blueman wrote:
I need to cut a fair bit of birch plywood and oak-veneer plywood for
some cabinet and bookcase projects.

Any recommendations for blades in the $30-50 range?

Technique will matter more than blades (which are all of pretty good
quality, if you keep 'em clean and don't saw nails and gravel).
I've had good results with throwaway B&D Piranha blades, old Craftsman,
and new Freud. Some folk swear by Forrest.

To get low tearout, one can set the blade low and do the first pass
backward (this is to cut the bottom veneer, and a little of the veneer
above
it, with the blade heading into the work). It's a dado cut, so no
splitter
or riving knife allowed. The second pass (forward cutting) then cuts
the
top veneer and parts the wood.

Infeed and outfeed tables (or a good helper) are important in keeping
the wood movement linear.

And the old recommendation is to use a steel blade, not carbide; the
best sharp
edge steel will hold is more effective at slicing wood fiber than the
carbide technology allows. That only matters when the steel blade is
high quality,
hollow-ground, recently sharpened. And, I don't know where to find
such
nowadays.