Intended purpose: Combination Rip and Crosscut
Tooth count: 50 (10 skiptooth – ie the tooth clusters have the equivalent spacing to a 60 tooth blade, with a regular large gullet with the skip tooth for significant chip clearance.)
Price: $115
Source: Woodworking Warehouse
Tooth Grind: ATB (alternating top bevel)
Kerf: 3.1mm
Carbide thickness (measured front face to braze): 2.80mm
Carbide length: 8.30mm
Front face length: 5.90mm
Blade axial runout: 0.002″ (0.05mm)
Expansion slots: 0
Anti-vibration slots: 0
This blade has none of the ‘nice’ features of some of the other blades – no anti-kickbacks, no expansion slots (although I wonder if the occasional large gullet takes care of that requirement). No anti-noise slots, and you might even expect the blade to run noisier because of the large gullets (some blades claim air-noise is part of the issue with a noisy blade), but this one isn’t any noisier that any other, either running loaded or unloaded.
Blade body thickness: 2.22mm
General Description:
I was, I admit, very surprised by this blade. It looks very aggressive with the large gullets, and as mentioned above, none of the extras some blades have. Not even a low-friction coating. The blade does one thing – it cuts, and it does that VERY well. In fact, when I first tried the blade out, it actually sounded like it enjoyed cutting – whispering through the timber rather than making a meal of it (some blades sound like they are chomping into the timber). When I finished all the tests for the day, and had to choose which blade I was going to leave on the machine – obviously not knowing what I wanted to cut next, this was the one that I chose. There are better ripping blades, and better crosscutting blades (although only by degrees), but when it came to a blade that could handle anything that I have needed to throw at it so far, this was the blade that got left on the machine.
The cuts:
Melamine (Particle Board Backing)
Top Edge
Bottom Edge
An excellent result in the melamine cutting test, with a very clean top and bottom surface. Even when performed without a zero-clearance insert, the bottom edge was still pristine.
KD Hardwood Rip
Despite the fine surface scratches apparent here, the blade did rip well. I am wondering if the regular lines here are the result of the skip-tooth, or just the tolerances on the blade. Still, very acceptable, and an easy rip.
Treated Pine Rip
A pretty acceptable rip of treated pine. Again, some light scoring is apparent.
Softwood (Pine) Rip
The slight scoring is also apparent here in the soft pine, but again, this is a pretty acceptable finish.
KD Hardwood Crosscut
This was a very good crosscut – the light-coloured lines here are actually a texture in the timber, rather than scoring by the blade.
Treated Pine Crosscut
Pretty good treated pine crosscut – there is slight tearout, and a fine regular scoring, with very little breakout.
Softwood (Pine) Crosscut
As with the treated pine, a very acceptable crosscut, with fibres cut rather than torn. Little breakout and a fine scoring.
[...] next review from the “Battle of the Blades”. The Linbide 336 4+1, 50 tooth combination [...]
hi stuart, did you do a fair bit of cutting with melamine with this blade, and if so, did it start dulling with a bit of use?
a few people i have spoken to when it comes to cutting melamine say that you need a scriber blade to get clean cuts. i had a friend who worked in a joinery shop a few years ago and he told me that they hardly ever used a scriber to cut melamine.
i intend on buying a tablesaw in the near future and loke a lot of people who do, will be upgrading from a triton. i’ve built 2 kitchens with a triton, and cut a fair bit of melamine with it, using blades for double sided laminates. when new, they work fairly well, but after a bit of use, they dull. would this be the case with this blade as well, or could you get constant consistent clean cuts with this blade?
regards
michael
Hi Michael,
I haven’t given any of the blades enough of a melamine workout to see how they perform over time (although I use it, I try to avoid it as a material)
If you kept the blade in good condition, it seems more hardy than many of the others. I haven’t tried it myself, but the occasional light dressing with some of those fine diamond files may keep it sharp.
You can always do 2 passes where both edges are critical – first pass with a very low blade, just cutting through one side of the melamine, then turn it over for a full depth cut. That first cut then is effectively using one blade first as a scoring blade, then completing the cut.
I wouldn’t mind a saw with a scoring/scribing blade, but they do cost quite a bit more for that one little extra blade! Depends just how much melamine/coated materials you are expecting to cut.
[...] I don't know of any way to make a 5/8" hole fit onto a 30mm arbor. Judging by the pics here: Linbide 336 4+1 Stu's Shed it looks like that Linbide 336 Combo blade has the 30mm bore that you need. Looks like a very [...]