Finally took the plunge and bought myself a circular saw, ended up
going for the Makita 5704RK (dont know if I have good or bad)

It came with the run of the mill blade but I am intending to cut
laminate worktop with it so on the look out for a new blade.

Do you need to buy a special blade ie designed for laminate or just use
a fine toothed one for wood.

Also does the make of the blade matter.

Would any of these be any good, Toolstation do a 3 pack for just over
£10, seem to be made by Silverline finest one is a 40 tooth blade :
http://www.toolstation.com/messages....5597&mainWin=1

Summit seem to do a 60 tooth blade for around £9 :

http://www.summitsawblades.co.uk/saw_blade_153.htm

Also when cutting say 40mm worktop with the Makita which has a max
depth of around 66mm I think, should the saw be adjusted in anyway or
just leave as is.

Take it you still put masking tape where cutting to stop any chipping.

Also do you justt always leave the riving knife as is and what is the
exact purpose of it,

Can anyone offer any advice on this matter.

Thanks in advance

Gogs wrote:

It came with the run of the mill blade but I am intending to cut
laminate worktop with it so on the look out for a new blade.

The standard blade will cut it without any difficulty,

Do you need to buy a special blade ie designed for laminate or just use
a fine toothed one for wood.

Finer is better - but nothing special required.

Just cut the worktop with the laminate side down, and start the cut at
the roll edge. That way any chipping will be on the paper side of the
worktop and not the laminate.

Also does the make of the blade matter.

Only in the sense that some brands of blade will be better than others.

Would any of these be any good, Toolstation do a 3 pack for just over
£10, seem to be made by Silverline finest one is a 40 tooth blade :
http://www.toolstation.com/messages....5597&mainWin=1

Probably no better than the default blade.

Summit seem to do a 60 tooth blade for around £9 :
http://www.summitsawblades.co.uk/saw_blade_153.htm

Would be better for very fine cross cut work than the supplied blade
which is typically a compromise general purpose blade (not that thick
chipboard counts as fine!)

Also when cutting say 40mm worktop with the Makita which has a max
depth of around 66mm I think, should the saw be adjusted in anyway or
just leave as is.

leave as is.

Take it you still put masking tape where cutting to stop any chipping.

No need if it is on the underside.

Also do you justt always leave the riving knife as is and what is the
exact purpose of it,

The riving knife can be left in place all the time. Its main purpose is
when rip cutting natural wood. Sometimes it is possible to release
tensions in the wood that can cause the cut to spring apart (not a
problem) or clamp together. If the latter happens this can trap the rear
of the blade, which will tend to throw the saw at you. The riving knife
prevents the wood closing up onto the trailing edge of the blade.

Can anyone offer any advice on this matter.

Try the FAQ:

http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/powertools/circularsaw.htm


--
Cheers,

John.

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On 8 Dec 2005 16:42:23 -0800, "Gogs" wrote:

Finally took the plunge and bought myself a circular saw, ended up
going for the Makita 5704RK (dont know if I have good or bad)

Pretty good saws. I've been using their bigger brother for timber
framing, which is about as hard a life as hand-held saws get.

It came with the run of the mill blade but I am intending to cut
laminate worktop with it so on the look out for a new blade.

Yes, I think the standard is a 40 tooth which is a bit of an "all
purpose" and ideal for nothing blade. A finer toothed blade would be a
good idea, although you don't need a blade specifically for laminates.
If you ever use it for ripping, you'll also find a 24 or 28 tooth rip
blade will increase the usable capacity.


Also does the make of the blade matter.

Some are better than others. Most are OK when new, but better grades of
carbide are less likely to chip. I'd recommend CMT or Freud as the best.
Axminster's own brand are pretty decent, I wouldn't waste my money on
Silverline.

You've probably spent about 100 quid on this saw and _all_ it does is
rotate a blade. How this blade does its job is absolutely crucial to the
overall performance.

Also when cutting say 40mm worktop with the Makita which has a max
depth of around 66mm I think, should the saw be adjusted in anyway or
just leave as is.

Apart from rebating (which I'd avoid with a hand-held saw) I always
leave the blade at maximum depth - whether I'm using a hand-held saw or
a cabinet saw. The logic is that this does as much cutting as possible
with a blade contact that's travelling vertically (relative to the
soleplate) not horizontally. Horizontal forces are what cause kickback
and that's a lot more dangerous than worryign about the "stick-out" of a
blade that's already guarded.

Take it you still put masking tape where cutting to stop any chipping.

Yes.

Also do you justt always leave the riving knife as is and what is the
exact purpose of it,

You can usually leave it in situ. It's rarely necessary to adjust it,
once set. You might need to remove it occasionally for rebating
(non-through cuts).

The main function of the riving knife is when ripping timber with some
drying stress left in it. If this causes the timber to "grab" the blade,
this can be very dangerous (kickback risk). It's much safer if this grab
is onto the riving knife, not the rotating blade.

Gogs wrote:

Also when cutting say 40mm worktop with the Makita which has a max
depth of around 66mm I think, should the saw be adjusted in anyway or
just leave as is.

I'd agree with John & Andy except in respect of the depth adjustment.
Normal practice is to adjust the depth of cut to just over the thickness of
material, so the teeth & gullets just clear.

The theory is this gives a faster tip speed and a smoother cut.

Dave

Can I confirm that the actual supplied blade is only about 12/16 tooth.
surely I dont want to be attempting to cut the worktop or even units
back with that do I.

I was hoping the summit or silverline blades might be ok since they are
quite a good price, has anyone never used the summit ones.

I have read various opinions online about setting the depth some seem
to say to adjust it to slightly deeper than the cut by say 5mm or so
but opinion

It is black worktop so not chipping it is essential as guessing it
would show really bad

On Fri, 09 Dec 2005 09:23:11 GMT, "david lang"
wrote:

Normal practice is to adjust the depth of cut to just over the thickness of
material, so the teeth & gullets just clear.

The theory is this gives a faster tip speed and a smoother cut.

Tip speed depends on radius, not on blade position. The sides of the
blade are just causing friction, not cutting, so a _slower_ speed would
have the advantage, And if you're rubbing on the sides of the sawblade
anyway, then stop it!

Gogs wrote:

Can I confirm that the actual supplied blade is only about 12/16 tooth.
surely I dont want to be attempting to cut the worktop or even units
back with that do I.

I was hoping the summit or silverline blades might be ok since they are
quite a good price, has anyone never used the summit ones.

I have read various opinions online about setting the depth some seem
to say to adjust it to slightly deeper than the cut by say 5mm or so
but opinion

I've tried both, and setting the blade shallow gives a messier cut and
makes the saw a pig to handle. When the blade's deep, the forces on the
wood push it up towards the baseplate, thus dont interfere with your
job, that of guiding the thing forward. With a shallow blade, the
forces are mostly at 90 degrees to that, and the forces vary as the
blade vibrates and wood edge is less than perfectly smooth. You have to
guide the saw directly against those unsteady forces.

The sticking out blade is not guarded, its bare, but a shallow setting
makes a saw much less stable to handle, and much more prone to kicking.
When the blade is set deep, it can catch all it likes and youre at no
risk, because of the direction of the forces. If it catches when set
shallow, it can pull the saw outta your hand, and cause it to jump up
at the same time.


It is black worktop so not chipping it is essential as guessing it
would show really bad

If I need a perfect cut with a basic coarse blade, I put the workpiece
on a bit of scrap and cut thru both together. Hardboard is fine for
this. Also go easy, the harder you push, the rougher the cut.


I dont know much about differing blade brands, but I've also used a
rock bottom price Kinzo mitre saw, and the cuts on it are ok. Unlike
the PPPro mitre I saw the other day, my god, flap wobble.


NT

In article 1134088943.522684.74560
@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com,
says...

Would any of these be any good, Toolstation do a 3 pack for just over
£10, seem to be made by Silverline finest one is a 40 tooth blade :
http://www.toolstation.com/messages....5597&mainWin=1

I got a pack of these Silverline blades when I ordered a
heap of stuff recently. They are thin. Thinner than the
Freud(?) blade I have been using for a while and too
thin to be gripped tight by the arbor plate on my Skil
saw.

Could a washer be used to get a tight grip?

--
Ziggur

"S'ils te mordent, mords-les"

Gogs wrote:

Can I confirm that the actual supplied blade is only about 12/16 tooth.
surely I dont want to be attempting to cut the worktop or even units
back with that do I.

As long as you have the saw on the reverse side of the board you will
get a clean cut.

I cut some black worktop for a friend a couple of days ago on my table
saw. That has a similar general purpose blade in it (it has a few more
teeth - but only by virtue of it being a bigger blade). No masking tape
used, and no chipping either.

If in doubt make a test cut on the very end of the worktop - or better
still on a scrap bit.

I was hoping the summit or silverline blades might be ok since they are
quite a good price, has anyone never used the summit ones.

Nope not tried the summit ones. Have used some silverline blades
(reciprocating saw) though - nothing special, but cheap as you say.

--
Cheers,

John.

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