Circular Saw Blade - Please Help

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ziggy1979

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Hi

Apologies if this should go in the "tool" section but I thought it was better to post it here.

I just bought a used Festool TS-75 and would like to buy a new blade for it. I was hoping to save some pennies (or rather many pounds) by buying a non-Festool branded blade (ive not yet used the saw but think that it will need a new blade soon).

I just wanted to know whether the "KERF" size is important. For example, the festool blades are 210mm x 30mm x2.4mm. But i found a Dewalt one which is 210mm x 30mm x 2.6mm and a Bosch one with a 2.5 mm kerf (ie is 0.1 mm a biggy???).

Also, I mainly cut mdf and veneered mdf. I was wondering how many teeth I should get on the blades i buy (i was thinking as many as possible but as price seems to go up with the number of teeth I didnt want to buy an 80 tooth blade when a 45 tooth blade would give as good a cut in those products.

Thanks a lot for all your help.

Zigs
 
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The kerf is the width of the cut, ie. the amount of material taken out by the blade. What you want to look at is the thickness of the blade vs the riving knife on your saw. If it's thicker, the knife will do nothing when the workpiece closes up on the blade.

As for cutting MDF, the more teeth the better, I imagine. I can't see the veneer cutting nicely with any number of teeth on a circular saw, though.
 
If you don't want to pay much why not take the blade to your local saw doctor and have it sharpened, probably £10-15 depending on number of teeth.

If you do buy another then if its standard MDF you are cutting 48T will be OK, if you are doing veneered or melamine faced MDF & MFC then 60T with a higher top bevel will give a better cut.

If you change the blade its best to change the plastic anti splinter bit on the festool as you have to cut that with the blade the first time you use it so it is a good fit to the kerf.

Jason
 
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For what it's worth, the thickness of the other blades you are suggesting, will hardly make any difference to the cut of the TS75.
I don't think plunge saws have a riving knife fitted (interferes with the plunge cutting action).
As Jason says, having the blade sharpened is the way to go. I have 4 blades fro my TS55 , 2x 48t and 2x 60t. As soon as one blade is showing signs of needing sharpened, it's removed and sent off to be sharpened.
Eventually I'll need new blades, but that day is far off yet.
I do replace the rubber/plastic strip on the guide rail at least once a year, or as necessary. ;) ;)
 
Guys ... thank you all so so much for all your help.

I had given sharpening a thought but wasn't sure it was the best way forward ... How many times can blades generally be sharpened?

My local builders yard say that they can't give me a price until they get it back from where they send it as there could be broken teeth?!?!? on the blade - he also said there's no maximum amount that it could cost as it depends on what gets done to the blade ...

With that in mind, I'd be grateful if you could recommend somewhere you have used that I can send it off and might give me a better idea of price ...

Thanks again!
 
Hi

One other thing ... the Festool Manual says to:

"only use saw blades with a fundamental thickness of max. 1.8mm and a cutting width of 2.4-2.6mm".

I don't understand what it means by "fundamental thickness" as the blade they provide simply says "210 x 30 x 2.4".

Also, is the 2.4 - 2.6mm the "kerf" number that I originally asked about? If so, does that mean that the Bosch blade that I posted the link to (above) with the 2.5 mm kerf would be fine?

Sorry to be a pain ... but I was reading on kickbacks, etc and dont want to have any nasty scares!

Thank you all ... again ...!
 
ziggy1979 said:
Hi

One other thing ... the Festool Manual says to:

"only use saw blades with a fundamental thickness of max. 1.8mm and a cutting width of 2.4-2.6mm".

I don't understand what it means by "fundamental thickness" as the blade they provide simply says "210 x 30 x 2.4".

Also, is the 2.4 - 2.6mm the "kerf" number that I originally asked about? If so, does that mean that the Bosch blade that I posted the link to (above) with the 2.5 mm kerf would be fine?

Sorry to be a pain ... but I was reading on kickbacks, etc and dont want to have any nasty scares!

Thank you all ... again ...!
Click to expand...

fundimental size = the disc/body off the blade with the 2.4/5/6 being the teeth width
as long as the teeth are the same or slightly greater[ 2.5/2.6mm]than fitted your fine as its more cleearence
 
I have the TS55.
The slightly wider blade will skim a slight shaving of the rubber anti splinter base on the guide rail.
Enough to cause problems when using a narrower festool blade at a later date????
I don't know. A tenth of a millimeter is not a lot so will probably cause no problems.
 
For cutting the MDF, the thickness of the kerf will make hardly any difference at all. If your cutting veneered MDF and are worried about the finish then cut the veneered stuff face down. Almost 0% breakout on the face side.
 
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