Plain Steel Saw blades

[yardiron]

Does anyone still use old non carbide tipped circular saw blades these days?

Over the years I've bought and used dozens of older saws, both hand saws, table saws, and radial arm saws. Every one came with a stack of non carbide steel blades.
I've always just gone out and bought modern blades and put the plain steel blades on the shelf.

Are these basically just destined to become clocks or do guys still use them?

(I tired to use one of the new one's on my radial arm saw once and it warped up so bad after the first few cuts I tossed it in the scrap pile.
I've got stacks of 8", 8 1/4", 9", and 10" blades that just sit. I may even have a few 12" blades, all without carbide.

I'm old enough to remember when most blades were plain steel like these but haven't used one in decades.

 

[The Cobbler]

I hear you. I was in Habitat the other day & saw about a 20" MAkita steel blade , unused for $25. contemplated buying it to make a clock, but in the end left it there

 

[DadsTools]

I still use them on the table saw and miter saw when doing very fine work.

 

[notlob]

I buy larger old saw blades cheap (generally ~ $.50 each or less) at estate sales/etc and use them as anodes in my electrolysis setup.

 

[Packard V8]

I've used them for years, but you have to learn how to sharpen them yourself. Those who know will tell you a properly sharpened steel tooth cuts better than a carbide tooth. It just doesn't stay sharp forever.

Also, choosing the right tooth style is critical. They have crosscut, rip, planer, fine finish, plywood and some claimed to be 'combination'. Those don't work as well as the single-purpose blades.

(I tired to use one of the new one's on my radial arm saw once and it warped up so bad after the first few cuts I tossed it in the scrap pile.

RAS take different blades than do table saws. Maybe that was your problem.

jack vines

 

[jdoe213]

I hear you. I was in Habitat the other day & saw about a 20" MAkita steel blade , unused for $25. contemplated buying it to make a clock, but in the end left it there

Our habitat restore is always very high on everything.

 

[Packard V8]

Our habitat restore is always very high on everything.

That, plus the volunteers and employees take dibs on most of the good tools donated.

jack vines

 

[yardiron]

Our habitat restore is always very high on everything.

Same here, its often cheaper to buy new.

 

[yardiron]

I've used them for years, but you have to learn how to sharpen them yourself. Those who know will tell you a properly sharpened steel tooth cuts better than a carbide tooth. It just doesn't stay sharp forever.

Also, choosing the right tooth style is critical. They have crosscut, rip, planer, fine finish, plywood and some claimed to be 'combination'. Those don't work as well as the single-purpose blades.

RAS take different blades than do table saws. Maybe that was your problem.

jack vines

What is different about a RAS blade vs. a table saw?
I use a 10" Dewalt blade with a 5/8" arbor. I use the same blades in my RAS, table saw, and miter saw. I tried a few of the 10" plain steel blades that came with my RAS, and warped the blade almost right way just cutting some 3/4" plywood strips. The carbide blade I put on last is fine, cuts everything with no issues.
The warped blade has 1/4" run out now, but no hot of blue spots at all?

A buddy made a suggestion today, he uses old saw blades as rifle targets behind his house, he paints them bright colors, hangs them up and blasts away at them.
I'd hate to do that and waste a box of new blades though. I counted through just my 8" through 9" blades and there's at least a hundred of them, plus another 8" stack of 10" blades.

 

[gottahaveit]

I don't think I've ever even seen a tool of any type in any thrift store around here, its all used clothes, junky furniture, and old clocks and pictures. No electronics, no tools, no bikes, no toys, no man items at all. Just junk.
I went into a Goodwill once and the place stank like dirty laundry. The place was 90% women's clothes with a few men's clothes and some 70's furniture and African art pieces.
The habitat here has lots of furniture, some clothes, and on occasion some electronics but never any tools or man toys worth having. For some reason they had a ton of huge mirrors and wicker furniture. The upholstered furniture was nasty looking with all sort of stains and a few duct tape repairs. A buddy lifted the cushions on a leather couch and found a pile of dead roaches, the woman in there said don't worry, those are dead.
I never went back. A friend of mine wanted to stop in a thrift shop while we were on vacation, she was looking for collectible clothing to sell online, she was going through a rack full of misc. woman's clothes and held up a swimsuit with skid marks on it, we left and forgot about shopping for deals while on vacation that week.

I'll stick to auctions and flea markets for used tools, and the occasional yard sale. I'll pass on dirty used clothes, greasy furniture, and dead bugs.

 

[Hobbyguru1967]

Miter saws and radial arm saws should use a zero or negative hook blade. Table saws us positive hook. Also, More teeth should be used for cross grain cutting than ripping.

 

[gottahaveit]

I wonder if that could be why my table saw likes to throw things back at me? The chips coming off the blade run parallel with the table and straight back, so much so its its painful if they hit bare skin.
Its a 1930's era Craftsman saw with the blade upsized from the stock 8" to an 9.25" I found online. Its the largest blade I could fit on it, I'm not sure what the blade is, its a combo pattern with carbide teeth marked 'Combination'. Its a 40T Oldham blade, I bought a dozen of them cheap at an auction years ago, they cut great but they're brutal when cutting hardwoods.
I run the same blade in a worm drive Skilsaw I've got too.

My RAS was bought used about 10 years ago, it was new in the box, unassembled from the 80's. The original blade is the one that warped up so bad. I also got a stack of blades a foot tall with that saw, all new. Most are Craftsman and Black and Decker branded, a few are Dewalt.
I bought a new Delta 10" miter saw 22 years ago, it came with a plain steel combo blade. I swapped it out day one for a combo Dewalt blade and its been perfect ever since. I think I'm still running the same blade and it cuts like butter.
I tried the original Delta steel blade on the RAS and it warped on the first cut through a 4x4.

I have a new in the box 3hp Craftsman table saw waiting to go together one day here, it too came with a plain steel blade. The person who sold that to me gave me a stack of blades he had there about a foot tall, plus a 'Master Set' of blades but I can't recall which brand they are. They came in a wood box with a slot for each blade. I think there's 6 blades in all, each one for a different purpose. (I looked up the cost of that set back then and it was well over $200). I never used them much because I was unimpressed by them after trying one on my older 10" table saw.

 

[James-W]

I have equipment to sharpen steel blades but I don't like doing it anymore. My eyesight isn't as keen as it once was and I have trouble getting the blades sharpened just right.

Overall, steel blades work just fine. Only thing is, they get dull a lot quicker and if you hit just one nail they are dull immediately.

 

[yardiron]

I have one of those circular saw blade sharpeners from HF. It works okay but the blades just don't seem to stay sharp. Most of the blades I've got are Craftsman or Black and Decker with a handful of Disston and Vermont too. My carbide blades seem to last forever.
I swapped out the blade on my radial arm saw for one of the Craftsman blades that came with it, it warped up like a potato chip after the third cut? Its a 10" Craftsman Kromedge Combination blade. It says on the package for Radial arm or table saws. I was cross cutting 1/2" thick mahogany slats 4 at a time. I was taking it slow to avoid chipping the wood but it still warped up the blade. I'm wondering if there could be an issue with the saw? But the blade spins true until it makes a few cuts. I'm getting bluing on on the sides of the blade, away from the teeth. The teeth seem sharp yet though. Its seems like the steel blades don't have enough offset. It works fine with the carbide blades.
I guess its not a big deal, I was just trying to use up some blades rather than just letting them sit on the shelf and antique. I realized today that some of these still have the old Craftsman crown logo on them.

 

[James-W]

I have one of those circular saw blade sharpeners from HF. It works okay but the blades just don't seem to stay sharp. Most of the blades I've got are Craftsman or Black and Decker with a handful of Disston and Vermont too. My carbide blades seem to last forever.
I swapped out the blade on my radial arm saw for one of the Craftsman blades that came with it, it warped up like a potato chip after the third cut? Its a 10" Craftsman Kromedge Combination blade. It says on the package for Radial arm or table saws. I was cross cutting 1/2" thick mahogany slats 4 at a time. I was taking it slow to avoid chipping the wood but it still warped up the blade. I'm wondering if there could be an issue with the saw? But the blade spins true until it makes a few cuts. I'm getting bluing on on the sides of the blade, away from the teeth. The teeth seem sharp yet though. Its seems like the steel blades don't have enough offset. It works fine with the carbide blades.
I guess its not a big deal, I was just trying to use up some blades rather than just letting them sit on the shelf and antique. I realized today that some of these still have the old Craftsman crown logo on them.

What you need to do is to put the correct amount of "set" in the saw blade before you sharpen it. Sharpening a steel saw blade is not all that difficult, but it does take a bit of practice in order to get the hang of it. The first few blades I tried to sharpen I didn't do so well on.

What I had done is, I had gone to an auction and I bought a whole bunch of steel saw blades for like $5. Those were the saw blades I practiced on. Once I got to the point where the blades seemed to work pretty well, then I tried to sharpen a couple of my good blades. When I got to the point where I could sharpen a steel blade and make it cut really good, then I started to sharpen blades for other people.

Once carbide blades came out and the cost to buy them dropped way down, then I got very few steel blades to sharpen. I have not sharpened a steel blade now for several years.

 

[yardiron]

I shouldn't have to 'set' the teeth on a new blade though? Unless they've somehow gotten straightened out over the years laying in a stack, but that's a bit hard to believe. The steel blades take only about 1/8" cut out of the wood, some of my carbide tipped blades cut nearly 3/16".
The blades really don't seem to be cutting a path any wider than the saw blade metal itself. I can't see any offset at all with one of these new blades lying flat on a sheet of glass. On the carbide tooth blades, they have nearly 1/2 the width of each cutter in offset. Maybe this all is why everytime I buy a used saw for cheap it comes with 20 free new old blades.

 

[James-W]

If it is a new blade and this is the very first time the blade has been sharpened, the blade should still have proper set in the teeth and you should not have to do anything with that.

 

[6PTsocket]

What is different about a RAS blade vs. a table saw?
I use a 10" Dewalt blade with a 5/8" arbor. I use the same blades in my RAS, table saw, and miter saw. I tried a few of the 10" plain steel blades that came with my RAS, and warped the blade almost right way just cutting some 3/4" plywood strips. The carbide blade I put on last is fine, cuts everything with no issues.
The warped blade has 1/4" run out now, but no hot of blue spots at all?

A buddy made a suggestion today, he uses old saw blades as rifle targets behind his house, he paints them bright colors, hangs them up and blasts away at them.
I'd hate to do that and waste a box of new blades though. I counted through just my 8" through 9" blades and there's at least a hundred of them, plus another 8" stack of 10" blades.

I just googled that question. On the Rockler site there is an explanation. It says that RAS and chop saws need a different blade than table saws. Blades that are above rhe table tend to climb onto the work and geometry has to be different. I'll let you research it but l have heard that before.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[yardiron]

Many of the sleeves these older blades are in show a pic of a radial arm saw on the cover, yet many also list as being for radial arm or table saw applications. They don't list hand held saws though.
My older table saw however has never had anything but hand saw blades, its all I've ever been able to find in carbide in that size.
Some of the diameters I've accumulated seem to be dead sizes too, I've got a few 8.75" blades, and a few 9.0 and 9.25" blades as well. Most all have the same all purpose tooth pattern. None of the newer carbide blade packages mention being for ras or table saws. Most were bought for my miter saw when it was new thinking it would get the most use and go through the most blades but I find that the table saw and ras go through blades faster. Probably because the miter saw only gets used on trim and new wood, while the ras gets used on everything.

 

[Copymutt]

They are a decent alloy for making knife blanks if nothing else.
Jim

 

[Packard V8]

, it warped up like a potato chip after the third cut? Its a 10" Craftsman Kromedge Combination blade.

Don't know what to tell you. For fifty years now I've used a Craftsman RAS and a Craftsman table saw with the appropriately sharpened Craftsman blades and never made a potato chip.

jack vines

 

[no704]

I was looking to get about 35 of them awhile back to fabricate a grill for my ‘59 Dodge. Didn’t have much luck finding them on the cheap.

 

[gungatim]

They are a decent alloy for making knife blanks if nothing else.
Jim

that's what I use them for. the paneling blades with high teeth count but very short teeth give the most usable steel for the blanks. otherwise they go in the scrap. not worth using on any of my saws for real work. same with router bits. I don't waste time with non-carbide bits there either...

 

[yardiron]

Do you need to harden them after making the knife? I wouldn't think a saw blade would be as hard as say an old file or such.