Delta - 35-7646 10" 60 Tooth Fine Crosscut Saw Blade (Rating: 4)
So as promised (in Knottscott's review of the Delta 35-7657), here's my review of its 60-tooth cousin. The night Scott reviewed that blade, I noticed Tooliday had the 60-tooth version up for $25, plus $5 S/H. I had been looking at Freud blades that were about $20-30 more, so I thought what the heck, I'll give it a shot. I've been using a single 40-tooth blade for everything (came with the tablesaw I bought used of Craigslist), along with painters tape to keep the chipping down. The tape plus using a cross-cut sled usually gives me decent results, but obviously it's a less than optimal situation - it's a pain in the rear to tape all the cuts, plus it uses a lot of tape up (especially when cutting sheets of plywood multiple times).
I've had it about a week, and just put it on my saw today. My first impression of the blade was its heft - it's very solid being a full kerf blade - and it felt significantly heavier than my existing 40T blade. I needed to cut some 3" sections of 3/4" baltic birch plywood for nailing strips for some cabinets, so I loaded that up first. Sliding the sled forward, I wasn't even sure if I'd made contact with the blade yet - it was that smooth cutting into the birch. I'm used to the pitch changing as the blade makes contact with the wood, which didn't happen here. The blade sliced through the birch like a hot knife through butter, leaving a nice smooth cut. There was a tiny amount of chipping on the top surface of the birch, which is why this blade got 4 stars instead of 5. I tested it out on some maple as well, and it cut through it perfectly - absolutely smooth cut with no chipping. Bonus mini review - I took the opportunity to try out the Boeshield blade and bit cleaner I got, worked great at removing all the built up gunk on the old blade.
Overall, I'm very happy with the buy. I needed a proper crosscut blade, and I think this will serve me well. If I ever cut any plywood with exposed edges, I'll still probably tape it to make sure there's no chipping visible. Worst case scenario, if/when I get a really good blade I'll throw this on my chop saw.
So as promised (in Knottscott's review of the Delta 35-7657), here's my review of its 60-tooth cousin. The night Scott reviewed that blade, I noticed Tooliday had the 60-tooth version up for $25, plus $5 S/H. I had been looking at Freud blades that were about $20-30 more, so I thought what the heck, I'll give it a shot. I've been using a single 40-tooth blade for everything (came with the tablesaw I bought used of Craigslist), along with painters tape to keep the chipping down. The tape plus using a cross-cut sled usually gives me decent results, but obviously it's a less than optimal situation - it's a pain in the rear to tape all the cuts, plus it uses a lot of tape up (especially when cutting sheets of plywood multiple times).
I've had it about a week, and just put it on my saw today. My first impression of the blade was its heft - it's very solid being a full kerf blade - and it felt significantly heavier than my existing 40T blade. I needed to cut some 3" sections of 3/4" baltic birch plywood for nailing strips for some cabinets, so I loaded that up first. Sliding the sled forward, I wasn't even sure if I'd made contact with the blade yet - it was that smooth cutting into the birch. I'm used to the pitch changing as the blade makes contact with the wood, which didn't happen here. The blade sliced through the birch like a hot knife through butter, leaving a nice smooth cut. There was a tiny amount of chipping on the top surface of the birch, which is why this blade got 4 stars instead of 5. I tested it out on some maple as well, and it cut through it perfectly - absolutely smooth cut with no chipping. Bonus mini review - I took the opportunity to try out the Boeshield blade and bit cleaner I got, worked great at removing all the built up gunk on the old blade.
Overall, I'm very happy with the buy. I needed a proper crosscut blade, and I think this will serve me well. If I ever cut any plywood with exposed edges, I'll still probably tape it to make sure there's no chipping visible. Worst case scenario, if/when I get a really good blade I'll throw this on my chop saw.
