My circular saws have 8" or 6" blades. They will work in a table saw just maybe not as well. My unisaw uses a 10" blade.

A wheel is just another type of lever and the fulcrum in this case is your saw's arbor. Bigger the wheel, more leverage but the more force required to turn it. The smaller the wheel the more forward force vs. downward force. Hence it's probably more dangerous to use a smaller wheel ?

I have ran a 7.5" on my delta contractor saw when i still had it. It was a worm drive type, unnecessarily loud and could break your arm if given a chance. I didn't notice any issues.

 

7-1/4" blades are usually significantly thinner than 10" blades, meaning that if you use a splitter or riving knife (you should), there is high risk that the workpiece will bindup midway through the cut….a scary situation at best. A good 10" blade is best, but smaller diameter will still cut wood if you remove your safety devices.

 

Is there a reason you're not using a standard size blade? They have a the 1050X for $35. That way you won't need to swap it out with your circular saw when you switch saws, and you'll get the full depth of cut out of your table saw.

 

My grizzly manual explicitly says I must use full kerf blades with the riving knife.

There are cheap 10" blades out there. I'd just buy one of those if I didn't
really care about cut quality.

 

+1 on the comments that you can use any size blade up to 10" on the table saw as long as the arbor hole on the blade is the same size, 5/8" on most. But it would be best and Safer to use the proper size blade for the saw you are useing it on. Note that Dado Blades used on a table saw are most often 6" or 8" but they are not designed to make a full thru cut so that is the reason they can be smaller.

Just wondering if the "Ass from Elbow store " in question is Blue or Orange ?

 

My Grizzly also requires full kerf blades (and so I bought my first Forrest WWII a few days ago), but previously I had a R4512 and I found that 10" thin kerf Freud Diablo blades were the best blade for the money. I kept a Diablo combination blade in the saw for general use, and switched to a low tooth-count ripping blade for ripping thick hardwood stock. I switched to a super-cheap Avanti plywood blade for the few occasions I needed to cut veneered sheet goods with no risk of tearout (the blade cut fine, it just dulled more quickly than the Diablos).

I thought about using circular saw blades due to cost and efficiency, but I wasn't sure whether the riving knife could handle their kerfs. Any blade with a 5/8" arbor hole will fit, but if you can't use the riving knife/splitter you're taking an unnecessary kickback risk.

 

7-1/4" blades are usually significantly thinner than 10" blades, meaning that if you use a splitter or riving knife (you should), there is high risk that the workpiece will bindup midway through the cut….a scary situation at best. A good 10" blade is best, but smaller diameter will still cut wood if you remove your safety devices.

- knotscott

Blade diameter, thickness, and arbor size are the 3 factors to consider:

• Most 10" blades generally come in full (1/8") or thin (~3/32") kerf setups. The industry standard for arbor size is 5/8", but there are some machines that use a different arbor size (e.g. some miter saws like the Festool Kapex).
• 7 1/4" blades as knotscott mentioned, have a smaller kerf, and mostly come in the 5/8" arbor setup. If you want to use your guard/splitter/riving knife, the kerf will be too small to use those safety features.

 

I don't have a riving knife nor have had a riving knife on any saw I've owned and I never get kick backs. Sure I've had a kick back or two, but it was due to my fault, like feeding wood freehand into the blade without a miter gauge or fence. It seems to me, the lack of kick backs means I'm doing something right or not doing something wrong. Those who get kick backs do so because they are doing something wrong or the machine is set up wrong, or the blade is bad. If a person is careless, or lacks the skill, or respect a machine demands, a riving knife can keep you safe (usually). I don't feel I need or will ever need one.

 

I don t have a riving knife nor have had a riving knife on any saw I ve owned and I never get kick backs. Sure I ve had a kick back or two, but it was due to my fault, like feeding wood freehand into the blade without a miter gauge or fence. It seems to me, the lack of kick backs means I m doing something right or not doing something wrong. Those who get kick backs do so because they are doing something wrong or the machine is set up wrong, or the blade is bad. If a person is careless, or lacks the skill, or respect a machine demands, a riving knife can keep you safe (usually). I don t feel I need or will ever need one.

- MrRon

My biggest concern is that even if I'm doing things right accidents can happen or things can get overlooked, and I'll admit that I even make a mistake once in a while - and when I do, I'm sure glad I have a riving knife, blade guard, and pawls. I don't view my riving knife as a substitute for proper machine maintenance and operation, but I also wouldn't trade it just to be able to use a 7.25" blade instead of a 10" blade.

 

ok. So from what I can gather here, my 3 main problems: my table saw was my grandfather's, so it's likely he purchased it around 1960? The table itself holds an 8" blade at most, 8 1/4 is too big. Trust me, I'd love to have a decent 10", actually been lookin on craig's for about 8 months now. I have a separate Delta 10" bench saw that rattles on a biblical level. Been thinking of mounting it as a dedicated dado saw. Also, a rigid 10" radial arm saw that I keep walking past everday like a gunslinger, tellin it it's days are numbered, And that's about as far as that thought goes.
The table saw doesn't have a riving knife. Is there a good aftermarket way to make one or something that might mount in the insert?

And sure, some people might say the color of the store is orange, but I think it's more of an oblivious terra cotta

 

There are aftermarket riving knives (the Bolt-On Riving Knife system is usually the first one referenced), but I don't know how easy it would be to mount something on your saw. You could always make a throat plate with a built-in splitter or maybe add one to your current plate. It wouldn't be as good as a riving knife that raises and lowers with the blade, but it's definitely better than nothing.

 

If you search for "table saw splitter" in the Tools & Home Improvement section on Amazon, you'll pull up a number of aftermarket options.

 

I have some nice combination blades and fine finish crosscut blades, but honestly I use a Diablo 1024 thin kerf ripping blade for most cuts on the tablesaw. I even get away with crosscutting hardwood panels with it.