New (to me) RAS

Got a Red Star 40-A saw to collect. About 1946 vintage. It takes a

12" blade. What blade spec should I look for (rake, tooth count) for cross cutting, no ripping. Brand names do not mean much as we do not get your Forrest, Freud etc here. Will have to go to a manufacturer and give him the specs. It apparently has a 3/4" arbour. Will a rebored existing dado set (done by same blade manufacturer) be OK.

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Reply to
Phil Hansen
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and you'll find some other folks with that saw. it has a bit of a following.

what you want in a RAS blade is negative rake. that is, the leading face of the tooth, the one that pushes flat through the wood is angled a small few degrees back. what this does is keep the tooth from trying to grab and climb over your board so much. otherwise tooth count and configuration will be determined by the material to be cut, the rpm of the saw and the horsepower of the saw.

Reply to
bridgerfafc

Over at Delphi, there are the DeWalt radial arm saw forums. Their recommended blades were designed by Mr. Sawdust, Wally Kunkel. A 60 tooth,

+5 degree positive hook angle TCG, for ripping or crosscutting (minor positive hook angle) available only through Charles at Forrest. Generally for crosscuts only, a -5 degree hook angle is prefered, with around a 60 tooth count (normally seen on 8-10" blades) atb grind. You can buy reducer bushings, since normal 12" blades now have a 1" arbor and use an off the shelf Freud LU91M012. It is a 12" atb, 72 tooth, -5 degrees with a 1" arbor. If your going custom arbors, as I don't know if Freud does it, I would say go with Forrest or Ridge Carbide.
Reply to
Randal

I think that the business of Triple Chip Grind and Mr. Sawdust is a misreading. Reading his book he says that he first encountered the TCG working with some kind of plastic in a cabinet shop and tried it on wood and was surprised at how well it worked, and that at the time of his writing he hadn't encountered anything more generally satisfactory. First blade I had on my RAS was triple chip grind--it makes a decent cut but it bogs down badly on rips and isn't as clean on crosscuts as the ATB Oldham that I use now.

One nice feature of the TCG though is that all the teeth are the same width with no set, so it's easy to find a referent point when setting stops.

Reply to
J. Clarke

Thanks for the replys, been away for the weekend. Got back today with the saw in the back. Needs some cleaning up but will get there. Your comments on blades are well received. Thanks

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Reply to
Phil Hansen

I have a 50A from about the same vintage. I found a great buy on ebay for Freud 15" Ultimate Cutoff blades. I bought 3 of them about 8 years ago and I am still on my first blade. I work with a lot of Ipe' and Hard maple. The frued always gives me a glass smooth finish. I've gotten lazy the last couple of years and don't usually change out my blade when I cut PVC or other synthetic materials. The Freud is almost as good of a blade as the 50A is a saw, it may even outlast the saw (hahaha...)

Reply to
Oughtsix

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