They cut really well, last well, and won't break the bank. I am in the process of moving everything over to Frued blades.
If only they weren't that gawdawful red...
Robert
snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote in news:1162186258.746480.209870 @b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:
I have Ridgid and Freud blades. It is a tossup between the two. The red color of the Freud isn't very good looking. The gold color of the Ridgid is a bit more attractive.
They didn't used to be :-).
But I'm about due to replace some so I guess I'll have to live with it.
I just bought a Ridgid 50-tooth titanium coated combo over the weekend for $39 at HD. I haven't had a chance to test it on a full range of materials yet, but I was cutting a bunch of 1/2 and 3/4 walnut and it was like a hot knife through butter, with very smooth edges.
Technique will matter more than blades (which are all of pretty good quality, if you keep 'em clean and don't saw nails and gravel). I've had good results with throwaway B&D Piranha blades, old Craftsman, and new Freud. Some folk swear by Forrest.
To get low tearout, one can set the blade low and do the first pass backward (this is to cut the bottom veneer, and a little of the veneer above it, with the blade heading into the work). It's a dado cut, so no splitter or riving knife allowed. The second pass (forward cutting) then cuts the top veneer and parts the wood.
Infeed and outfeed tables (or a good helper) are important in keeping the wood movement linear.
And the old recommendation is to use a steel blade, not carbide; the best sharp edge steel will hold is more effective at slicing wood fiber than the carbide technology allows. That only matters when the steel blade is high quality, hollow-ground, recently sharpened. And, I don't know where to find such nowadays.
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