On Jul 5, 7:20*pm, "Michael Koblic" wrote:
"Andrew VK3BFA" wrote in message

...

{...}

So, in summary, my total knowledge, gained by diligent study,
practical experience, and stuffing it up a few times is:

1.You gets what you pay for. (nothing new there)
2.Dont even think about anything other than carbide tipped.
3.Set the thing up properly. (Its a machine tool after all.)
4.More teeth = finer cut BUT shorter life.
5.Not many teeth at all = attack things with it = treat it mean, it
can cope
6.Lots of small teeth=dont even go there, its irrelevant unless you
want to take up serious woodworking.

Well, thats my view on it anyway - hopefully, short and to the point.
Errors and Omissions included.

The next one I buy will have thin kerf - again.

--
Michael Koblic,
Campbell River, BC

Lots of options popped up on circular saw blades in the last decade or
so. Back in the '50s and '60s, the Belsaw era, you had one choice for
material, steel. And you needed the handy sharpening shop if you did
real things for real people. Home shop types just burned through the
wood as long as the blade still had teeth and wasn't too black. Then
they started putting carbide tips on blades you could buy at Sears.
Wasn't very good carbide, but better than the steel blades. Probably
about what you get for a low-end HF blade these days. Lasted longer
without sharpening, anyway. Then they started in with the "structured
materials", basically sawdust and chips pressed and glued together and
you needed a different sort of tooth configuration and GOOD carbide.
Same with plastic laminates, Corian and all the man-made stuff. Now
you pretty much have to know what you're going to cut ahead of time,
get a blade designed for the material and reserve it for just that
use. Can add up to a lot of bucks if you're serious about it. I can
easily believe 40 blades on the wall if you're doing serious furniture
making and not doing it as a handicraft activity using hand tools.

Had a glossy brochure from a saw blade outfit that I got at a
woodworking show one time, probably 50 pages or more on carbide
grades, tooth hooks, alternate angling, clearancing and numbers of
teeth. These weren't the astronomical grade blades, either. If you
had a couple of spare $100 bills, one could go home with you. Laser
or water-jet cut, your choice. And several outfits had laser-cut
deadening slots in theirs, fancy curlicues if nothing else. Seemed to
help with the ringing, too bad about the siren effect. Probably have
that whipped by now, haven't been in several years.

Stan