saw blades - circular - what to buy?

iclark · Post by **iclark** » Sat Apr 17, 2010 11:30 pm

can someone point me to a good tutorial on saw blades for table saws, miter saws, and radial arm saws?

I just got a nice radial arm saw and found out (almost by accident) that I need to avoid "positive hook" saw blades because of the climb issue.

I have heard of kerf thickness, tooth set, and tooth tip tilt (in the set direction), but hook is a new one to me. apparently positive hook is a much more aggressive tip angle in the spin direction.

what other parameters am I missing?

which of the SS blades are tablesaw only and which can share time on my other tools?

pointers and info would both be welcome.

Ivan

paulrussell · Post by **paulrussell** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 11:51 am

I found this Sawdust Sessions video to be great in helping me answer these same questions:

http://www.shopsmithacademy.com/SS_Archives/SS109/SS109_Index.htm

(Select #4)

pennview · Post by **pennview** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 11:57 am

Here's an article that might help: http://www.rockler.com/articles/display ... tory_id=72

iclark · Post by **iclark** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 3:11 pm

thanks.

those were exactly what I was looking for. they complemented each other nicely, too.

the Rockler tutorial also has a link to their blade selection guide that has a nice parameter list for the blades that they carry.

Ivan

8iowa · Post by **8iowa** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 4:38 pm

The three thin kerf Shopsmith blades, rip, combo, and crosscut, cover almost all the bases very well. However, today's plywood has extremely thin veneer, like only 10/1000" thick. I have found a blade that cuts this plywood without tear out;

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page ... 6&pn=34146

I still use the Shopsmith 60T crosscut blade for most crosscutting, but at this price, this Rockler blade should be in your shop.

iclark · Post by **iclark** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 5:48 pm

8iowa wrote:The three thin kerf Shopsmith blades, rip, combo, and crosscut, cover almost all the bases very well. However, today's plywood has extremely thin veneer, like only 10/1000" thick. I have found a blade that cuts this plywood without tear out]http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page ... 6&pn=34146[/url]

I still use the Shopsmith 60T crosscut blade for most crosscutting, but at this price, this Rockler blade should be in your shop.

it took me a while to find anyone that listed full specs on this blade. the Ace Hardware site lists it at a 15* hook angle.

Rockler's tutorial says that 20* hook and up qualifies as high hook and that RAS and sliding compound mitre saws need very low or negative hook.

do I understand correctly that this would be a very good blade for a TS or mitre saw, but that I should not mount it in a RAS or a sliding mitre saw?

Ivan

pennview · Post by **pennview** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 7:41 pm

You are correct, with a positive 20 degree hook blade, the Avanti wouldn't be a good choice for a radial arm saw or a sliding miter saw. With a negative hook angle blade mounted on a radial arm saw or sliding miter saw, the blade is less aggressive and tends to push the wood back toward the fence, rather than try to lift the wood as would be the case with a blade with a positive 20 degree hook angle like the Avanti.

8iowa · Post by **8iowa** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 7:56 pm

I measured the hook angle on my blade with my Starrett protractor head on the combination square. It looks like the hook angle is 10 degrees.

iclark · Post by **iclark** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 9:27 pm

8iowa wrote:I measured the hook angle on my blade with my Starrett protractor head on the combination square. It looks like the hook angle is 10 degrees.

interesting. here is where I got the 15 degrees number:
http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/%28aoz ... =998025538

after some digging, there seem to be 2 Freud sites: freudtools.com (that never heard of the TK series) and the freud-tools.com (that may be a yahoo site and says that the TK806 is discontinued).
http://www.freud-tools.com/freudtkulfin.html

sounds like the Rockler close-out sale might be a good time to pick up a spare.

Ivan

Ed in Tampa · Post by **Ed in Tampa** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 10:27 am

I like a negative hook angle for my Radial Arm saw, a neutral or slightly positive (5 degree) for my miter saw and positive 10 or so for my table saw.

I think the biggest concern is the Radial Arm if you use a positive hook angle blade the blade tends to climb. If you ever had a Radial arm saw climb on you it is scarey. The blade sort of jumps atop the wood instead of cutting through it come rushing towards you. That is why I like a Radial arm saw that has the on off switch which places it under where my thumb normally goes. Then if the saw starts to climb my momentum causes my thumb to hit the kill switch.

Haven't had a problem with climb since I went to a negative hook angle blade. While RAS climbing is scarey it is far less scarey and dangerous than a table saw kickback.