Shopsmith Forums

I recently purchased a new saw blade from Total Saw Solutions ( you can find their site on the internet). I do a lot of segmented bowls and need to accurately cut very small pieces of exotic woods.In the past I used the Shopsmith thin kerf and the Forrest Woodworker II blades. Both of these blades did an O.K. job. I was on another turning forum (Woodturner Pro) and asked about cutting very small segments. A gentleman suggested I try this Total Saw Solutions thin kerf blade. I bought one and was amazed. It has a .063 kerf which is about a third less than the Shopsmith and almost 1/2 the Forrest blade. It is very accurate and cuts through wood with very little effort. It takes less H.P. to generate less saw dust. The blades are made in Wisconsin (strong selling point for me) and the owners are there to help and speak English. The best way to see the blade in action is to go to their website and look at the videos. You do have to make some alterations to the Shopsmith lower saw guard due to the blade stiffeners and will need to fabricate an upper guard for the blade.. The splitter on your shopsmith will not work because it is to thick. He sells a splitter that will work and I recommend you get it if you need one. He is also working on an upper saw guard. The alterations to the lower guard are opening up the opening on the movable portion to clear the blade balancer. Also removing the flange on the bottom of it where the balancer runs. You will probably have to adjust in the set screw on the backside of the guard which positions the splitter. If this is confusing call me and I'll walk you thru it or put some pictures on line. It is not a big deal to make the alterations and the performance of the blade makes it worthwhile. Dale Maxim at 989-426-2861

Another option is to have the folks at ShopGuard make a thin riving knife that fits into the shopsmith lower saw guard.

http://thesharkguard.com/index.html

They made one for me in just a few days and all I had to do is replace shopsmith riving knife with it. I did not have to do any other alterations.

Maybe I have one of the older lower guards. I have had my shopsmith a long time. Just make sure the stiffener doesn't rub on the guard.

Whoa, getting close to that $200 mark for a TS blade. Wicked thin though!

But I have a 20 cent solution for a riving knife setup, you could simply use a few dimes epoxied into a ZCI as your 'kerf keepers'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzdjeKm6pPQ

Gotta love Youtube. Look at them go without a riving knife in place! They do make a comment on one of their youtube videos that given the very thin kerf, kickback is less of an issue, but it did make me cringe just a bit watching them slide through without any riving knife in place. Impressive results though on that cherry!

Cheers,
John