saw blades I regret not getting sooner

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10" CMT ITK Extreme Thin Kerf Blades:

12" CMT ITK Extreme Thin Kerf Blades:

Full Kerf CMT Chrome 10" Blades

CMT Track Saw Blades:

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1:16

⏱ TIMESTAMPS ⏱
0:00​ Searching for an Affordable Saw Blade
1:35 Disclaimer
3:12 Price Comparisons
3:43 Packaging - What I Love and Hate
4:44 Carbide Differences
5:13 Protective Coating
5:51 Vents & Sound Dampening
6:13 Cut Quality (The Same!)
7:56 My Favorite Feature - Resharpening!
9:59 Why You Should Subscribe
10:39 Which Blade & Tooth Count Should You Buy?

🎥 PRODUCTION LINKS (affiliate) 🎥

🎛 MY MUSIC (affiliate) 🎛

DISCLAIMERS:

This video was not paid for by outside persons or manufacturers. The CMT blades were supplied to me for no charge. I paid for the Diablo blades myself.

The content of this video and my opinions were not reviewed or paid for by any outside persons.

[Woodworks]

This video was so awesome 👏. Great job!!!

[morokeiboethia]

Before you throw away a blade that you've cut a lot of wood with give it a bath with saw blade pitch/resin remover. I've noticed that whenever I take a wood cutting blade that was cutting just fine and I store it for a few months and don't use it, whenever I put the blade back on it suddenly cuts like its dull. I bought a bottle of that SawStop blade cleaner and gave my 7.25" Diablo fine tooth blade a bath and when it was done it was cutting like it was brand new. I knew I didn't put too much mileage on it and was wondering why it was suddenly not cutting so well. I think what happens is the sap/resin that is on your teeth bricks/hardens up when you store it a long time. When you're using a blade every day the resin is being constantly knocked off and new resin is on then its knocked off as you're cutting. But when you store a blade the resin that was last sitting on the teeth stays there and bricks up and so when you start using that blade again suddenly there's a lot of extra resistance on every tooth and it cuts like crap but if you dissolve that stuff off with a cleaner the blade is brand new again.

[richardlandes]

I used to have sharpening shop, and have been a Profesional woodworker for 35 years. All blades are resharpenable. Even the cheap blades even though its not cost effective. I still sharpen my blades and I sharpen Diablo blades all of the time. It's easy to figure angles with quality equipment. Thanks for the video.

[thenext]

I love the cmt glue joint rip blade. People *REALLY* need to pay attention to the blade. If you set up your knife correctly, and you are running a rip blade and it isn't ripping very well, try cleaning it to get the pitch off and toothbrush for the teeth. If that don't work, then get a new blade or sharpen it. Personally, CMT are excellent. As far as storage goes, I just toss a 3" deck screw and then I wrap some painters tape around it and then just hang my blades on the wall. Rip, cross cut, for each size which I run 10", 6" and whatever 3/4" (track saw blade it's an odd size) and a 7 and 3/4 circular saw. Oh and a 12" miter blade. I keep a couple of each because I swear I think my blade is dull, then I clean it and suddenly it's back in biz.

Right blade right job, on those harder woods like walnut, the 24T is my go to. People think "Framing blade bro, gonna tear out my dude get wrecked noob or I'll 360 no scope ur mom" I use a 24t ALOT, and when you have to rip 34 pieces of 8 foot walnut, you will want to to be quick. If you are smart, you are oversizing anyway if you are starting your milling process. I do a shallow skip plane, do a jig on the table saw to get a straight edge (or use a track saw depending on size) and let it hang out a day. Trust me, you need a 40" long piece? Do it 41", need a 8" wide piece, do it 8.5". Nothing worse than trying to fight with 16ths because you got it too thin and now have to panic to figure out how to make it work. Not that I know anything about that.

[robertwalker]

I just stumbled across your video. I used to use Frued blades. But I used their industrial line with black lettering. A bit better than the Diablo that sold in the local depots. The thin kerf blades were great when using an underpowered saw. But I upgraded to a grizzly 240 volt 5 horsepower table saw. When using harder woods the thin blades wood deflect. I decided to try a Ridge Carbide blade… full kerf. I don’t look back now. The carbides on the ridge carbide are enormous. You can send them back to ridge carbide for sharpening. The carbides are big in fact, that they can be resharpened up to 25 times before replacing. I have a 24 tooth flat top grind for ripping. I have their 48 tooth alternating top bevel for cross cutting and ripping plywoods. I have their laminate/melamine blade which cuts double sided veneered sheet goods without chipping and tear out. And lastly, I have their super dado stack. It cuts perfect flat bottom dados with zero tear out or chipping no matter what I cut into. They are however, more expensive than the cmt and Diablo blades but are cheaper than Forrest. In my opinion they’re better better than Forrest as well. Check one out sometime. You won’t be disappointed! They also offer thin kerf blades for underpowered saws. They also will sharpen all of your router bits as well. Great American made blades!

[frenchyroastify]

I really like CMT blades as well. I always spend more and get the industrial line as I find they stay sharper much longer. As for the colour remark, the nice thing of coloured blades is that they are visible when spinning. I have a silver blade that looks invisible when in motion which is dangerous.

[oldschool]

I’ve had the red come off on my work before, but I always thought it was from my fence being off, or the wood being warped.
Btw, this mans channel is about to take off! His editing skills are insane!

[charlesholcomb]

You can resharpen the Diablo blades as well. I've done it a number of times. I plan on trying the CMT blades, but I'll wait until I can't resharpen the Diablo blades any more.

[oleschnorr]

Both can be sent so a sharpening service they will just determin the angle on the Diablo, sharpen it and send it back. You can probably sharpen the CMT once more because of the thicker teeth

[jessefurqueron]

First you a got a 👍 for the internet ref. I too made an unauthorized green/black vacuum purchase. Once my wife used for helping clean up some remodeling, she liked it so much we retired our house Bosch canister vacuum and bought a second green/blac’ vauum for the house (all hard surface flooring).

Anyways, Forrest Woodworker user here, for more decades than I care to remember. They’re an investment, the customer service/sharpening/repair service is fast & second to none. Started w a Forrest thin kerf on a 10” 110v saw a long time ago in a galaxy far away. When came time to sharpen I bought a 2nd regular kerf to try while waiting. Was a bit much for my saw at the time and 2+” maple. So bought a second thin kerf and the reg kerf went on a shelf. A few years back, upgraded to a PM2K saw. Dug out the regular kerf Forrest, like butter through 2+” maple, wenge, red oak you name it, on the PM. So the thin kerfs and the blade stiffener (which is worth the money BTW for the thin kerf blades) now sit on a shelf. And I alternate between two std kerfs. I’ve lost track of how many times the blades have been resharpened over the decades. I send em in, they come back repaired teeth as needed, cleaned and as sharp as day one, if not sharper. Cuts are as claimed (if your saw is tuned). Minimum blade marks, seldom any burn marks (almost always due to operator error sometimes wood stress relieving). I’m thinking these blades will outlast me and pass down to my boys.

Not associated w Forrest (or any mfgs I might mention) in any other way than as a extremely satisfied customer. Not a tuber, so no free blades here, bought and paid for w my own money. We need more companies like Forrest, Timberwolf, LN, Whiteside, Amana, Jesse-em, Veritas etc. And yes, I do use CMT products, their cleaner and router bits.

Disclaimer, I’ve never tried a CMT blade, just haven’t had a reason to…yet. Perhaps one day if I wear one of the Forrest out?

As always, YMMV. Just sharing. Nothing more. Nothing less.

[chriswitek]

menards carries CMT blades in stock in their stores. so you dont even have to wait for shipping necessarily. if you dont need it in the next 5min the katz moses shop or taytools both sell them and you get to support a small business run by woodworkers

i use a cmt 50t combination blade in my table saw almost exclusively. no complaints. an added benefit to the combination blade is the first of every 5 tooth set is a flat top grind. for anyone who doesnt know that means your first tooth isnt angled like the rest of them. this means you can use a cmt combi blade for dados and rabbits and get a flat bottom instead of one with ridges. especially useful if youre in the uk and dont have a long enough arbor on your saw for a dado stack. or for that one half lap you gotta do and cant be bothered to change to a dado stack.
diablo 100t on the miter saw simply because it came with when i got it from someone. itll get replaced with a cmt when it wears out for sure.
and yes, red has come off on my work pieces before when i used diablo blades on the table saw. its annoying.

[histguy]

I have the cmt chrome combination 50t blade. I got it for the table saw, but I use it in the miter saw to great effect.
Diablo blades get dull fast when used for construction and framing, like they don't hold up to instances of stress over that long of a period. I still use them when I don't want to damage more expensive blades.

For 6.5"/165mm & 7.25"/185mm, I now use flourine coated blades. They're more expensive and have to be imported from Japan, but they're really something else. They cut like butter, last a long long time, and the graphics never rub off. You can use them daily and they'll look like new. The best ones are the Makita white flourine shark skin and Hitachi black flourine killer whale. There's some other brands that make them too, including some larger ones.

[IrishYottaMaster]

10" diablo 40T is $47 at Home Depot for a pack of 2 ($23.50 per blade). Which is much less than getting a blade resharpened when you include shipping.

[chrishart]

I regularly had the diablo 10” blades professionally resharpened ( local tool sale and service ) several times each for about $20 apiece. They can also replace a tooth if you have a bad one. I was cutting about 40 sheets of mdf a week for a few years and I had three blades rotating from the saw to the shop to a spare. I used those 3 blades for years and I’m retired now but still have those blades and use them to this day. I will try a cmt for an upcoming project. Good info.

[pramagli]

Thanks for a great video. I just ordered 3 CMT 10" saw blades after watching your video. A 60- tooth for my miter saw, a 50-tooth for my radial arm saw and a 42-tooth general purpose for my table saw. Total order for all 3 with tax and shipping was only $108. Can't beat that price

[steffen-]

I love the labels on the wood, and you humor adds to each video.

[harrydoherty]

i prefer full kerf blades . my table saw has the horses to handle all hard woods . sawdust isn’t an issue since i do all wood working outside in fair weather .

[MMWoodworking]

Imo, the only major reason to buy a pricey blade, like a Freud, or Forrest, is if you have a cheap, quality resharpening service near by. If you don't then get the Diablo's or the cheaper CMTs, because they are basically disposable/consumables at that point. It's often more expensive to ship out a Diablo for a resharpening, especially on something like a 60 tooth, than to just buy a new one.

I really love Freud, but I plan to try out a CMT sometime, after seeing Katz-Moses raving about them. I keep Diablos around for projects like shop furniture, or working with 2x4s and sap filled softwoods. I don't want to run my Freuds through a bunch of 2x4s when the cut quality doesn't matter a ton.

At the end of the day, the best solution, imo, is to have a dedicated rip blade (I like Freud's 30 tooth Glue Line - it really does leave glue-line ready rips), a nice crosscut of at least 60 teeth (I have a Freud, but the Diablo ones work fine here), and then a 40 tooth cheaper Diablo for random projects.

If you take the time to change blades, and only use them for their intended purposes, they will last a lot longer.

[louislandi]

I just found your channel. Only took seconds to decide to subscribe. I appreciate your honest approach to teaching.
Looking forward to more. Watch out for those former Troopers who now pack power tools!😊

[sawdustadikt]

It’s been a while since I’ve used a cmt, I remember it hanging in there for a while. I’m a self employed renovation/finish carpenter. Whatever saw I have, I have a blade for a specific purpose. So for my Bosch contractor table saw, has several different blades on it at all times. Mostly Diablo due to convenience. I think the best durability test I could do is ripping Ipe. When I build decks, it’s mainly with Ipe. Most the time the milling is little to be desired so I will rip each piece into a uniform dimension, reprofile them and sand the surface. The super straight lines this yields is undeniable. I’ve gotten so many jobs for going the extra mile from customers that want to pay for it. I’ll go through 2-3 blades per job. I could keep track of the linear ft on the blade till the working corner breaks off. That’s when I pitch them. It would be quite the real world direct comparison cutting one of the hardest materials out there.