TS Blades

[Smitty]

I inherited an old craftsman (Emerson) TS. It is a 12" contractor style saw with a 5/8 arbor CI top and aluminum extensions. I checked it for arbor run out and it seems pretty good only .002
The motor is only 1 1/2 HP. 115V 15A

Here is my question.
Do I have to use a 12" blade in this thing? it seems that everyone else is using 10" Blades. The 12" blades cost more and the real difficulty is that I cant find any that have a 5/8 knockout.
If I have to use a 12" blade is it okay to use one of those knockout bushings to go from 5/8 to 1" or will that throw the blade out of balance?

Does a 12" blade do anything for you other than increase your max cutting depth? I know a 1 1/2 HP motor will probably have a hard time pushing a 10" blade at max depth in pine

Can you reccomend a reasonably priced combination blade for ripping hardwood?

Any help/advice would be appreciated
Thanks in advance

[Lou_williams]

You should be able to use a 10 inch blade. Your right that your motor would have a hard time at a 12 max cut for hardwood. The blades I use and recomend are Oldham blades. I buy them here:

http://www.thewoodworkerschoice.com/index2.html

With a good fence you should have a great saw.

[WoodMangler]

Hi Smitty
You said "combination blade for ripping"...if you're going to be doing a lot of ripping, you might find that a dedicated ripping blade will work better...something with 24 teeth.
Marc

[Smitty]

I'm not sure that I need a dedicated Ripping blade. I do want to be able to cross cut too.
Could you reccomend a dedicated ripping blade to look at?
and why do they only have 24 teeth? are they thin Kerf?

[Smitty]

Mark, I should have said that I want a combination blade that is better at ripping that crosscutting. I make a mistake and bought a 10" crosscut blade and have been using it for ripping with horrible results. I saw lots of carbide and assumed the more teeth the better.

It's great on the cross cut though.

Why does a a dedicated ripping blade only have 24 teeth? Are they thin kerf too?


Lou, thanks for the link.......Im gonna go look for a blade right now

[Lou_williams]

A rip is along the grain of the wood, and the key issue with a rip blade is to clear out the chips. With a large number ot teath you shear the grain on the cross cut and end up with a very smooth cut. In a rip all you do is add friction and heat. The large gullets in a rip blade give a way to get the chips out and keep the blade cool. A combo blade has about 40 teeth that is a compormize between the two needs. You end up with OK crosscuts and OK rips. That is what I keep on my saw most of the time. If I have a lot of stock to rip, I install a rip blade and it works much better.

[WoodMangler]

I was gonna answer "cause it works mo betta"....but I like your answer...hehehee...
Marc
[link:www.woodmangler.homestead.com/|[font face="Caligula" color="green" size="3"]Custom WoodCrafts]

[Smitty]

So a 40 tooth makes for a good combination blade

and a 24 tooth is good for dedicated ripping.

I assume an 80 tooth is great for cross cutting?

I looked at a freud saw blade today and the teeth were in groups of 5 it looked like every 6th tooth was missing and instead they just had the metal from the body of the blade extend up to just slightly lower than the carbides.
Is this for clearing out the cut material? is this known as a raker tooth?

Thanks again for the good information guys

[Dave Frattaroli]

I just bought an 80 tooth Freud for cutting. What's good for ripping? I've got 32 sides of 2x4 Doug Fir to rip for a router table base I'm making.

Thanks.