- In today's video,
we're learning all about the different types
of table saw blades,
so that when you're ready to buy one,
you'll know exactly what to get.
Before we dive in,
I do want to let you know
that the video you're gonna watch
was shot about a year ago and I'm re-uploading it again
because of how important this information is
to know before you buy or use your table saw blade.
In order to know what table saw blade, you should buy.
You first need to understand what it is you're buying.
And to do that,
we're gonna talk about three different blades.
Talk about their design, features, uses and pricing.
Each blade type is determined by the shape
or the grind of the teeth.
So as we look at each blade, keep that in mind.
The first blade is what's known as a FTG
or a Flat Top Grind.
It's hard to see, but all the teeth have a flat top.
Therefore, this blade produces a curve
that has a flat bottom.
These blades are mainly designed for ripping,
which is cutting with the grain.
They're also designed to remove wood quickly,
and most of them have a high or a fast feed rate,
meaning that you can feed the material
through the blade, quickly.
The blade I have here is made by Freud
and it has two features that really help them perform well
and to keep the operator safe.
The first feature is the blade shoulder,
which is this part right here.
Because of the blade's,
I'll call it, aggressive design,
it likes to pull itself through the wood.
Therefore the shoulder helps to slow down the feed rate,
which helps to prevent kickback
and to keep you safe.
The second feature worth mentioning is the oversized gullet,
which is this part right here.
It's designed to remove the waste
as the blade is cutting through the material.
And because this blade has a fast feed rate,
the gullet size is massive
because it has to remove a lot of material quickly.
Now all table saw blades do have gullets.
They're not as big as these are,
simply because of how this blade is designed,
but you'll see some other gullet sizes
on the next blades that we're going to be talking about.
There's not a ton of options for FTG blades.
Freud makes a good one here in my opinion,
and it will run you between $40 and $50 here in the US.
The next blade is what's known as an ATB
or Alternate Top Bevel.
If we look close to the teeth on this blade,
you can see that the bevel alternates
from the right to the left,
therefore this blade produces a curve
that has a pointed bottom.
These blades are great for cross cutting,
which is cutting across the grain.
They're also used in general purpose blades,
as well as some ripping blades.
They grant it cross-cutting
because the alternating bevels act as a knife,
slicing or scoring the wood to minimize tear out.
Feed rates can vary on these types of blades,
but they're nowhere near as aggressive
as the ripping blade, we just looked at.
The features are similar to the FTG,
but they do have smaller shoulders
and much smaller gullet size,
which tells you that these types of blades
do indeed have a slower feed rate.
Here's an example of a 60 tooth ATB.
This is a Diablo,
and it's going to cost you about $43
here in the United States.
This is a great option because it can be used
both in the table saw and over in the miter saw.
However, ATB blades can also be used
as a general purpose blade,
meaning that they can both cross cut and rip,
and they almost always come as a 40 tooth blade.
And I have two examples here for you.
The first blade that I have is a Saw Stop,
which will run you about $40.
The other one I have is a Forest blade,
which run you about 160 US dollars.
And I'm sure you're wondering,
why is there such a drastic difference
between those two blades?
Well, the short answer is that the Forest blade
is simply a better designed, higher quality blade.
The next question then, would be,
is it worth four times the cost?
And in my opinion,
as a new wood worker, absolutely not.
There are plenty other things
that you can spend that extra money on,
here in the shop.
And you can always add that stuff later on
to your arsenal of tools.
Now, you may have noticed that these blades actually say,
combination, on them and not general purpose.
General purpose and combination
are often used interchangeably,
but in reality,
there are some differences and like most things,
it all depends on the type of material
and tasks you find yourself doing.
So let's move on to the next blade.
So you can actually visually see what those differences are.
The next blade is called an ATB/R.
An ATB/R almost always comes as a 50 tooth blade.
And if we take a closer look at the blade,
you can see that the teeth are actually grouped in fives.
Four of them are Alternate Top Bevels,
which is why the blade is designated ATB.
But what about the R.
The R stands for Raker,
which is a Flat Top Grind.
So now that you can see that this blade's design
is a true combination of one flat top grind
and four alternate top bevels.
Because this blade has teeth of both previous styles,
it produces a curve that's almost perfectly flat.
Leaving a slightly convex bottom.
These blades are great at both ripping and cross-cutting.
And as far as the main features,
the one that stands out the most
is this unique teeth arrangement.
The other feature,
similar to what we saw on the rip blade
is a pretty decent sized gullet
behind the groupings of teeth.
And as you know now,
the gullets help to remove material
and to increase the feed rate.
Bottom line, the ATB/R is a great multi-purpose blade
inside deal for the DIY or newbie woodworker.
If you decide to go with one of these blades,
it's going to cost you around $55
and for a blade that does it all,
that's a pretty good deal.
So now that we're familiar
with a few of the different blades out there,
let's talk about four very important options
that almost every blade has to offer.
First is the option to choose more or less teeth.
The general rule of thumb is this,
the more teeth, the slower the cut,
the cleaner cut.
And then the fewer the teeth,
the faster the cut,
the rougher the cut.
Some blades like my combination blade here,
only comes with a 50 tooth option.
So you can't change much there,
but other blades do give you more flexibility.
The second option is the ability to buy a thin kerf blade.
A standard size blade is an eighth inch thick,
but most blades nowadays
give you the option for a thin kerf,
which is three 30 seconds.
Thin kerf blades were designed
and made for saws that were underpowered,
or when cutting a lot of thick stock.
They can of course be used in normal operations as well,
because they do remove about 25% less material
than a standard blade.
The last two options are specific to the teeth themselves.
And the first one is the hook angle.
The hook angle is the pitch of each tooth.
This angle can be anywhere between negative five degrees
and 20 degrees.
For example, the hook angle on the FTG blade I have here,
has a positive 20 degree hook,
which makes it quite aggressive.
My thin kerf of combination blade
has a 10 degree hook angle,
which slows the cut and the feed rate down.
They would make a negative five hook,
which gives you a lot of control with fine cross cut work.
The last option that we're going to talk about today
is the bevel angle.
The bevel angle is how much each tooth bevels
to the right or to the left.
The bevel angles can vary from 15 degrees to 30 degrees.
If you increase the angle,
you increase the quality of the cut.
General purpose blades,
almost always have a bevel angle between 10 and 15 degrees,
because it gives them the ability to make clean cuts
and stay sharper longer at the same time.
Now that you understand a lot more about saw blades,
my hope is that you're going to be able to go out now
and purchase what's best for you.
But if you're the type of person
who likes to be told what to buy,
here are my top three blades that I recommend.
The first blade I would buy
is a 50 tooth ATB/R, combination blade.
Which can be used on almost anything.
Second, I would buy a 60 tooth ATB, cross-cut blade,
which can be used both in the table saw
and in the miter saw.
And lastly, I would buy an FTG ripping blade.
That's great for thick hardwoods
and things like two by fours.
All the blades that I just mentioned
are made to fit a 5/8 Arbor,
which is the shaft that holds the blade to the motor.
Here in the US,
I believe all stationary saws that use a 10 inch blade,
use a 5/8 Arbor.
Well, I know today's video was a lot to take in.
So if you have any questions
or if you'd like to share
what some of your favorite table saw blades are,
please drop me a comment below.
God willing,
I'll see all your smiling faces next week.
Bye for now.
(gentle music)