Shopsmith Forums

I got an old Craftsman 9” RAS from freecycle a few months back, and finally got around to giving it the once over. It cleaned up pretty good. Everything that is supposed to move, moves, and everything that isn’t supposed to, doesn’t. I made a new table and fence for it from a hunk of 1 1/4” countertop covered in orange Formica. Now it looks like something from Carol Brady’s kitchen.

The only bad part is the blade. It’s an 8” crosscut with a pretty severe positive hook. It is virtually impossible to cut anything without the blade grabbing and climbing the piece.

I’ve been searching the net, but 9” blades with 0 or negative hook are hard to come by. I did find one. http://ridgecarbidetool.com/saw-blades/ ... blade.html But it’s kinda dear, so I thought I would check to see what blades you fellows (or gals if there are any here) are using.

Forrest makes some radial arm saw blades. Pricey, but I assume very good given the quality of their table saw blades.

A couple of them, acutally.

The red coated one

The non-coated one

Both in the $55 range on Amazon

Here's a thread with an extensive discussion of RAS blades, from earlier this year.

Here's the blade I'm planning to buy for my old Comet RAS, once I get a new table built for it:
http://www.rockler.com/freud-lu91m-industrial-thin-kerf-sliding-compound-miter-saw-blades

Here's a couple more options:
http://www.populartools.net/products/chop_saws_and_radial_arm_saws
http://justsawblades.com/popular/radial_arm_blades.html

BuckeyeDennis wrote:Here's a thread with an extensive discussion of RAS blades, from earlier this year.

One of the posts in this thread says

"I think Forrest has a policy of resharpening the blade free of charge, excluding postage of course."

Does anyone know if this is true?

Do not use a blade with postive hook on a RAS.
Almost every manufacture sells negative hook Blades made for Radial Arm and power Miter Saws.
Get one before you get yourself hurt.

bffulgham wrote:A couple of them, acutally.

The red coated one

The non-coated one

Both in the $55 range on Amazon

Thanks for all the response folks. I'm going to try the red Freud. I ordered it from Amazon.

kablerj wrote:Thanks for all the response folks. I'm going to try the red Freud. I ordered it from Amazon.

The new blade works great
Thanks guys.

kablerj wrote:

BuckeyeDennis wrote:Here's a thread with an extensive discussion of RAS blades, from earlier this year.

One of the posts in this thread says

"I think Forrest has a policy of resharpening the blade free of charge, excluding postage of course."

Does anyone know if this is true?

I believe they charge for resharpening, but there were times when they provide coupons for half off sharpening with the purchase of the blade.