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I'm going to assume the most table saw blades 10" in diameter with 5/8" arbor holes are going to all run near the same blade rpm.

In that case, what blade is recommended for doing long cuts along the grain in pieces averaging 2" thick....in maple, sapele, and the odd hardwood?

Switching to a Woodmaster CT blade on my bandsaw really opened my eyes to the difference between quality and crap. I'm wondering if there is a table saw blade that sticks out among the crowd?

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

This will sound weird but I use 7 1/4" Freud diablo blades on both my table saw and my radial arm saw. The smaller diameter provides lots of torque and I only use a ten inch blade on the radial arm saw for cutting scarf-joints.
The clean cut on thin material is nice.

Bob

I love the 10" Freud Diablo. If you use the 7 1/4" you will forfeit 1 3/8" of cutting height. I would not do that. YMMV

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

Depends on the saw and your goal. If you want to rip fast and your saw has the power, I'd go with a 10", 24 tooth Freud or similar. Thin-kerf is the way to go if your saw doesn't have the HP. Otherwise, a 1/8" blade might stand up better to the heat of continuous use in long rips.

If you want a smoother finish on the edge, a smaller diameter or full thickness blade is better. Either will vibrate less than a 10" thin-kerf.

Freud is usually a good blade for the price but it seems that the quality has come down over the years. I've had a Systi-Matic Budke blade that came with a saw I bought. I used it to build my house ripping 1000's of feet of sheathing and wet 2x4's. I then started using it for aluminum. The think is 15 years old, never been sharpened, has all it's teeth, and is still cutting. I wouldn't recommend the Budke for ripping but if all Systi-Matic blades are that good....

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On my old 1 3/4 hp table saw, I used a 24 tooth CMT ripping blade, and I could cut through 2" stock with no problem.
I've got a Freud combination blade that works pretty good, but it is a 12", and a 14" Micor ripping blade that gives an excellent cut. What ever you decide on, clean it often with a commercial blade cleaner or 409 or Fantastic spray cleaner and a tooth brush, and you will get better cutting results.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

When you get into table saw blades there are rib , combo , laminate , plywood , planer and the list goes on . The technical aspects are , there is no one blade that does it all perfectly. I use carbide , Forrest Brand. The are expensive but you can resharpen them and they are a pro choice blade.
The Diablo is ok but I am a big fan of the Forrests . You can get them in Rib and Plywood . I use them the most. I use a laminate cross cut for the radial arm saw . All I can say is that you get what you pay for . The Diablo may be just fine or your application . For me I use a lot of plywood and the Forrest will out cut most any brand I used.
Finding a good sharpener is a must . Not all sharpening shops are the same. IF you can't find a guy that can reharpen then use the Diablo. I have a number of Frued blades and can't say that they were worth the money. I am sure you will get many more opinions . So put me down for Forrest. 1st choice
Diablo 2nd.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

+1 on Forrest. We love these:
http://www.forrestblades.com/woodworker_2.htm
They resharpen their blades (and others) for ~$20 + shipping. Their carbide tips are deep enough for many resharpenings, IIRC about 15 or so.
http://www.forrestblades.com/sharpprice.htm

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David Malicky

I'm probably the odd man out here but I rip all my stock to width on my band saw with the Woodmaster CT blade. Rips about 4-5 times as fast as a table saw with any blade. For bindings and narrow stock I like the Diablo blades on my table saw.

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Older rockwell 10 in TS use thin kerf diablo 7.25 in blade works vy well.Big 3 hp saw uses all kinds of blades some freud, a cdn dado blade from penticton bc abt 27 yrs old , and a host of other blades n sizes

If you want really clean, straight cuts all the way through, I recommend the full thickness 1/8" Forrest or the CMT rip blades. The Freud blades are good for thinner stock, but will wave a little in thicker stock, so the cut will be clean at the table and will have a bit of scallop at the top of the cut. It's small and in most situations might be acceptable, but if you want a glue-ready joint, use a full thickness blade. The Freud blades are fine for thinner cuts.

My son has a cabinet shop, and he found that he could not glue off the saw with the Freud blades. He had to cut thick and run them through a jointer. Got rid of that step with the full thickness, better quality, blades.

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Waddy

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Well this goes to show how folks can have almost the opposite experience

I think Forrest blades, at least the woodworker 2's to be the most overrated tool in my shop. I own 2 and have used them for about 15 years. I share a shop with a guy and he has been running one for this time frame as well. I have talked shop with a bunch of my peers and all agree. Waste of money. I have a few $ 50 Freuds that cut better and last longer. The Forests cost 2x as much as the Freuds . Don't much care for the Systmatics I own either.
More and more I am getting less lazy and changing blades for different tasks and liking the results better. For general utility I use a combo blade but if I know I will doing a lot of ripping of solid stock or cross cutting of ply I will change out to the appropriate blade. If you can lose a little in depth of cut I think a blade stabilizer to be a huge difference maker in cut quality for cross cutting.
So I don't think there is much to be gained by paying a lot for a combo blade. I think you will get just as much utility from any decent blade manufacturer's offering. Where you will see a big difference is using the right blade for the job and cleaning your blade often. A even slightly dirty Forest or any top blade will not cut as well as a clean blade.

L.

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I forgot to add a brand that I have DeWalt I found them to also be decent.
One thing is to be sure you have a good set up on your saw . Check the blade is square to the table top and that the fence it parallel to the blade. A blade is only as good as the set up. I got rid of the sears and have a steel city . Can't compare the two. A good rip fence can be the best upgrade you can do to get the most out of your saw.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

If ya got the bread, Forrest.
Smoothest cut I've ever seen.
No, I don't have one,
because I think a tablesaw is a rough cutting tool anyway.
I use a frued 7 1/4'.
Yup, I got a big tablesaw.

I tend to keep a 7-1/4 Freud blade on the saw most times, for trimming plates to width and length, cutting bindings, squaring up 7/8" neck stock, etc. But if you handed me a 2" board and said rip this, the Forrest would go back on the saw.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

I get great general usage results from the Freud Glue-Line Rip. I go Forrest for my Dado King. Shopsmith and Ridgid TS3650 saws.

The saw is made from a cheap Ryobi motor. The blade is very stable on these rails. You can see I'm married to the 10" blade though. I'll be picking up a 1/8", 24-30 tooth blade. I'll certainly get a Forrest and probably pick up the cheaper Freud as well...to compare and have a backup. Up to now I used the carbide blade that came with the saw, which ironically, made several hundred cuts before showing signs of wear. That Forrest blade will cost as much as th whole saw did....which I took apart and threw away most of...keeping the motor and blade.

Thanks to all of you. I can't emphasizes this enough...how unique it is to have a place one can go to get questions answered quickly.

The other day I walked into a place that made brass fixtures. I figured anyone that made decorative brass fixures from scratch would have knowledge of the quickest way, the minimum number of steps required, to achieve a polished finish from a machined surface. The owner kicked me out of his place saying I "was trying to get free information"...which I was, of course.

Actually, that I had to suffer through a curmudgeon's bitterness was you guy's fault. If you were less generous with valuable information I wouldn't have had the nerve to walk in there in the first place.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Regarding Freud brand blades; just in case anyone is unaware- Freud's "Diablo" blades are their lower priced "contractor" grade, which are a bit thinner than standard 10" blades, but not a true "thin kerf." That is, less than 1/8" but more than 3/16". Freud also makes full thickness (1/8") woodworking blades in many tooth styles for many general and specific applications.
All the Freud blades I've used are excellent quality (including the Diablos) and generally a very good value.
I think the Forrest WWII blades are excellent blades, but as Link says they are overpriced- why would we pay over $100 for a combo blade? By definition a combo blade is ok for most cuts but not really good for any one...
regards
pvg

Forrest blades are my choice when it counts. I have a WW2 in the cab shop that is approaching 10 years old and is just now reaching the end of it's service life. I have two that I swap back and forth. The key to that is to send them back to Forrest for sharpening and repair, local shops do not grind the faces as fine as Forrest does. They even put a better grind on the general purpose Frueds that I use for the dirty grunt work. The Freuds do not last anywhere near that long, about 3-4 sharpenings and they are done.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

Depending on the size you are trying to finish, try scotch brite wheel followed by a buffing with POL polish (available through SPI) I use it for small stuff all the time and use a dremel loaded with a Q-tip for doing internal work and contours,or tissue paper for outside work, after sanding with 400. Will give me a measurable 4 finish...quick. Cleans easily. I was turned on to it by an engineer at Agilent who discovered it through a research lab that did achival work. Works better than anything else I have tried and I do a lot of polishing.

OK back to saw blades.

A good saw blade won't make a bad table saw perform better. When I upgrade to the Steel City from a Craftsman I just couldn't get over the difference . Anyone that thinks a table saw is a roughing in cut , it is that the saw you have is not a finishing tool. I can do so much more with this tool. Even miter cuts are tight.
A good tool makes us look more skilled that we actually are .

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I recommend a round one with teeth on it ! Those square ones leave waaayyyyy to manyy chips !

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I picked up a Diablo 24 tooth at Home Depot yesterday....I'll pick up a Forrest at Woodcrafters next time I get out to that neck of the woods.

But just a note to say that the new Diablo cuts like butter compared to the old blade. The saw itself is rigid and the action along the rails is pretty smooth. Even so, I didn't expect THAT much of a difference.

Pretty cool~

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

Not really, John; One still has to learn how to properly set up and use even the best tools.
Perhaps it's better said that good tools allow us to more fully access our skills.
regards
pvg

Many mistake a dirty blade for one that needs sharpening. If I am doing a days worth of ripping, I'll clean the blade several times.
I used my old CMT blade for at least 8 years, and never had to sharpen it.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

I agree on the set up of tools and maintenance .

_________________
John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it