Shopsmith Forums

Has anybody shifted to 5/8" arbor table saw blades? Do you use stiffeners / balancers? Any issues? I need to cut some cabinet grade plywood and the 3 blades avail from Shopsmith don't seem to cut without a lot of chip/ tear-out.

Rather than going to a different blade or arbor, a cheaper fix for chip out is to buy or make a zero-clearance insert.

To answer your question, however, I have used a 5/8 bore full-kerf Forrest WWII blade on my Mark V using the Shopsmith 5/8 saw blade arbor. I have experienced no issues. Since it is full kerf, I have not tried stiffener or balancers.

I have never felt a need for a stiffener but maybe that is ignorance on my part. What adverse effects are eliminated by using a stiffener?

dusty wrote:I have never felt a need for a stiffener but maybe that is ignorance on my part. What adverse effects are eliminated by using a stiffener?

Never used one either. Although some say it helps prevent wobble on thin-kerf blades.

algale wrote:Never used one either. Although some say it helps prevent wobble on thin-kerf blades.

Do you have wobble when using a Shopsmith thin kerf blade? It is my opinion that the arbor used with a Shopsmith blades has the same effect as a stiffener.


It is easy to tell if you have wobble. Just measure your blade and then measure a kerf cut.

When I make ZCIs, I check the kerf expecting it to be 3/32". The kerf doesn't remain 3/32" very long though for obvious reasons.

I'm Sorry, but I wish to put a little realism in here!! Wobble/bobble.

Wobble make for nice discussion on a forum or at a coffee clutch, or bridge club, but what are the effects?

Had anyone ever seen adverse affects from blade wobble? Never heard of some!!

Just what extremely precise wood projects is a craftsman working on where any wobble from a blade is noticeable or ruins a project? What is the project? Hmmm - must be a wooden "O" ring for a rocket booster, or something like that! Gotta be in imagination only!

dusty wrote:Do you have wobble when using a Shopsmith thin kerf blade? It is my opinion that the arbor used with a Shopsmith blades has the same effect as a stiffener.


It is easy to tell if you have wobble. Just measure your blade and then measure a kerf cut.

When I make ZCIs, I check the kerf expecting it to be 3/32". The kerf doesn't remain 3/32" very long though for obvious reasons.

I'm not sure I even have a Shopsmith thin-kerf blade. My only Shopsmith blade is a combination blade marked with the number 555001. I don't see any description on the blade referencing it being thin-kerf and I can't find any literature on it. I tried to measure a tooth and get about .125 on my calipers, which I think of as full-kerf. Anybody with an old catalog know whether 555001 was advertised as thin-kerf or full-kerf?

The on-line Catalog doesn't show 555001 or 1/8" kerf, 10" saw blades. So I went to my ol' standby - the 2007 Holiday paper Catalog.

What-d'-y-know! Page 36 shows all the Shopsmith 10" saw blades. There is a NOTE at the top of the page.

"NOTE: All 10" Shopsmith Saw Blades require a 1 1/4" Shopsmith Saw Arbor. All Carbide-Tipped Blades are thin kerf (3/32" blades)."

Since there is no blade with part no. 55501 I cannot tell you the width. But I assume it is 1/8" kerf.

Do you suppose .125" = 1/8"?

charlese wrote:The on-line Catalog doesn't show 555001 or 1/8" kerf, 10" saw blades. So I went to my ol' standby - the 2007 Holiday paper Catalog.

What-d'-y-know! Page 36 shows all the Shopsmith 10" saw blades. There is a NOTE at the top of the page.

"NOTE: All 10" Shopsmith Saw Blades require a 1 1/4" Shopsmith Saw Arbor. All Carbide-Tipped Blades are thin kerf (3/32" blades)."

Since there is no blade with part no. 55501 I cannot tell you the width. But I assume it is 1/8" kerf.

Do you suppose .125" = 1/8"?

Thanks, Charlese. Somewhere along the line I thought I had read that Shopsmith had gone to all thin-kerfs around 1996. Since my machine is a 2001, I had always believed the Shopsmith blade was thin-kerf. I even convinced myself that it looked thinner than my full-kerf Forrest WWII and that the motor strained less with the Shopsmith blade on. But I had never actually thrown a caliper on it until today. I was so sure it was thin-kerf, I didn't want to believe my own caliper readings (and yes, I know that 1/8 = .125 )

I guess one of these days I'll have to try a real thin-kerf blade and see what kind of difference it makes.

In addition to a zero clearance insert, you can use the two pass method for cutting plywood to reduce chipout (first pass - light scoring pass, second pass - full cut).