Thin-Kerf Blades

I was at my least favorite store today - the orange one. They have 10" TS saw blades, and some say "thin kerf".

But are they realy thin kerf, or is that just marketing hype? None of them list their actual thickness, so I am little skeptical about buying one unless I know that it really thin kerf. When I stack one against a regular blade, they seem pretty much the same to me.

Reply to
Perry Aynum
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IMHO Thin kerf is NOT a desirable feature. Typically a thin kerf blade is one that is narrower than 1/8" thick. Think kerf blades are inherently less stable than a regular kerf blades. The ONLY advantage to a thin kerf blade is that it requires less power to cut with. That is not necessarily a reason to buy thin kerf. I bought my last thin kerf blade over 20 years ago and it shall remain that way.

Reply to
Leon

I have a Freud Diablo on my table saw. All these Diablo blades are painted red. It has a noticeably thinner kerf.

I don't know if it would meet the standard that Leon needs, but I think there's been an improvement since the one he tried.

Unless someone here can recommend a better blade in the same price range, I'll get one for the RAS next time it needs one (or next time I find an excuse to just get one). Some of them are pricey. I think I paid about $30 a few years ago.

I use blade stabilizers on both machines.

Reply to
KIMOSABE

A standard blade is 1/8" (usually), and a thin-kerf is 3/32" (usually).

The latest issue of Fine Woodworking has a good article on thin-kerf blades, and they generally approve of them.

They're good for lower-powered saws, and good for wasting less wood when you're doing multiple rips on the same piece of stock and, according to the writer of the article, they don't seem to have any bad habits.

Tom Dacon

Reply to
Tom Dacon

I bought a couple to help out on the low-powered portable Ridgid saw. I since sold that saw but kept the blades which I have used on my Delta Hybrid. They work great as long as I use a set of stabilizers. BUT.... I like my Royce-Ayr 0.126 blades much better.

Reply to
Robatoy

If you were in the same brand of orange store I frequent when I'm desperate, they have many rulers and other measuring devices hanging on pegs near the saw blades. A "standard" blade has a kerf around 1/8" and you should be able to at least eyeball how much less any particular blade is than that.

Norm

Reply to
Norm Dresner

Fine Woodworking also said that the quality of cut depends on the general quality of brand. Thus, I would expect a Forrest blade would yield better results than those sold at the "orange" store. Given that, the thin-kerf blades are a good option for the huge population of us wood-butchers that haven't been able to afford expensive cabinet saws.

Scritch

Reply to
scritch

Actually you do not need a cabinet saw to get better results from a regular kerf blade. I used thin kerf up until about 1988 on a 1 hp Craftsman TS. I was not very happy with the flatness of the cuts that I was getting and I was getting burn marks on some cuts. My local sharpening service suggested switching to a Systematic regular kerf combo blade. I was very skeptical but he promised that I would not be disappointed. I never looked back. I continued to use "that" regular kerf blade until I upgraded to a cabinet saw about 12 years later.

With all this in mind and with any blade, proper saw set up is essential to good results.

Reply to
Leon

I recently put a Freud Fusion blade on my antique Delta saw. I was impressed. Crosscuts look like they've been polished and plywood cuts have no splintering. Haven't done any ripping yet, but if it turns out bad I'll post that info.

Freud claims the Fusion blade is as good or better than the Forrest. So far, I haven't seen any evidence to disprove that claim.

Reply to
Larry Blanchard

Yes, that's why I started looking into them. I have an under-powered TS.

Reply to
Perry Aynum

My problem was not so much with a rough or unsmooth cut when using a thin kerf. The problem I had was mostly from the blade flexing and not making a "flat" cut. If your stock is not perfectly straight a board van cause a think kerf to not spin true when ripping.

Reply to
Leon

According to the Fine Woodworking article referenced earlier, a typical kerf would be just a hair over 1/8" and a thin kerf could be about 7/64"

Reply to
Dick Snyder

I guess another big advantage to using a 1/8" kerf blade is during lay out planning. It is pretty easy to figure an additional 1/8" here and an additional 1/8" there when trying to determine if you can get so many pieces out of a piece of wood while ripping. The typical 3/32" kerf almost requires the use of a calculator. 7/64" here and there and here again would be a royal PIA. I mean what does 1.25" plus 1.25" plus 1.25", plus 1.25" plus 7/64" plus 7/64" plus 7/64" add up to? If the blade was 1/8" kerf the answer would be 5-3/8", yes that S4S 1 x 6 will work. Fortunately my software takes that all into consideration but if you only need to cut a few pieces from a single board out of a stack of various width boards, let me stick with 1/8"

Reply to
Leon

I have an old delta contractor's saw. I have a WWII 0.125" kerf blade. The cut has a lot of burning and drag when used on thick lumber (which of course includes bevel cuts on 3/4" stock). I bought a freud thin kerf 24 tooth rip blade specifically for ripping. Maybe the cut of the Freud isn't polished smooth, but it flies thru the wood with zero burning. Being lazy, I frequently use the rip blade for cross cutting when a small amount of tear out is tolerable. I only use the WWII for plywood and 3/4" stock or thinner. If I had to do it over, I'd try the WWII thin kerf with 30 teeth.

Reply to
MB

I have a nice set as well. Lets look at the design

For a given motor system (saw) a given blade if rigid will provide back pressure (resistance) in the process of cutting. The motor is turning the face of the cutter as hard as it can. If the same motor has 1/2 the area to cut, the cut will be clean and better than the wider blade.

It is like driving a small diameter sharp nail into a board. Then take a nail of 2x diameter and drive it.

The larger one will likely chip and compress. The small one shears.

Mart> >

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

I had the same exerience when I had a craftsmen, and found getting rid of the stabalizers and going with a better blade, also a systematic cured a lot of problems especially after a tune up. If the blade isn't perfect the stabilizers when torqued down may make it worse.

Mike M

Reply to
Mike M

Consider however that both will make the same amount of contact with the remaining wood, given both are of the same grind, sharpness and tooth count. The wider kerf blade may infact compress 1/3 more material however that will be only on the waste material. The solution is simply to push slower with the wider kerf blade. That will effectively make the blade, any blade, cut as though it had more teeth and naturally produce a smoother cut.

Reply to
Leon

But can cause increased burning in some wood.

Reply to
Dave Balderstone

Which particular WWII were you using, the 30 or 40 tooth count blade. The

30 count is recommended for cuts in stock 2" or thicker.
Reply to
Leon

That is true.

Reply to
Leon

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