Using circular saw blades

rdewinter · Post by **rdewinter** » Sun Oct 24, 2010 2:15 am

I was wondering if anyone has tried using a common 7 1/4" circular saw blade in their SS. Other than the depth of cut, what would be the other disadvantage to using these types of blades? The 7 1/4" blades are certainly cheaper than the 10" variety.

mickyd · Post by **mickyd** » Sun Oct 24, 2010 3:18 am

rdewinter wrote:I was wondering if anyone has tried using a common 7 1/4" circular saw blade in their SS. Other than the depth of cut, what would be the other disadvantage to using these types of blades? The 7 1/4" blades are certainly cheaper than the 10" variety.

Check out this thread Bob. Good cross section of interesting views.
https://forum.shopsmith.com/viewtopic.php?t=6243

SDSSmith · Post by **SDSSmith** » Sun Oct 24, 2010 9:59 am

rdewinter wrote:I was wondering if anyone has tried using a common 7 1/4" circular saw blade in their SS. Other than the depth of cut, what would be the other disadvantage to using these types of blades? The 7 1/4" blades are certainly cheaper than the 10" variety.

7-1/4" circular saw blades are what I use on my Shopsmith 10ER.

a1gutterman · Post by **a1gutterman** » Sun Oct 24, 2010 12:57 pm

rdewinter wrote:I was wondering if anyone has tried using a common 7 1/4" circular saw blade in their SS. Other than the depth of cut, what would be the other disadvantage to using these types of blades? The 7 1/4" blades are certainly cheaper than the 10" variety.

Well, if you checked out the link that mickyd provided, you will see that the answer to your 1st question is...yes. As to the answer for your second question, there are many opinions (and some of them come with appropriate back-up documents that seem to contradict each other). Basically, it seems that at different times in the past, SS (or previous companies that manufactures the SS), have recommended the use of different size blades. As time rolled on, safety became more of an issue, both for the user and for the manufacturer's pocket book (read that as avoiding lawsuits): Due to the safety regulations now in use, and the current design of the Mark V, it seems that no saw blade other then a 10" is recommended for the ShopSmith (with a single exception: the use of a smaller diameter cutter, whether a single blade or a set of blades, is safe when making non-through cuts, i.e., dado cuts, etc.). That does knot mean that all ShopSmith units are designed for using only 10" blades, and although I have never owned more then the 1995 model that I have, I believe that some older models were designed for smaller blades. Whether or knot you use a 7 1/4" blade will be up to you, but you must decide if you will be safe using it.

Your last comment about pricing got me to think about something that was knot discussed in the other thread: Yes a larger blade is usually more expensive, but looking at it objectively, with a smaller blade you are cutting your materials with fewer teeth; therefore, your saw teeth are being used more frequently to cut the same amount of material then the teeth on a larger blade is used. That should mean that you will either have to replace or resharpen the smaller blade more often. I do knot know which way wood be more economical, but I wood prefer to spend less time changing dull blades out, and will probably stick to my 10" blades. I hope this has helped you.

ddvann79 · Post by **ddvann79** » Sun Oct 24, 2010 4:10 pm

I saw some 8 - 8 1/2" Vermont American blades at Ace in the $10 to $20 range. Never used 'em but I understand they were designed for table saws as opposed to circular saws. Just food for thought.

rdewinter · Post by **rdewinter** » Mon Oct 25, 2010 1:37 am

Thanks mickyd for the thread reference. I missed it. Yes, some interesting views voiced there.

riot_nrrd · Post by **riot_nrrd** » Fri Oct 29, 2010 7:38 am

Freud makes a super-thin kerf circular saw blade with 50 or 60 teeth or so... I use it for cutting pen blanks or when a regular thin kerf bogs down. No problems so far (knock on wood). Of course, hopefully the PowerPro will never bog down. :-)

Gene Howe · Post by **Gene Howe** » Fri Oct 29, 2010 9:53 am

riot_nrrd wrote:Freud makes a super-thin kerf circular saw blade with 50 or 60 teeth or so... I use it for cutting pen blanks or when a regular thin kerf bogs down. No problems so far (knock on wood). Of course, hopefully the PowerPro will never bog down. :-)

Could you post Freud's model number for those blades?

collett · Post by **collett** » Fri Nov 05, 2010 12:04 am

Using 7 1/4 blades in place of a 10" is pretty common, but you should get decent circ saw blades (there is a lot of cheapo stuff on the market) Freud makes 24 - 40 - 60 tooth versions, all good quality. The only real issue with using a thin circ saw blade is that doing long ripping cuts, particularly on harder woods, you will probably get a bit of wander in your cut, but for shorter rips and cross cuts ... yup ... works fine.

riot_nrrd · Post by **riot_nrrd** » Sat Nov 06, 2010 8:29 am

Gene Howe wrote:Could you post Freud's model number for those blades?

Sure - it is a D0760R.