# General Purpose or Combination



## molf20 (Apr 2, 2011)

I'm in need of a new table saw blade. I do both crosscutting and ripping (more ripping than anything). I use both solid woods and plywoods. I'm unsure if I should purchase a combination blade, or a general purpose blade. Any recommendations out there?

Luke


----------



## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Here's a site that I've dealt with*

for general purpose blades:
http://www.holbren.com/general_purpose-blades/

and for combination blades:
http://www.holbren.com/search.php?mode=search&page=1

In general the combination blades that come with saws as "standard equipment" and are lower in quality. You can get some very nice ones, but you'll pay more. 
Ifound that the best bang for the buck is a Frued Diablo, D1040X from Coastal, http://www.coastaltool.com/a/freud/diablo-blades.htm
Amazon or Home depot for around $30.00. I have several and use them for almost all my projects. They cut plywood and particle board without out chipout and rip smooth enough for gluing. They are thin kerf and take less power to drive. The newer Fusion series from Freud is highly praised also. Knotscott is one of our blade experts and will have great advice....:yes: bill
I also have an Oshlun dado set and was impressed by the quality.


----------



## toollovingschultz (Jan 10, 2011)

molf20 said:


> I'm in need of a new table saw blade. I do both crosscutting and ripping (more ripping than anything). I use both solid woods and plywoods. I'm unsure if I should purchase a combination blade, or a general purpose blade. Any recommendations out there?
> 
> Luke


 Luke cmt makes a good cabinet saw blade it is expensive but makes impressive cuts and can be resharpened many times Here in asheville I can get a 10 inch blade sharpened for around $20.
Andy


----------



## rrbrown (Feb 15, 2009)

While it's nice to have a combination or general purpose blade it is nice if you can get dedicated blades for ripping, crosscutting as well. The reason is although I have the Fusion it's a great blade but it has its limitations (rips over 1 1/2") as will any other combination/general purpose blade. As woodnthings said the Diablo line has some good blades for the price.

For ripping really hard and or thick wood I have a dedicated Freud ripping blade LM72.

I have a dedicated crosscutting blade LU88 but the Fusion blade as not showed a weakness in crosscutting yet.

Oh as woodnthings said knotscott will have a lot more info on other blades.


----------



## knotscott (Nov 8, 2007)

I consider the terms combination blade and general purpose blade to be largely interchangeable as both will do a good job with rip cuts and crosscuts in a variety of materials, but there are some functional differences. Most "combo" blades have combination of tooth grinds known as an ATB/R....they usually have 50 teeth consisting of ten groups of 4 ATB teeth led by a flat raker tooth, and have a large gullet separating the groups. Most general purpose blades have 40 ATB teeth. There are exceptions to both, but most are some variation of these two groups. There are pros and cons to each. In general, I've found that the 40T ATB blades leave a smoother edge due to their tighter side clearances, but as such, are also slightly more prone to burning. The 50T combo blades tend to leave slightly more blades marks along the edge, but also tend to be easier to get good results with. Both will leave glue ready edges, and both will do a "good" job in lots of tasks, but neither will do an outstanding job at any particular task. 

Way more blade selection info here


----------

