2 degree neagative rake radial arm saw blades

[Hambone Slim]

Mike from National Carbide & Tool stopped by the shop today with two pair of radial arm saw blades. I had mentioned to him that I wasn't satisfied with the blades I've used - eveything I tried either was too aggresive, or didn't cut pretty, or wore too fast. My saw is an old 9" DeWalt, so Mike made up two each 20 tooth 2 degree negative rake and 40 tooth negative rake CobraCut blades for the saw. He went on about the advantages of the 2 degree negative rake over 5 degree negative rake, the radial angle, the extra bevel on the tips, why the big name blades are no good, etc., but mostly that went over my head. I will say the 20 tooth was able to saw 8/4 oak effortlessly and with a super clean polished cut with no tear out on the edge. Next we put in one of the 40 tooth blades and I was able to get a super clean cut with no tear-out on walnut veneer. Later I was cutting some 1/2" thick basswood and just zipping through it fast as can be. Of course, basswood is super light, but still the blades didn't want to self feed no matter how fast I went.

Sweet blades. Just thought I'd give Mike a plug; I've got quite a few of his blades now, and I'm real happy with the performance of all of them.

-- Timothy Juvenal

[president]

What you have there is the sawblade version of a Nascar stock car.

Retail saw blades are like showroom cars. They are made to be good at a low price and appeal to a broad audience. We supply technology to top end saw builders and all the retailers talk about is price. On the industrial side it is a different story. In a sawmill a difference in true kerf of .002" can mean $100,000 a year so the blades are tuned better.

You have a blade built for performance . My guess is that all the teeth are straight and square. The grinding was done with a finer grit wheel and more passes than on a retail blade. I would also guess that the flatness is somewhere around .001" instead of .002" or .003" and that the grind tolerances are under .001".

A good custom shop will give you much better design but also, and maybe more importantly, much better execution of that design.

Tom

[Hambone Slim]

Yeah, that sounds about right. Mike was telling me about how he can grind to closer tolerances than the production blade companies. He was saying that he has some improvements to the various tooth angles that increase blade life, & why production blade companies can't do this, but he was getting over my head with a technical discussion of what the machines are capable of grinding etc.

Of course what you really can't get from a mass-produced blade sold through a catalog or a website, is the owner of the company coming to your shop, discussing your saw needs, designing the best blades for your use, grinding them himself, and them hand delivering them and insisting you try them out right away to make sure you're 100% satisfied! For a small business owner such as myself, that saves me time and money, + I get the best possible tool for the money.

-- Timothy Juvenal

[president]

Wow,

Just saw your web page.

Beautiful work.

I can't find National Caribde and Tool on the Internet.

Can you send me contact inf?

Thanks, Tom

[Hambone Slim]

Thanks!

I guess they don't have a website - they should.

National Carbide Saw & Tool

7353 State Road Philadelphia, Penna 19136 [phone]

contact: Mike Santarone

-- Timothy Juvenal