Stock blade needs replacing

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My cordless circular saw blade seems to be feeling a little dull so I guess its time to replace it. This question will double up for my mitre saw when the time comes.

It is currently fitted with the stock Dewalt blade from new. These run in under £15 so for me are a consumable item that gets thrown when required. I have had no issues with the blade to date and they get good reviews generally.

I have heard others talking of higher end blades and I have been looking at the Key Blades which are nearer the £30 mark. Is there any benefit in these over the Dewalt?

Also something I had never thought of before but again when looking at higher end blades was that you can have them sharpened. Looking into this there is a place local to me that offers the service. Do they come back like new or should you just bin and replace on smaller blades?

Any help/recommendations much appreciated.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

At about the £15 mark i think it becomes debatable whether or not it is economically viable to resharpen. Above that it is probably worthwhile as they do come back cutting as good as new, although the kerf is slightly narrower (which is only really an issue if you use a saw on a track because with those you need to replace/reposition the anti splinter strips when you resharpen blades). After 5 or 6 sharpenings scorching can become an issue on some timbers such as beech and sycamore due to lack af side clearance between the saw tooth and saw plate

As to whether Key blades are better than DW - sorry, but Key aren't really a premium brand - for that you need to look at names such as Leitz (who make Festool OEM blades), Leuco, Ernest Bennett, Freud (part of Robert Bosch these days who also make Bosch blades), etc. I find that DW blades are actually pretty good and I use the thin kerf yellow and black ones on my cordless saws because they perform well and even take hitting the odd nail or two (always a hazard in refurbs on old buildings). My mitre saws run on a mixture of Bosch, Freud and DW blades with Festool OEM (Leitz) blades on the Kapex. The portable table saw uses deWalt and Bosch blades. It is as much a case of availability and price vs. performance and life expectancy as anything else

 

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Thanks. That was very helpful and it looks like the DW blades will do me fine. I just checked on line and they are currently £12 new so that really does make resharpening a pointless exercise.

For an all round general use blade how many teeth would u go for?

 

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I have a few Freud blades which i have just had resharpened 250mm 80T and 60T and a circular saw 165 40t freud - These were worth having resharpened at less than 1/2 the price to replace and i have found Freud to be really good, Nice finish and noneed to plane or finish using the higher teeth options
I have the default Dewalt blades which have been good, but much lower teeth and so ok on crosscut and finish is OK
However, I have recently been using saxton blades on my circular dewalt saw 48T, thin kerf for cordless use , and at the price they supply , they are just a throw away item and good finish again.

Note just a diyer, but have been doing doing a lot of refurbishing this year

 

[Deleted member 174758]

For an all round general use blade how many teeth would u go for?

On cordless saws, for general work where finish is not imperative I use 165 x 20mm 24t deWalt blades. When I an doing plywood, etc with the cordless saw I go for the 165 x 20mm 40t blades. With cordless saws the less teeth you gave, the better, because higher tooth count saw blades just soak up battery amps

With corded saws you don't have that problem, so when using my corded (Festool) rail saw I use a 160mm 48 tooth blade on most better sheet materials - but these blades are too fine (I.e the gullets between the teeth are too small) for any rip (with the grain) cutting of softwoodsvor hardwoods (they choke and can scorch). I use a 160mm 28 tooth blade on chipboard or plywood sub flooring (because it cuts faster, and works the saw less hard - and finish is less important). That blade is also generally the best for resizing doors, both crosscut and rip cut, although a quick pass or two with a sharp hand plane might be necessary to clean the edge up (sorry, not a believer in trying to get a perfect cut straight off the saw with real woods - it so rarely happens in my experience, and in any case there's a razor sharp jack or block plane sitting in my tool tote at all times)

In point of fact the tooth count is dependent on the saw diameter and saw type (corded or cordless) - and maybe I missed it, but surely you haven't mentioned them

 

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On cordless saws, for general work where finish is not imperative I use 165 x 20mm 24t deWalt blades. When I an doing plywood, etc with the cordless saw I go for the 165 x 20mm 40t blades.

This is what I was thinking of as a 2 blade set up. Its a 165 x 20mm blade configuration.

 

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As mentioned Saxton do thin kerf cordless blades , I use the 48T £11.99 24T £10.99 on my Dewalt 165x20 Free delivery over £10 all Includes VAT
https://www.saxtonblades.co.uk/tct-circular-saw-blades/165mm-216mm-blades/165mm-blades
Or a pk of 2 £20.99
https://www.saxtonblades.co.uk/tct-.../165mm-blades/tct-circular-blade-165mm-pack-a

And i have a few dewalt 24T , which i purchased a 3 pk on a deal from screwfix , last year

Not sure what size your Mitre saw is

The saxton 48T compared to the Freud 40T is very very good and half the price.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

This is what I was thinking of as a 2 blade set up. Its a 165 x 20mm blade configuration.

Yep, the DW 2- and 3-blade sets from ScrewStation are good value, but not resharpenable. You will often find the same items even cheaper on eBay, from people like Abbey in Worcester.

In comparison for site work I find that the Saxton blades go blunt faster and won't take as much abuse (such as hitting bits of metal).