I knew quite a bit about combo , cross cutting and ripping blades before viewing this. I know more now after watching due to your unbiased informative video and I appreciate you taking your time , money and knowledge and sharing that with the many of us who have radial arm saws and thirst for knowledge on the subject. TY

"I don't recommend you use any power tool blindfolded." - Iain Portalupi Noted.

Great video, I run a 12” and 14” 5 tooth pattern combination blade in both Delta Radial arm saws… never once experienced any form of self feed neither cutting thick/thin etc… great video, great information Lain !

An absolutely excellent and objective series on blades for the RAS. Finally something that goes outside the stagnant evolution that is the "RAS Forum" Thanks for putting this all together. I think I'm off to shop for a 30T rip blade since I so a lot of work with 2" stock.

@TheNorthlandWorkshop

Жыл бұрын

Thanks! I figured someone needed to actually test these blades instead of ending every saw blade question with “because I say so” and locking the thread.

@JustFixIt99

Жыл бұрын

@@TheNorthlandWorkshop That one still irks me..... Heaven forbid we have an open discussion...

Thank you you made it easier and worthwhile for me to rebuild the RAS i got handed down. Have been concerned with using. Also thanks for the video on making the prawl.

@TheNorthlandWorkshop

5 ай бұрын

I’m glad it helped.

Super! So well worth waiting for. I knew you would be exhaustive and you didn’t disappoint. Beyond performance facts of the specific blades tested, there was a very great deal of valuable information about wood species, operation of the RAS, and standards to be expected by an experienced wood worker. A very valuable video. Thank you.

@TheNorthlandWorkshop

Жыл бұрын

Thanks!

I was thinking about your sawblade tests and I did some rudimentary research. The 14 blade at 3450 rpm, is about 210 FPS feet per second. Apparently that's actually higher than recommended for normal wood cutting. For a 14" blade they recommend a 2,500 rpm arbor. The FPS sweet spot for wood cutting with a circular saw blade is "recommended" at 130-170 fps. I suspect the chatter you talk about could be from such an overly aggressive high blade speed? Have you done a back to back comparison with a 10" blade versus a 14" blade using the same exact model of blade? It would be an interesting experiment. Thanks so much. Your saw is incredibly beautiful!

@TheNorthlandWorkshop

Жыл бұрын

Yes, that is the one issue of radial arm saws, they are the only saws I know of that are truly direct drive. Even table saws billed as “direct drive” have helical gears in them to adjust the blade’s speed. With the radial arm saw there is no belt or gearbox the arbor has to spin at the motor’s speed, which as you pointed out, changes depending on blade diameter. I like the idea of the 10” blade test, I also just thought of something. My saw is a 3 phase and I have it running off a static phase converter so its speed is fixed at 3450 rpm. I’ll see if I can barrow somebody’s vfd and adjust its speed to get the speed down to 2500rpm and retest them and see if that makes a difference in cut quality.

@Ritalie

Жыл бұрын

@@TheNorthlandWorkshop I just realized after reading your comment that a 3 phase motor has the advantage of having easily available VFD's that can provide a very precise speed control. That's really neat. For a larger blade at lower RPM, you probably get significantly longer blade life compared to a smaller saw, due to the 14" blade having more carbide teeth. Just a theory, I don't know if that's a real thing. If you aren't getting burning or glazing of your cuts, you can probably get away with an extremely high blade speed. My Grizzly 10" tablesaw had a 5,800 rpms configuration from the factory, and it cut so fast that it didn't make sense, while using a very old resharpened "combination" blade. I'd run a piece of plywood through the saw, and it cut so fast that it felt like there was no blade present at all. But, I would get burning frequently, when the wood was warped or if the fence wasn't aligned properly. Almost every cut had a little bit of burning, and I finally geared it down to 4,400 rpms by changing the pulleys. But man, it was fun having 5,800 rpms. Now, table saws never come with anything other than a 3,450 arbor speed.

Very useful information, exactly what i was looking for, I bought my radial arm saw in circa 1992, it has been in storage for about 10 years ever since my wife bought me a table saw and a compound miter saw. The motor on my table saw went kaput, so instead of buying a new one I pulled the RAS out of storage and needed a refresher course on saw blades and other "how to use" info.

Thanks for the detailed blade shootout! I think I'm going with two dedicated blades instead of a combo.

@TheNorthlandWorkshop

Жыл бұрын

Glad I could help!

Really good comparison - thanks for putting this together.

@TheNorthlandWorkshop

Жыл бұрын

Thanks!

Three comments: First: I am not sure that test results on a 14 inch saw translate to a 10 inch saw, which is the most common in home shops. The difference in blade diameter means that different numbers of teeth are traveling at different angles and at different speeds through the wood. Additionally, vibration and run out tendency may be different for various diameter blades. Second: The smoothness of any crosscut depends in large part on the total amount of teeth making the cut. I use a 24 tooth ripping blade (which has cut depth limiting ears) for crosscutting and find that the slower I pull it, the smother the cut. This makes sense. For example: If your saw turns at 3600 rpm, it turns at 60 revolutions per second. For a 48 tooth blade, this translates to 2880 teeth, moving through the wood per second. For a 24 tooth blade, 1440 teeth move through the wood per second. But, if you take twice as long to make a crosscut with the latter blade than with the former, the same number of teeth will have made the cut. Third: I have to disagree with your rule never to use a ripping blade for crosscutting. I use a ripping blade for crosscutting on my 10 inch radial arm saws all the time and they work beautifully for both hard wood or soft. As further proof that ripping blades are suitable for crosscutting, check out the blades which manufacturers supply on chop saws (which only do crosscutting). Mine came with a 24 tooth blade with big gullets and a moderate rake on the teeth. What kind of blade is that? I don't mean to be such a nabob of negativism: I appreciate the thought and work that you have put into this video and that different blade configurations produce slightly different results. I also believe that we have come to the similar conclusion that the radial arm saw is a wonderful shop tool, far more efficacious than a table saw.

👍👍👍Thank you.

Hola! 🖐I'm learning a lot from you, I really appreciate it.👍My wife picked up a Craftsman 10" from a Yard Sale about a year ago. I have not used it even once but I'm getting closer each day. Take care and have a good one, Adios!👊

@donaldruhland1278

5 ай бұрын

If it didnt come with a manual find one on-line they can help alot with alignment ive got an old dewalt 10 inch and after watching this video gave me a new perspective on RAS rebuilt mine had to make a few things they dont make anymore and aligned everything, now cuts beautiful and i feel safer.

I want to get a RAS. However, I don't know if I should get a 10 or 12 inch cut. I mainly want to rip 2x4s and 4x4s. I can get either used near me for relatively cheap. I only have a few projects at this time so I didn't want to spend a lot of money on the saw. Thank you for the video. I will have to get a couple blades once I choose a saw. Unfortunately I don't have room for multiple at this time.

Great video bud. This is exactly what I needed, along side part one. I learned a lot!

@TheNorthlandWorkshop

Жыл бұрын

Glad I could help!

At 12:20 yuou are comparing two completely differene blades, A crosscut and a comdo blade!

Hello, I was wondering if you could list the blades that you used for your videos and maybe a link to each blade’s manufacturer? Thank you and keep the videos rolling!!! I enjoy watching them!

@doct0rnic

4 ай бұрын

Check out part 1

Hey Lain what Brand and model was the 30 tooth ripping blade?

Say, would it be fair to say that the 5-ATB pattern GP blade has the least tendency to “lift” the wood in ripping, or to “self-feed” in cross cutting, of those tested?

@TheNorthlandWorkshop

Жыл бұрын

Really the only blade that lifted the wood during ripping was the 24 tooth ripping blade and that was only when it was ripping the 4x4. As far as self-feeding in cross cutting only the 40 tooth Amana hinted at self-feeding. I suppose I can’t say the 5-ATB pattern has the “least” tendency to do those things because the majority of blades also showed no tendency to do those things.

@NMranchhand

Жыл бұрын

@@TheNorthlandWorkshop Thanks so much. I believe I’m on solid ground now in regard to the proper relationship of “teeth-in-the-wood” to those two conditions, thanks to you. One last thing if you don’t mind: much is made of hook angle for the RAS. Leaving out the ridiculous idea of +20’s and the like for obvious reasons, what do you make of the significance of low and negative angles?

@TheNorthlandWorkshop

Жыл бұрын

@@NMranchhand in my searches I haven’t found any blades that have a tooth angle greater than 20 degrees. Both rip blades have a 20 degree hook angle and they seem friendly enough. The tests showed that hook angle really doesn’t have an effect on how aggressive the blade is the two biggest things is how many teeth the blade has (more teeth means each one takes a smaller bite) and whether or not the blade has the little anti-kickback ears on the back of the teeth that limit how big a bite each tooth can take. Hook angle mainly deals with how the blade cuts the wood. Ripping blades tend to have a steep positive angle so the teeth peel wood off with the grain like a hand plane does. This steep angle would be really bad for cross-cutting because it would grab the wood fibers and tear them as the tenth went across the grain. By lowering the hook angle instead of the fibers getting lifted from the cut more of the fibers are packed into themselves which helps to prevent them tearing out. It’s the same reason a card scraper can smooth out wild grain where a plane would just cause tear out. What types of cuts and what types of wood are you using your saw for?

Were any of these blades the one Wally Kunkel raved about?

@josephpergolaiv1824

Жыл бұрын

The woodworker one.

@TheNorthlandWorkshop

Жыл бұрын

Yes it was the Forrest Woodworker I triple chip grind blade. I heard great things about it so I bought it and was so disappointed in its performance that I decided to test out all these blades since I could no longer trust what others were telling me about saw blades. My personal theory on the Woodworker I blade is that it originally came out back when high speed steel blades dominated the home woodworking market. High speed steel blades dull quickly and most home shops didn't sharpen them as often as they should. The Woodworker I blade, while no match for modern saw blades, would have run circles around the common dull high speed steel blade. Couple the Woodworker I's superiority to what the average woodworker was used to at the time with a master salesman like Wally and you get a blade with a cult like following. The Woodworker I was probably the best blade you could get for your saw back when it first came out however blades have changed dramatically since then. It is my experience with the Woodworker I that it is not very good compared to new combination blades on the market. The Woodworker I put high speed steel blades to shame. 40 years later we have saw modern carbide tipped blades that put the Woodworker I to shame. I have no doubt that that the saw blades made 40 years from now will put the blades in this video to shame. Technology marches on.

@JustFixIt99

Жыл бұрын

@@TheNorthlandWorkshop I think that last paragraph there is enough to get banned from the RAS forum for life :P It also happens that I completely agree with everything in that statement.

@TheNorthlandWorkshop

Жыл бұрын

@@JustFixIt99 Between my thoughts on blades and my preference for turret style saws I’m amazed they let me in in the first place.

@JustFixIt99

Жыл бұрын

@@TheNorthlandWorkshop I'd be all over a Rockwell saw if it wasn't for the dearth of accessories.There have been some beefy looking 12" commercial grade ones around me lately that look pretty nice. However the lack of a moulding guard for them kind of kills it for me. I use it all the time on my dewalt, and previous to that on my craftsman.

Hahaha

Thanks for all of the incredible information. I am obsessed with radial arm size, especially the Deltas and I have a choice between buying a super990 (10 inch )or a 33-267. Both of them are in good, not great shape, but pretty clean considering. What do you think is the better of the two saws? Thank you for your help and input!! Shane

Fantastic instructional video do you have an email address I can contact you?

OBTW, great video, DEWALT SAWS IN WWII PROMOTIONAL FILM 50674, here on YT. B&W recollection by DEWALT of their fantastical use of RAS for the production of Army facilities in the Pacific Northwest with amazing video and stunning stats.

@TheNorthlandWorkshop

Жыл бұрын

That’s a really cool video.