Pro Tool Reviews: Unless you’re whittling a piece that you chopped from a tree, all the wood in carpentry projects came into contact with a circular saw blade at some point. But the circular saw blade is easy to neglect. We know when the blade gets dull but how are you caring for circular saw blades between the time you buy it and when you throw it in the trash?
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Most of these seem like no brainers. Of course we should keep them in dry places and pick the right one for the tool, whether or not we do that is another story. Sometimes these things just are not a feasible option at the moment. The one on this list that stands out the most to me is raising it up to prevent excessive heat building up when cutting hard woods. I had never really considered that or heard of that in the blade height debate. This does seem like something worth considering though, and I can really see how it would affect the life of your blade. Even for softer woods it seems like if you engage more of the blade it will just be less strain and heat build up on it which are both good things. Taking care of saw blades is one of those things that so often gets put to the wayside which is really unfortunate, because it can really make a huge difference in the quality of the work being done.
During Advanced Fabrication I, Ben Carter often talks about taking care of your tools and using them in an informed manner. Most of the items on this list, as Cooper mentioned, are no brainers. Of course one should store blades in a dry environment, clean them every so often, and match the right type of blade for the job. However, some things I had not considered were the method of storage or the height clearance of the blade while in use. I had always assumed that we stored blades along their center hole because it looked really cool and is generally an efficient method of storage. It seemed silly to me, though, that we didn't just keep the blades stacked on a shelf or something. I had not considered how all the little nicks and scrapes from setting the blade down by its teeth could accumulate to make the blade duller. What really got me in this article was the tip on blade height. In my experience, I have always been told that you generally want the blade to be a small distance taller than the work piece for various reasons. However, I can definitely see how increasing exposure to air by raising the height of the blade can help cool it while cutting. Airflow is a consideration all the time in welding and other hot work, so it only makes sense to logically extend this to heat dissipation in other methods of fabrication. This is definitely information I will keep in my back pocket as I move forward in my career!
I love a good how to do stuff better article because it's good in theory but I never actually do it. It also applies to larger shops with longer amounts of use, I never use a saw at home that much for this to really apply, except for the fact as to not spend more money. As of now I do not do enough specified work to require particular blades. Maybe it is because I come from a family of blue collar construction workers, but hanging blades is just intuitive. Honestly it just seems like the instruction manual in pdf form online. I am also amused by how they want you to buy the electric brake as an additions to help lengthen the life of your blade and “save” money. The only real useful tip was the using a low blade on hardwoods, because it is very specific and easily able to do.
Circular saw is really a common tool in all kinds of shops that involve wood materials. But we're actually not putting enough attention to the blades specifically. The tips are generally easy to achieve, but our shop has a high flow rate of personal, and flexible working time. Which means we need to use saws whenever we need, and most people using it are not well informed about these extra inspection and maintenance tips of the tools. The most efficient way to solve this situation is to works as a team. Not only the job leads or the crews should be looking after for each other during the crew hours, also we should keep eyes on the people who need just two cuts on a 2x4. Simply do the job for them, or if possible, explain some tool tips,
This article was a good reminder of how to properly care for circular saw blades. I think particularly with circ saws we tend to really abuse them in the carpentry world and remembering that keeping them properly maintained will only make our own lives easier is something that can be pushed aside fairly quickly. Proper care for the saw also goes far beyond just replacing it when it’s dull, which I find is one of the most egregious things theatre’s scene shop are guilty of. I think a lot of these things are just instinctive with power tool care but you also can not take the information for granted. It very well might not be obvious to someone that storing the blade on a steal surface will dull and damage the blade before you even get a chance to use it. I think that taking better care of blades should try and be worked into more of our fundamental shop skills as we’re being taught so more people will automatically think to chck the blade for a problem and be able to do better safer work because of it.
I have to agree with Cooper, most of these things seem like no brainers, but for some reason we still find ourselves doing the exact opposite of what we should. Caring for tools is so important in a shop where you may not have the luxury of having a different tool for each job. In that case, your table saw or radial arm saw may be all you have and so when it goes out of commission, then your project comes to a stop. I think this article was written more for a reminder purpose rather than an informative purpose. However, the thing I found most interesting was the section about blade height. Blade height on a table saw is an argument that will go on indefinitely, but the argument that having the blade higher up so that it has a longer time to cool during long cuts is interesting.
Like many people have already said, I found that much of this article wasn't too useful to me. I found that most of their recommendations were complete no brainers. That being said, the concept behind some of them were things I had never thought about. I have always been told to set your blade depth to just beyond how deep you are trying to cut, but the reasoning behind this was new to me. I always assumed that the reason for this was purely because it may be more dangerous to have so much blade going beyond your material. I had never thought about the extra heat that the blade would produce if you didn't adjust your height. Also, when storing blades, I too assumed that we stored blades by there center hole just because it made more sense. One peg on a wall could hold a lot of blades without much space being taken up. I never thought about damaging the blades if not stored like this.
I think the part that most amazes me about this tool review is how different it is from any other tutorial on how to use a saw blade. The first thing that comes to mind when reading the article is how the author tells the user to use ample blade height when performing a cut. The reason that is so stunning to me is that every other person will say to you to keep that blade down because of the safety concerns. Honestly, I am a large proponent of keeping the blade up because it does significantly help with preventing any sort of kickback that could potentially occur during the cut.
At the end of the day, I think this article does an excellent job of explaining how to care for sawblades and prolong the life of the consumable. The harsh reality is that these blades can be costly to purchase and if they are correctly handled people will save money in the long run.
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