School me on saw blade care

[ajchien]

I used to think of saw blades as consumables.

But now that I'm doing more hobby woodwork, and increasing the various circular saw, table saw, dado etc blades ... And learning how to sharpen ...

How do you guys take care of your blades?

Does anyone wax their blades to keep heat down?
How do you clean the crusted saw dust off the teeth?
Anything else that I should consider doing?

 

[McFarmer]

I hang mine on a wooden peg on the wall, separately if possible, or use a piece of plywood as a spacer if there are too many.

I send mine in to be sharpened and cleaned so can't help with that. I don't cut much wood like pine that has a lot of pitch.

I also use a large blade stabilizer I got from Freud on the table saw and radial arm. Check the trunions on the table saw, that is well worth the time and effort.

 

[woody 73]

Hope this gives you a good starting point:

 

[Fizbin]

As far as cleaning the blades, I use 409 and a small plastic bristle brush. Just put the blade in a shallow bowl (or lay a plastic bag under it) and spray a good coating of 409 on it. Let it sit for about 5 minutes and then scrub off all of the pitch with the brush. You can either rinse the blade with water or just wipe it off with a paper towel.

I cut a lot of pine, so I clean my blades about once every 2 weeks.