Best Table Saw Blade | Top 5 Table Saw Blades Reviewed

Of the many types of saws, you choose a table saw and now need a new table saw blade because either the old one is worn out or you are just starting a DIY project or you are a professional using a table saw every day. Selecting the right blade for your machine can be tricky. There are circular blades that work just as fine on multiple models, and there are specific blades for specific models to do just a specific task.

Top 5 Table Saw Blades

1. DEWALT 10-Inch Miter Table Saw Blades

When working with more than one type of saw, a tabletop and a miter saw, for example, one cutting blade might not be usable on both the machines and you may need good blades that work on both the machines. For such cases, Dewalt has a combination pack, the Dewalt DW3106P5 saw blade combination pack.  

This combination pack has a 10-inch DW3106 with a 60-tooth fine-finish blade and a DW3103 with 32-tooth general purpose saw blade with the same dimensions and specification except for the number of teeth. Both the blades are made of construction-grade tungsten carbide with thin kerf and anti-stick rim and are good for softwood, hardwood, chipboard, and plywood. 

The blades are set on computer-balanced plates to decrease vibration and anti-stick rims for improved accuracy and a better finish.

Specifications:

• Item Weight: 3 pounds
• Diameter: both 10″
• Plate: 0.071″
• Kerf:  0.097″
• Arbor: 5/8”
• Tooth grind: Alternate top bevel
• Material: Tungsten Carbide

2. Diablo D1050X Combination Saw Blade

If you need a blade for ripping and crosscutting wood and wood composites, such as particleboard and medium-density fiberboard (MDF), and the blade needs to be strong, long-lasting, Diablo D1050X is a good choice

Freud Diablo D1050X is a 10-Inch Combination tabletop sawblade with a thin kerf. It has 10 FTG x 50 ATB teeth configuration with a close grouping of 50 ATB teeth with smaller bite-size for smoother crosscutting, and 10 FTG with deeper gullets for cleaner ripping

This blade has a few interesting features. It has laser-cut stabilizer vents to reduce noise and vibration. These vents keep the blade cool and reduce blade warp since the heat expansion slots allow the blade to expand due to heat build-up. This feature ensures true and straight cuts.

In addition, this blade has Perma-SHIELD non-stick coating, with tri-metal shock-resistant brazing to extend the blade’s cutting life.

Specifications:

• Item Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Material: Carbide
• Teeth: 50 ATB (Alternate-Top Bevel)
• Arbor: 5/8″
• Kerf: 0.098″
• Hook Angle: 15 degrees

3. Makita A-93681 Miter saw Blade

If you are looking for a miter saw blade to cut hardwood, softwood, or plywood that gives a higher degree of precision cuts and less drag on the motor, Makita A-93681, a 10 inch 80 teeth blade is a good option. 

This Japanese blade has a thin kerf with ATAF (Alternate Top and Alternate Face) carbide teeth design for precision cutting.

Specifications:

• Blade Diameter: 10″
• Tooth Count: 80
• Arbor Size: 5/8″
• Tooth Grind: ATAF
• Hook Angle: 5 degrees
• Plate Thickness:  0.071″
• Kerf: 0.091″
• Maximum Speed (RPM): 5,870

4. Diablo D1060X 10″ x 60 Tooth Saw Blade

Looking for a blade for crosscutting oak, pine, melamine, veneer plywood or delicate molding and finish with little or no sanding? The Italian Diablo D1060X by Freud is what you need. 

This is a TiCo Hi-Density carbide blade from Freud and has 60 high-density carbides Hi-ATB (alternate-top bevel) teeth on a tough steel plate. The kerf is thin and gives fast, clean cuts. Perma-SHIELD Non-stick Coating protects this blade from heat, gumming, or corrosion

The stabilizer vents in the blade reduce noise and vibration, friction and warping, helping to extend the life of the blade.

Specifications:

• Diameter: 10″
• Tooth grind: Hi-ATB (Hi alternate-top bevel), 60 teeth
• Hook angle: 15 Degree
• Kerf: 0.98-inch
• Arbor: 5/8″
• Material: Carbide

5. Freud LU83R010 Combination Blade

If you need a heavy-duty combination blade for smoother crosscuts and rips using less power with faster feed rate, Freud’s LU83R010 is a good blade for hard- and softwood, plywood, chipboard as well as laminates.

This blade has a Heavy-duty plate with a thin kerf.  The teeth are made with Freud’s signature TiCo Carbide which is a high-density combination of Titanium and Cobalt for strength and resilience. 

The teeth are arranged in groups of five with one flat tooth for ripping, and four alternate top bevel teeth for crosscutting. This makes the blade good for ripping and crosscutting. A deep gullet between the cutting edges clears out most of the sawdust. a Red Perma-Shield coating protects this blade from heat build-up, reduces friction and corrosion.

Anti-vibration slots in this blade reduce the vibrations eliminating the need for stabilizers.

giving a crisp, splinter-free flawless finish

Specifications:

• Coating: Perma-SHIELD
• Diameter: 10″
• Grind: ATB-R
• Hook Angle: 10 degrees
• Teeth: 50 COMB
• Arbor: 5/8″
• Kerf: 0.091
• Plate: 0.071
• Kerf:  0.091

Buying Guide: Table Saw Blade

Let’s get started. If you are a pro, you will already know what and where to look for. This guide is for both the pros and the newbies to make an informed purchase

Purpose of tabletop saw blades

For a layman, the purpose of these blades is to cut.  For the user of these blades, there are a few things the one needs to first know, which are:

• The wood grain – What is “grain” of wood and why is it important to understand it
• Types of wood cutting
• Types of blades available

Understanding the Grain of wood

For the novice, “Woodgrain” or “grain” means “the lines of natural wood fibers in the length of the tree”, on the faces and edges of a piece of cut wood. These fibers are in a longitudinal direction

Understanding the grain of the wood is important to assess the strength and texture of the wood to choose the right blade for cutting. It is easier to cut a piece of wood with the grain getting a cleaner cut with fewer splinters.

Understanding the types of cuts

The type of material to be cut may be solid wood, plywood, MDF, Melamine, particle-board, plastic, laminates, non-ferrous material or plastic. Sheets. It is important to understand the differences between ripping, sawing and crosscutting to decide which blade to use

Types of cuts used for cutting wood or plastic or metal determines the quality of the output

There are different types of cuts, table saws are used for a select few. Woodcutting using a tabletop blade is for one or more of the listed cuts which are:

Rip cuts: A “rip” cut is used to saw timber in the direction of the grain by running the log or wood sheet length-wise, cutting it parallel to the grain lines.  More specifically, this is a cut along the length of the log or sheet of wood. A rip blade has less number of teeth which are larger sized. This can be dangerous as cutting too fast could cause the wood to rip and tear. There may be blade marks. Cutting too slowly may cause the blade to overheat and burn the wood. You can get both blade marks as well as burn marks if the blade spins in one place. To avoid this, it is important to keep moving the wood piece. Blades used are either specifically rip cutting or combination cutting blades described in the next section.

Miter cut: Miter cut is a cut along the length which is not a square cut or a cut at an angle of 900. The cut may be just at one angle along the length or two angles called a compound cut. A miter saw is used for this cut, but a tabletop is just as easily used.

Bevel cuts: are cuts at an inclined angle instead of a perpendicular cut from top to bottom of the section. These cuts are used to make joints or decorative pieces with softer edges.

Crosscuts: A crosscut cuts across the direction of the grain of the wood, along the width. These cuts are used to make longboards, wood blocks or sheets into shorter sections.

Resawing: Resawing is cutting the wood or plastic boards along their edges to make thinner boards. Similar to rip cuts, the quality of cuts is finer because a rip saw blade is not used for it, instead, crosscutting blade or cutting blades with smaller and more number of teeth can be used to get a finer finish.

The good news is that most of these cuts can be done using a combination blade on the tabletop. The next section elaborates on the blade options to use for cutting with the tabletop.

Types of cutting blades

Based on the number of teeth and the layout of the teeth, four types of cutting circular blades are available in the market. 

1. Flat top grind or FTG blades

FTB blades are blades with simplest teeth shaped like a hook with a fewer number of teeth. The teeth shape has a flat top. All the FTG teeth are of the same shape making the cuts fast and easy. This blade comes in sizes of 7” to 10” with 24 to 30 teeth. These blades are used primarily for ripping.

Cons:

• May cause splintering and chipping of the material

Pros:

• Faster cuts
• Easy to sharpen
• Durable

2. Alternate Top Bevel or ATB Blade

The name Alternate Top Bevel itself reveals that these types of blades are not a simple cutting blade, instead, these blades have cutting teeth alternating their direction – meaning the second blade is a mirror image of the first, the fourth is a mirror image of the third.

Cons:

• Slow cutting blade, not a good high for high-speed high volume cutting
• Dull faster than the TFG blades

Pros:

• Smoother cuts
• Great blade for cross-cutting

3. Alternate Top Bevel with Raker or the ATBR blades

The name combination blade comes from the fact that this blade is used for both ripping and cross-cutting. This is a good blade for a hobbyist.

The Alternate Top Bevel with Raker blades or the ATBR are blades that use both the FTG and the ATB blade designs.

This blade is made with 4 ATB teeth followed by 1 FTG teeth. The FTG teeth in ATBR is called “raker”. The raker does 2 things: Cleans out the bottom of the cuts and Removes sawdust left behind by the ATB teeth.

Pros

• Cuts wood, plastics, non-ferrous metals
• Better quality of cuts compared to FTGs and ATBs

Cons

• Slower than the FTGs

4. Triple Chip Grind Blade or TCG Blade

Triple Chip Grind Blade or TCG is essentially a modified FTG blade. Every alternate tooth is relieved or chamfered [chamfer means to cut at right-angle edge or corners giving the blade asymmetrical sloping edges] to give it a trapeze shape. These teeth are called “trapeze” teeth while the regular FTG teeth are referred to as “rakers”

The trapeze cutting edges are normally set higher than the rakers.

The TCG is a good blade for cutting hardwoods like oak, maple, and ironwood. And materials including laminates, MDF, plastics as well as non-ferrous metals

A quick note on the Blade making materials

Materials used to make the Circular saw blades depend on the type of blade and what they will be used for. Tungsten carbide tipped saw blades are made using chrome and carbon steel.  Blades for higher crack resistance, larger blades or harder blades are made using a higher carbon content with vanadium

Safety while handling blades

Kick back: While cutting the material, the material will either tend to pinch the blade or may turn outward against the blade and propel toward the operator at high speed. If the blade gets pinched, the blade may get damaged and if the material flies out towards the operator, the operator can get hurt. There is also a possibility that the material travels so fast across the blade that the operator’s hands get pulled towards the blade if not careful. Many blades with built-in anti-kickback are now available

Dust Extractor: Sawdust can very quickly build up under the blade while cutting and can ignite from the heat of the blade causing a mishap. Smoking sawdust can be mistaken for the overheated blade. It is a good idea to use a dust extractor to prevent such mishaps as well as keep the work area clean

Installing saw blade height: While installing the saw blade, care needs to be taken to ensure the blade protrudes as little as possibly permissible by the model to prevent loss of a finger due to a sawing accident

Caution: 

1. A top saw blade out of alignment will wobble while cutting, increasing the kerf causing accidents and may result in injuries
2. Dull blades will yield unclean cuts or even bad cuts
3. When searching for blades online, you type in the name or brand or simply the words “Tabletop saw blades”, you will get a match or a list. If you do not know what a blade looks like, you will end up buying the wrong blade. While this guide is a reference, not an exhaustive guide, the photographs and description included will help you identify the right type of blade you need for your job