Got a Red Star 40-A saw to collect. About 1946 vintage. It takes a
12" blade. What blade spec should I look for (rake, tooth count) for
cross cutting, no ripping. Brand names do not mean much as we do not
get your Forrest, Freud etc here. Will have to go to a manufacturer
and give him the specs.
It apparently has a 3/4" arbour. Will a rebored existing dado set
(done by same blade manufacturer) be OK.

******

eat the samoosa to reply

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point your browser over to www.owwm.com and you'll find some other
folks with that saw. it has a bit of a following.

what you want in a RAS blade is negative rake. that is, the leading
face of the tooth, the one that pushes flat through the wood is angled
a small few degrees back. what this does is keep the tooth from trying
to grab and climb over your board so much. otherwise tooth count and
configuration will be determined by the material to be cut, the rpm of
the saw and the horsepower of the saw.

Phil Hansen wrote:

Got a Red Star 40-A saw to collect. About 1946 vintage. It takes a
12" blade. What blade spec should I look for (rake, tooth count) for
cross cutting, no ripping. Brand names do not mean much as we do not
get your Forrest, Freud etc here. Will have to go to a manufacturer
and give him the specs.
It apparently has a 3/4" arbour. Will a rebored existing dado set
(done by same blade manufacturer) be OK.

******

eat the samoosa to reply



Over at Delphi, there are the DeWalt radial arm saw forums. Their
recommended blades were designed by Mr. Sawdust, Wally Kunkel. A 60 tooth,
+5 degree positive hook angle TCG, for ripping or crosscutting (minor
positive hook angle) available only through Charles at Forrest. Generally
for crosscuts only, a -5 degree hook angle is prefered, with around a 60
tooth count (normally seen on 8-10" blades) atb grind.
You can buy reducer bushings, since normal 12" blades now have a 1" arbor
and use an off the shelf Freud LU91M012. It is a 12" atb, 72 tooth, -5
degrees with a 1" arbor.
If your going custom arbors, as I don't know if Freud does it, I would say
go with Forrest or Ridge Carbide.

Randal wrote:
Phil Hansen wrote:

Got a Red Star 40-A saw to collect. About 1946 vintage. It takes a
12" blade. What blade spec should I look for (rake, tooth count)
for
cross cutting, no ripping. Brand names do not mean much as we do
not
get your Forrest, Freud etc here. Will have to go to a manufacturer
and give him the specs.
It apparently has a 3/4" arbour. Will a rebored existing dado set
(done by same blade manufacturer) be OK.

******

eat the samoosa to reply



Over at Delphi, there are the DeWalt radial arm saw forums. Their
recommended blades were designed by Mr. Sawdust, Wally Kunkel. A 60
tooth, +5 degree positive hook angle TCG, for ripping or
crosscutting
(minor positive hook angle) available only through Charles at
Forrest. Generally for crosscuts only, a -5 degree hook angle is
prefered, with around a 60 tooth count (normally seen on 8-10"
blades) atb grind.
You can buy reducer bushings, since normal 12" blades now have a 1"
arbor and use an off the shelf Freud LU91M012. It is a 12" atb, 72
tooth, -5 degrees with a 1" arbor.
If your going custom arbors, as I don't know if Freud does it, I
would say go with Forrest or Ridge Carbide.

I think that the business of Triple Chip Grind and Mr. Sawdust is a
misreading. Reading his book he says that he first encountered the
TCG working with some kind of plastic in a cabinet shop and tried it
on wood and was surprised at how well it worked, and that at the time
of his writing he hadn't encountered anything more generally
satisfactory. First blade I had on my RAS was triple chip grind--it
makes a decent cut but it bogs down badly on rips and isn't as clean
on crosscuts as the ATB Oldham that I use now.

One nice feature of the TCG though is that all the teeth are the same
width with no set, so it's easy to find a referent point when setting
stops.

--
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--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

On Fri, 14 Sep 2007 14:28:04 +0200, Phil Hansen
wrote:

Got a Red Star 40-A saw to collect. About 1946 vintage. It takes a
snip
Thanks for the replys, been away for the weekend.
Got back today with the saw in the back. Needs some cleaning up but
will get there. Your comments on blades are well received.
Thanks

******

eat the samoosa to reply

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Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

I have a 50A from about the same vintage. I found a great buy on ebay
for Freud 15" Ultimate Cutoff blades. I bought 3 of them about 8
years ago and I am still on my first blade. I work with a lot of Ipe'
and Hard maple. The frued always gives me a glass smooth finish.
I've gotten lazy the last couple of years and don't usually change out
my blade when I cut PVC or other synthetic materials. The Freud is
almost as good of a blade as the 50A is a saw, it may even outlast the
saw (hahaha...)