I see lots of opinions and reviews on 10" blades for tablesaws, but I
don't ever recall any reviews on blades for handheld circular saws. I'm
looking for something that would be a good general purpose blade mostly
to break down sheet goods. Anyone have a suggestion or pointer to some
reviews?

Scott M

"Jeffrey Scott McAuley" wrote in message
...
I see lots of opinions and reviews on 10" blades for tablesaws, but I don't
ever recall any reviews on blades for handheld circular saws. I'm looking
for something that would be a good general purpose blade mostly to break
down sheet goods. Anyone have a suggestion or pointer to some reviews?

Scott M


I think the Freud Diablo gets pretty good user reviews. Actually Forrest
makes one and no doubt it would be pretty darn good till you screwed it up.
Circular saw blades tend to be abused more so than the ones that are in a
TS. They are much easier to bend by not going in a straight line.

On Wed, 4 Mar 2009 19:14:53 -0600, "Leon"
wrote:


"Jeffrey Scott McAuley" wrote in message
...
I see lots of opinions and reviews on 10" blades for tablesaws, but I don't
ever recall any reviews on blades for handheld circular saws. I'm looking
for something that would be a good general purpose blade mostly to break
down sheet goods. Anyone have a suggestion or pointer to some reviews?

Scott M


I think the Freud Diablo gets pretty good user reviews. Actually Forrest
makes one and no doubt it would be pretty darn good till you screwed it up.
Circular saw blades tend to be abused more so than the ones that are in a
TS. They are much easier to bend by not going in a straight line.


....it "wiggles"...that's why I'm not so enthused with the Diablo,
although it's a fine blade and goes a long way. Maybe it's because I
use a Skillsaw, that due to it's heft and leverage by design, allows
one to put a lot of side pressure on a blade if you're not careful. I
like a full 1/8" blade, and there are plenty out there to choose
from...Oldham makes a good line. I just bought a Marathon that may be
under 1/8" (I haven't measured...just konked it a couple of times with
my knuckle and it *sounded* and felt right) but stayed the course
through at least one day of framing-type work...so far; excellent. If
you're cutting sheet goods alot, Frued makes a dynamite 40 tooth 1/8"
blade that'll get you some pretty clean cuts...shoot, for the price
these days, buy a few...figure which one you like best...and keep the
others for spares.

cg

On Mar 4, 7:14*pm, "Leon" wrote:

I think the Freud Diablo gets pretty good user reviews. *

Unless we are cutting decking, this is the only blade I buy anymore.
On my best saw using a guide, these blades don't even leave saw blade
marks. I get a couple of months (or more) out of one.

Circular saw blades tend to be abused more so than the ones that are in a
TS. *They are much easier to bend by not going in a straight line.

They are much more abused since most people cannot cut a straight
line with a circular saw. Not cutting straight heats these blades up,
and then the resultant blades instability causes even more problems
cutting straight lines. It is easy enough to hear this too... the
sound of some poor circular saw screaming for mercy when used by
untrained hands.

With these thinner Freud blades (or the Bosch Platinum series), my
guys can burn them up in a week - two weeks, easily. Some in just a
day if they have long rips.

On my "sacrificial saw", I make sure it is equipped with whatever
heavy blade carbide meat chewer I can find on sale. On sale they are
cheap, so I keep a pile of them around. These are Credo, Irwin,
Amercan Saw, the low end DeWalts, etc.

For my saw, I haven't used anything but those ugly red *******s in my
circular for about 5 years now. Last time I found them on sale, I
bought ten of them, so I will have them around for a while.

Robert

On Mar 4, 7:23*pm, Jeffrey Scott McAuley
wrote:
I see lots of opinions and reviews on 10" blades for tablesaws, but I
don't ever recall any reviews on blades for handheld circular saws. I'm
looking for something that would be a good general purpose blade mostly
to break down sheet goods. Anyone have a suggestion or pointer to some
reviews?

Scott M

I have been very happy with a cheap Piranaha blade from B&D available
pretty much anywhere.
http://www.homeandbeyond.com/prod-0072473.html

You can get them for $5 at the Borg.

I like the Freud blades but making a few of these will make
you and your saw a LOT happier.

http://www.woodworkingtips.com/etips/etip022500wb.html

Make at least two of these:

Make one 96" and make another one 48".

and follow a few of the following tips

http://www.woodworkingtips.com/etips/2004/08/13/wb/

Jeffrey Scott McAuley wrote:
I see lots of opinions and reviews on 10" blades for tablesaws, but I
don't ever recall any reviews on blades for handheld circular saws. I'm
looking for something that would be a good general purpose blade mostly
to break down sheet goods. Anyone have a suggestion or pointer to some
reviews?

Scott M

On Thu, 5 Mar 2009 19:35:57 +0000, Pat Barber wrote
(in article ):

I like the Freud blades but making a few of these will make
you and your saw a LOT happier.

http://www.woodworkingtips.com/etips/etip022500wb.html

That is just bloody genius!!!

Make at least two of these:

Make one 96" and make another one 48".

and follow a few of the following tips

http://www.woodworkingtips.com/etips/2004/08/13/wb/


I've used something similar (simpler) for routing, but never thought about
the saw thing - now I'm gonna have to go and buy a circular saw too, dammit
!! :-)

Limp Arbor wrote:

I have been very happy with a cheap Piranaha blade from B&D available
pretty much anywhere.
http://www.homeandbeyond.com/prod-0072473.html

You can get them for $5 at the Borg.

Does anybody know why B&D stopped making the old-style Piranha blades
with the Teflon coating and curved carbide tips? How much better were
they than the current Piranhas with the flat-faced tips?

"larry moe 'n curly" wrote in message
...



Does anybody know why B&D stopped making the old-style Piranha blades
with the Teflon coating and curved carbide tips? How much better were
they than the current Piranhas with the flat-faced tips?

Probably the cost of the carbide tips. The curved ones were considerable
longer.