Shopsmith Forums

Do we know who manufactured the Shopsmith blade shown in this thread (Amana or CMT)?

My experience with circular saw blades in recent years is that all the carbide blades are great, both the expensive brands and also the lower priced brands.
If you allow MDF, OSB, or any other kind of particle board to meet your blades, expect short life on the blade. If you keep that kind of stuff out of your shop and cut only real wood and wood core plywood, any of the available carbide blades will cut cleanly and give you many years of service.

It basically comes down to the user. Many years ago I foolishly cut some MDF on my Shopsmith. As I was cutting, I noticed sparks coming from the blade. There were tiny metal particles in the MDF, and that blade never again cut right. I threw out the blade and the MDF and have never again had problems with the carbide blades getting dull on wood or wood core plywood.

garys wrote:My experience with circular saw blades in recent years is that all the carbide blades are great, both the expensive brands and also the lower priced brands.
If you allow MDF, OSB, or any other kind of particle board to meet your blades, expect short life on the blade. If you keep that kind of stuff out of your shop and cut only real wood and wood core plywood, any of the available carbide blades will cut cleanly and give you many years of service.

It basically comes down to the user. Many years ago I foolishly cut some MDF on my Shopsmith. As I was cutting, I noticed sparks coming from the blade. There were tiny metal particles in the MDF, and that blade never again cut right. I threw out the blade and the MDF and have never again had problems with the carbide blades getting dull on wood or wood core plywood.

The key words here are "Many years ago".

Times have changed and so has MDF and carbide saw blades. I do not intend to argue that MDF does not shorten the life expectancy of a sharpened blade but so does cutting many hardwoods. I see two absolute solutions: 1) use only soft woods or 2) find a good sharpening service.

Steel blades are another story. The composite woods do significantly shorten steel blade life.

What reduces my willingness to use MDF is the fine dust.

These same dulling hazards apply to router bits.

Avoid excessive heat with whatever you cut. Heat does as much damage to a good blade as do the composite materials.

I haven't found any projects where MDF fits my needs in the woodworking shop. Compared to wood core plywood, it is heavier and weaker where joined with glue or screws. Why settle for that when wood core plywood is often a bit cheaper.
There are better products that don't beat up the cutting tools. The only way I will cut MDF is with my Skill saw out in the yard. The blades for it are cheap and when the MDF messes them up, I put in a new one. Let the sparks fly.

My woodworking shop has some strict rules. No MDF or shellac is allowed in there.

garys wrote:My woodworking shop has some strict rules. No MDF or shellac is allowed in there.

WHY no shellac?

Shellac lacks any durability so I never use it.

I refinish furniture when I find something worth the work. That is the only place I like shellac because the lack of durability makes it very easy to remove down to clean wood and replace with urethane.

dusty wrote:If Doug says CMT, it is probably CMT. Doug is in a position "to know" and has no reason to tell us otherwise. But, where did Doug say this?

It was in an email exchange I had with him a while back (within the last year). I had written asking the manufacturer. Not positive why I wanted to know, but I think it was because I was considering all companies to determine if the Shopsmith blades were over priced or a reasonable price compared to who made them. I was looking for a rip blade. And yes, I did get the Shopsmith blade. It was with the 5% given by Shopsmith before the price hike with Doug's 10% discount.

Be well,
Ben

I got the SS Christmas catalog a couple of weeks ago, and it says the blades [nowadays] are made by CMT.

CMT = made in Italy

picture of shopsmith blade says made in Germany

So now I'm confused.

Ed

reible wrote:CMT = made in Italy

picture of shopsmith blade says made in Germany

So now I'm confused.

Ed

Hmmm... First the dado set SS sells is CMT and branded as CMT. The only regular saw blades in the Christmas catalogue are thin kerf. I guess one could assume the regular kerf blades come from the same manufacturer. From page 22 of the Christmas catalogue quote:

"Note:All three of these blades are manufactured exclusively for Shopsmith by CMT Tools in Germany and feature the standard 1-1/4" Shopsmith arbor hole."

So I guess "Made in Germany" is correct even though CMT is Italy. Kind of like here, you never know where something is made from a US company.