TS blade for cutting plywood.

Mike Grimm

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159
I'm getting ready to build our new dining room table set, its the trestle table that was featured on the cover of the Woodsmith magazine (VOL.31/No. 181, couple months back) and the top is made of a single piece of 3/4" cherry plywood.

I've never had good luck with the cross cuts on plywood not chipping out, so, was wondering if anyone knew of a really good blade I could purchase and stick in my table saw for this particular piece of wood?

Thanks in advance!
 
Mike,

I've been using a Forest blade, 40 tooth I think, and I've not noticed any chipout when cutting the Baltic Birch ply I use for the bottoms of my Dovetailed boxes. We had a couple of the Forest guys at our local Woodcraft a couple of months ago and they were truly great guys. I'm sure they would be glad to visit with you on the phone and advise as appropriate. The same guys spent about 20 minutes with me, while at Woodcraft and showed me a trick for cutting Cherry with their blade so it won't burn, no matter how long you hold the piece against the blade. If they can do that, I'm betting they have a solution for you on this issue.

Good luck,
 
Mike - A blade with a Hi-ATB grind and a high tooth count will have the least amount of tearout. You can help even more by using a ZCI, painters tape, and scoring the cut.

For 10", the Infinity 010-080, 010-060, Freud LU79 or LU80, Forrest Duraline, or CMT 255.080.10 are all excellent choices. If those are more than you want to spend, something like the Freud Avanti TK806 or Oshlun SBL-100080 will also do well....note that the Avanti is a standard ATB grind, not Hi-ATB.
 
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I've been pleased with an H.O. Schumacher & Sohn blade. It is a variable pitch Hi-ATB. This is the blade I have. Check out post 6 of this thread for pics of a cut I made with this blade in unsupported (literally hanging in the air) exterior grade pine plywood.

Best of luck!
 
As Scott said, a Hi-ATB blade will give good results. My go to blade for sheet goods is a Freud LU80R010 10" x 80-Tooth HiATB Blade. It's by far the best blade I've used for ply, even cheap borg ply cross cuts chip out free with a ZCI. If you use a lot of sheet goods it's a good investment. On the other hand, if all you need is a occasional cut then you can use the tape and knife score trick. It works, but it can be time consuming and aggravating if you have a lot of cuts.

Mike
 
another good trick to avoid tearout is blue painters tape. use the wide stuff over where your cut line is going to be, and wrap it around the plywood, top and bottom. :thumb:
 
Take a look at the CMT cabinet shop blade, geared for plywood, but also a good all around blade, had one on my Ridgid for a couple of years, and only replaced it because I got a great deal on a WWII... but it still comes out for sheet goods when/if I am working with them.
 
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