I have a 10 inch Freud table saw blade that is very warped, or bowed, to the point where I can't rip anything if the blade is fully raised because it will bind terribly between the rip fence and the center of the blade. If I lower the blade to 1" it rips smooth as butter, and when I miter cut from the other side of the blade it is similarly smooth, sharp and aligned. If I raise the blade fully and measure flatness of the blade half-way between its center and its outer edge, there is a 0.015 runout or bow. So instead of being flat, the blade is more like a bowl. I'd like to know why this occurred and have 3 ideas, but am not sure which (if any is true):
1) The blade sucks, never was flat, and I need to spend $100 to get a real blade. 2) I overtightened the arbor nut and introduced the warp into the blade. I did tighten it probably too tight, not wanting it to loosen during use. And when I removed the blade, the warpage definitely lessened at least to the point where the teeth made contact with the table when resting flat on either side. 3) My arbor washer is incorrect for the arbor on my unisaw. The diameter of the arbor is 2.5" and makes contact with the blade only on its perimeter. The diameter of my arbor washer is only 1 7/8". So when I overtightened the arbor nut, the smaller arbor washer cause the whole damn blade to cup into the arbor, making a dish shape. Shouldn't the arbor washer be the same size diameter as the arbor?Thanks for any suggestions, Greg Greg