Table Saw Blade Types: Rip, Crosscut, Combination and Carbide Explained
The table saw is considered to be the workhorse of the woodshop. It is more than just a mounted circular blade on a large table, it is the core of the woodshop. A table saw is something that can do most of your woodworking jobs in a fast and efficient manner. Making crosscuts, miters and tenons are much easier when you have a top rated table saw around. A question might arrive in ones mind that why do i need a table saw, get to know by reading our related article.
The table saw might be a very useful tool but it is also statistically one of the most dangerous machines in the woodshop.
That’s why you often see people being killed by table saws in the movies. It’s kind of a cliché, but there’s some truth to it. It’s basically a mounted saw on a large table; safety features or not, one misstep and you’re visiting the hospital.
So before proceeding on what a table saw is used for, we should probably prioritize our safety first by knowing some safety precautions.
Safety First
Follow these safety tips when using your table saw to prevent injuries:
- Wear safety glasses, face shield or goggles at all times. If something gets in your eyes, it could cause an injury to your eye, in the worst-case scenario; otherwise, it could impair your vision so you’d be more likely to have an accident
- Wear non-slip footwear. This might seem obvious but a lot of table saw accidents could be avoided if people did not slip while operating it
- Pay 100% attention on the table saw. Don’t carry a conversation or daydream while using the table saw
- Avoid wearing long sleeves, jewelry, ties or any dangling or loose-fitting accessories while operating the table saw. They may get caught up in the blade while you are working
- Do not position your body in line with the blade. Asides from the obvious effect of being cut in half, this is to prevent flying woodchips, dust and other material from injuring you as well
- Only let go of your work when the blade has completely stopped. If you weaken your grip even for a moment, then your hand might slip towards the saw blade
- Always disconnect the power before changing the blades
- Do not use wet wood; use dry and seasoned wood. Cutting wet wood is inefficient and it has a tendency to warp as you cut it. This also might cause the blade to kick back
- Always use sharp blades. Sharp saw blades are easier to control which greatly reduces the chance of accidents
- And lastly, NEVER, EVER wear gloves when using your table saw. A lot of beginners make this mistake and they have paid the price for it. Why? Gloves will not protect your hand from getting cut; in fact it might make things worse for you. Gloves may get caught up in the saw blade and drag you towards it; instead of losing only one finger, you might lose four of them all at ounce.
The tips above may seem scary but we are not dissuading you from using a table saw, we just want you to know of the risks before you even consider using one.
What Blade Type Actually Changes
A table saw only cuts as well as the disc spinning in it. Swap a 24-tooth rip blade for an 80-tooth crosscut and the same saw, the same fence and the same board will give you a completely different edge. Tooth count gets all the attention, but the grind and the gullet matter just as much, and those are the parts nobody explains on the packaging.
If you are still working out what a table saw is used for, start there and come back. Below are the blades you will actually run into, what each one is built to do, and when reaching for it is worth the two minutes it takes to change over.
Table Saw Blade Types
Rip blades
Rip blades cut with the grain, and they usually carry 24 teeth with a flat-top grind. Fewer teeth sounds like a downgrade until you see the gullets — the deep scoops between each tooth — which is where the sawdust goes on a long cut through thick stock. Choke a blade on its own waste and you get burning, a stalling motor, and a board that wanders off the fence. For ripping anything 8/4 or heavier, this is the blade.
Crosscut blades
Run 60 to 80 teeth with an alternate top bevel and you get the opposite trade. The teeth alternate their bevel left and right so they slice wood fibers cleanly instead of tearing them, which is exactly what you want cutting across the grain where tearout shows. Gullets are small, so feed slowly. Push a crosscut blade like a rip blade and you will smell it before you see it.
Combination blades
A 40 to 50 tooth combination blade groups its teeth — typically four bevel teeth and one flat raker, repeating — so it rips acceptably and crosscuts acceptably. Acceptably is the honest word. It will not match a dedicated blade at either job, but it means you are not changing blades four times building one cabinet. If you own exactly one blade, own this one.
Hollow ground blades
The plate on these is thinner behind the teeth than at the rim, so the body never rubs the cut. That gives a genuinely polished edge on plywood, melamine and acrylic. The catch is heat: less steel means less mass to absorb it, so they warp if you push them, and they want a clean, well-aligned saw to earn their keep.
Blades with carbide tips
Carbide is not a blade type so much as what the teeth are made of, and nearly every blade worth buying today has it. The tips outlast plain steel many times over and take a beating from plywood glue and the occasional hidden staple. When a carbide blade finally dulls, resharpening is usually cheaper than replacing it — worth remembering before you bin one.
Kerf Width, and Why It Matters More Than You Think
Full kerf blades remove about an eighth of an inch of wood; thin kerf blades take roughly three thirty-seconds. On a contractor saw or anything running a 1.5 horsepower motor, thin kerf is the friendlier choice, because there is simply less material to chew through. On a heavy cabinet saw, full kerf runs steadier and deflects less. Pick for the saw you own, not the saw you want.
Conclusion
There is a lot to cover when it comes to table saws, their design, parts, uses, how to use them and of course, the different safety procedures as well. Condensing all of them in a single article is simply not possible.
Table saws aren’t mere power tools that help you with woodworking; they are an essential part of the woodshop. They have a variety of uses but are mostly used in handling difficult and time-consuming tasks.
So, to answer the question, a table saw can do almost any woodwork activity. The only thing that they can’t do is delicate work that requires skilled hands. Woodcarving and engraving are examples of work which a table saw cannot do.