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Table Saw Blades

Most table saws on the market today come with a 10” general purpose saw blade with 5/8 inch arbor. The better ones have carbide tipped teeth, are made of hardened steel, and have a protective coating designed to reduce friction and the residue remaining on the blade after cutting. So why do so many table saw reviews you come across suggest you throw out the blade that came with your saw and buy a better one? Obviously, not all table saw blades are created equal but what makes one better than another?

General Purpose or Combination Table Saw Blades

First, there’s the issue of the application for which you are using the saw. There are different blades better suited for certain types of cutting and many experts feel the general purpose saw blade which is designed for multiple applications does none of them very well.

There are two kinds of basic cuts made with a table saw: rip cuts, where you cut the stock with the grain of the wood, and cross cuts, where you cut across the grain of the wood. General purpose, or combination blades, come in many different tooth counts and it is the number of teeth on the blade that determine the speed and smoothness of the cut. A blade with more teeth will yield a smoother cut but it will take longer to do it.

Since combination blades can come with tooth counts ranging from 24 to 80 you can see that you’re going to compromise a little on almost everything you cut. Many experts feel you should use different blades to match your cutting application... But if you’re not making cabinets or furniture, why would you want to do that?

Rip Blades and Crosscutting Table Saw Blades

Even if you will be doing nothing but ripping lumber, a blade designed specifically to rip wood will provide a significant advantage over a combination blade: speed. A ripping blade typically has 24 flat top (FT) teeth which will make short work of even hardwoods.

When cutting against the grain the saw will experience more resistance so a blade designed specifically for crosscutting lumber has from 60 to 80 teeth with beveled edges in an alternating pattern. These ATB (Alternate Top Bevel) blades have a tooth with a right beveled edge followed by a tooth with a left beveled edge and so on. This pattern gives the blade an edge much like a sharp knife and gives a cleaner and smoother cut.

Specialty Table Saw Blades

There are specialty blades available for cutting metals and other non-ferrous materials, for plastics and laminates, and for veneers, veneer plywood, and even thin veneers. But for those with needs for moreadvanced woodworking techniques, no specialty blade is as valued as a stacked dado set with 5/8 inch arbor. It is essential in channeling wood for furniture and cabinets. If you’re interested in learning even more of the finer points of saw blade technology, like positive and negative hook angles, gullet spacing, and triple chip grind teeth, there are a few “Saw Blade 101” technical resource articles on the net that will tell you more than you may want to know. But you get the point: to get the best result, use a blade configured for the job you’re doing.

Okay, you don’t want to be bothered with changing blades all the time. You just want to get a saw with a decent blade. Fine. Let’s talk about that. The vast majority of saws sold feature universal motors with less than 2 HP. Some manufacturers include the standard 10 inch 5/8 arbor blade with a 1/8 kerf. The kerf is the amount of wood the saw “eats” to make the cut. If you fed a piece of stock an inch or two into the saw and then safely pulled it back you would see a notch in the wood where the saw started to pass through. That notch is the kerf and it is usually 1/8 inch wide to allow the blade plate to pass through the wood. The plate needs to be this thick to resist the vibration and heat generated in the cutting process.

Saws with lower horsepower are seen by many experts as underpowered and will slow down as they work through the wood leading to more friction and heat. You may have seen stock with actual burn marks on it after it has been run through a table saw. There are now thin kerf blades available that don’t put so much strain on these motors and are ideal for use with lower powered saws. Some manufacturers are now including them with their entry level saws. Look for one of these. Also look for blades that have protective coating that reviewers have found to work. They might not be as good as the permashield coating you get with saws from industry leaders like Freud and Forrest, but some coating is better than no coating. The moral is, if you’re going to stick with the included saw blade, make sure the quality of the blade is an influencing factor in your purchase decision.