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"BD" wrote:

Anyone out there had much experience with either of these. I'm getting
a new combination blade and have gotten various opinions from people I
know. Its between the Freud "Cabinet Maker" and the CMT "General".
I'm trrying to stay away from Forrest because of the cost. Also I have
had several people recommend the Dewalt "Woodworker" blade. Any
thoughts?

I cut a lot acrylic, 1/2" thick.. and I mean a LOT of it. The stuff is a
bit tricky to cut as the feed rate makes all the difference. Too fast,
you melt the stuff..too slow, you melt the stuff. Based on that
experience, starting some 20 years ago, I have experimented with many
blades. Mostly bought for the purpose of cutting solid surface, I have
tried many on different woods as well.

So, maybe I'm going out on a limb here putting on my NOMEX suit, but
to me, feed rate is the most important facet of proper cutting. You MAY
have the best blade for the job, but then get seriously skewed results
by mucking with the feed rate.

Cutting is all about 3 things (assuming the basics, like adequate power
etc)
A tooth, slices off a piece of material. It therefore stands to reason
that the planar presentation of the tooth be adequately stable in the
spot where it is supposed to do the cut. A stable, accurate disc. Thin
kerf blades suck at this.

The same tooth expels that same, freshly cut piece. That calls for an
adequately large enough gullet to transport the chip to the nether
regions of the shop, preferably to a DC system. Chip removal is very
critical in the over-all picture, being it saw blade or router bit.
Blades with too many teeth, have small gullets, and suck at this.

The same tooth waits for the next time to do the same job a fraction of
a second later. Feed rate. Period.

It is based on these observations, that I do not believe in combination
blades. Ever.

Cross-cut or rip..... and most importantly, a good sharpening service
and they are way harder to find than one might imagine. A true running
blade, ripping some cherry, and just seeing the curls fly, gives me
tremendous pleasure.

r