Replies

1. 
   BenA | Apr 06, 2004 03:01am | #1

   Freud makes excellent blades for sliding miter saws, Make sure you use a negitive rake tooth on that saw, freud has a great web site to search for the proper balde for your tool, check the web site below. Good luck

   http://www.freudtools.com/woodworkers/rep/sawblades/Professional_Series/Decking/html/Decking_1.html

    

2. 
   darbywoods | Apr 06, 2004 04:29am | #2

   I bought the top end made in England dewalt blade.  love it.  I use it for cutting 16/4 maple and cut as smooth as butter

   then I bought one for my table saw

3. 
   shopdoc | Apr 06, 2004 04:53am | #3

   Ronin,

           My favorite blades after over 30 years of trying just about every blade made are Ridge Carbide. You might want to check a previous thread on these blades. Check post # 14535.1. You should get thier catalog as it contains many more blades than thier website. The website is ridgecarbidetool.     Steve

1. 
   RonInOttawa | Apr 06, 2004 05:13pm | #4

   Ridge is an interesting company to try to contact! Their web site still carries a copyright of 1999, they advertise awards made in 1995 and 1998, the E-mail address doesn't work, and the catalog available on-site lists only router bits. I could get prices for some saw blades, but there is no way to order from the web page.

   Still, being a determined individual, I finally called their 800 number and requested a catalog. I'm willing to look into their products further, if only because I expect to be using this saw blade for a long time and I want to do it right!

   Regards,

   Ron

1. 
   Andrew | Apr 07, 2004 02:48am | #6

   Ron,

   Gladu is is Quebec. http://www.gladu.com or you could go with FS Tool http://www.fstoolcorp.com another good company is dimar http://www.dimarcanada.com All of these companies are Canadian and make excellent products

   hope this helps

   Andrew

1. 
   RonInOttawa | Apr 10, 2004 06:26pm | #13

   Thanks for the links! I checked with FS Tool and discovered that they carry Ridge blades, making them the only source I've found in Canada. I'll be down their way within the next couple of weeks and I'll look into their store.

   Regards,

   Ron

4. 
   burk | Apr 06, 2004 11:08pm | #5

   Thanks for starting this thread. I've got one of the 12" Dewalts on order and was wondering about the blade. Was that the Dewalt 80 tooth blade that you tried and liked? I noticed they sell two. Which one did you get? I'm an Ontario boy as well but I'm lucky in the fact that I drive by one of their repair/retail outlets on a semi-regular basis. The prices there are better than HD or anywhere else.

   How'd the saw cut out of the box? Did you have to do much tweaking to it?

   TommyBoy

1. 
   RonInOttawa | Apr 07, 2004 05:22pm | #8

   I also bought my saw at the Ottawa Dewalt depot. It had been reconditioned and came with a 6-month warranty. I've had good luck with buying reconditioned equipment, but I deal only from local suppliers that will be there if something does go wrong...so far I've been very pleased at getting good tools for less money. This one came without a scratch on it.

   The saw came with a 60-tooth construction blade which leaves a rougher cut than I would like. The only tweaking I had to do was to adjust both the bevel stop and the fence for exactly 90 degrees. In both cases the saw was initially very close but not quite perfect. Adjusting the 90 degree bevel stop to put the blade at exactly 90 degrees to the table was a piece of cake. Adjusting the fence to bring it into exact 90 degree alignment with the fence was somewhat more challenging. The fence is held in place with 3 machine screws which have a combined TORX/Slot head configuration. My largest slothead screwdriver was too small to get a grip on the heads, and Dewalt didn't supply the proper TORX driver. Once I acquired the proper driver, it was very easy to get the fence in perfect alignment.

   I should mention that I'm particularly anal about adjustments, using a very accurate machinist's square for such things. My objective is always to cut a piece of 2 x 6" maple and get not a sliver of light in any direction. This saw achieved that easily.

   I hope this helps reassure you that you've ordered a good saw.

   Regards,

   Ron

1. 
   burk | Apr 07, 2004 07:53pm | #9

   Thanks - there's always that nagging doubt after you've ordered something. I try to be pretty anal about my tools as well. I use a machinist square for all my setups. You're right about reman or recon tools - I have a few and they've work well for several years now. HD used to have a policy that they would take anything back. I've gone into a couple near the end of the summer and picked up tools that had been used by someone for one job and then brought back. They go to a service centre for recon and then back to HD for resale. I picked up a 5HP (as if!) CH compressor for less than half price, not even a scratch on it. 5 years later, still runs fine, never burned any oil.

2. 
   darbywoods | Apr 09, 2004 03:36am | #11

   i have the 80 tooth

1. 
   burk | Apr 09, 2004 05:30am | #12

   Thanks

5. 
   BOBABEUI | Apr 07, 2004 03:42pm | #7

   Greetings Ron,

   I have a 12 inch Dewalt chop saw that I have outfitted with two 96 tooth 1/8 kerf tooth blades, Freud LU85 and Forrest Chopmaster..Far and away the Freud is the ticket if you want a smooth (as a baby's you know what) splinter free cut on oak.. After Forrest sharpened the Freud blade I think the difference got even further!

   Good luck..

6. 
   jwaterbury | Apr 08, 2004 09:05am | #10

   I have the Incra Jig Table Saw set up. When I go to the woodworking shows I stop by the Woodpecker Incra booth. After several shows I asked what kind of saw blade they used for their demo day after day for the season. The demonstrator a twice a year friend said he would get me one like he uses. I gave him my card number and changed the subject.

   It arrived it was a Ridge. Great blade can not say enough about it.