Using Circular Saw Blades in Your Table Saw

Read Time: 4 mins

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Yep, it can be done quickly and easuly, and with no accessories or adapters, take off the 10" blade that is in your saw, replace it with a 7-1/4" blade, it's that easy.
Many new woodworkers do not know that the arbor in a circular saw is the same diameter as most 10" table saws which means the blades for circular saw fit nicely onto most 10" table saws.

What this does is open up a whole new world of ideas and options for using circular saw blades in your table saw, with lots of benefits and only a could of slight drawbacks. Since I have been using Circ Blades in the Table Saw for some time, I thought it would be benefical for others to see what kinds of cuts they can expect from a couple of different blades that I use all the time, the Freud 24 tooth ripping blade, that is most often used by carpenters in building construction, and the Freud 40 tooth "Plywood" blade, also used by a few carpenters, but more for specialy work like cutting plywood and trim that needs a bit finer cut. 

Like many things, there are advantages and disadvantages, so here is the list of Pros and Cons for you to dwell on ...

 let's talk about the disadvantages or Cons first or all ..

 - Circular saw blades may not give you the cutting depth you need, if you need to cut deeper than about 1-3/4" and you can't flip the wood on end, that is the biggest draw back.
 - Some of the better quality circular saw blades are made of a harder steel which mean they can be manufactured even thinner, like the Freud Diablo blades, this also means the blades can flex a little bit so you don't want to force wood through the blades or your cut may not be quite as fine as you would like.

OK, not bad, only a couple of cons, lets look at the Pros now ...
 - Circular saw blades are smaller and therefore cost less than 10" blades
 - Most circular saw blades are thinner than even the thin kerf table saw blades
 - Thin blades mean less wased wood, which is particularly valuable for small quantities of expensive specialty woods
 - Thinner blades also mean less saw dust and they slide through the wood much easier too
 - Cutting through nails often damages 10" blades, the Freud Diablo blades will cut through nails easily
 - There are a variety of different blades to choose from for different woodworking needs

I often leave a circular saw blade in my table saw, not necessarily to save wood, but more to save my health by producing less saw dust and less noise. I also like the fact that it take less effort for me to push wood through the blade, not a big deal on one or 2 boards, but when making a bigger piece of furnture and pre-cutting all the wood which can take an hour or so, all these things add up.

Circular saw blades in the table saw are not the kind of thing that everyong can use, but it's nice to know that they are an option for times when you need some other specialty cut, and the cloeset blade might just be sitting in your circular saw.,

Copyright Colin Knecht
Woodworkweb.com

Featherboard Jig - How to Make a Featherboard

Read Time: 9 mins

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Featherboards are not used nearly as often as they could be for a few reasons, they are time consuming to make, they often don't work as well as they could and sometimes they are difficult to mount on your machinery. In this video I am taking one of the elements away, which is making, good quality featherboards that will give you consistent and repeatable results with little setup (depending on your equipment).
The biggest problem I have always had is making featherboards with consistently thin fingers that will give me the kind of pressure I need for use on my router table or table saw. This jig solves that problem and speeds up the process too.

I first tried to use my "Lynn Sabin" box joint jig (kindly provided free, by Leeway Workshop), but the design of it simply doesn't not work well for featherboards. You can see more on the box joint jig I made right on this website here.  I decided to try to re-design it using the same principal of using a threaded bar a the indexing component and went about making a prototype featherboard jig. I seldom need to make prototypes but I do find them useful at times when I don't have a clear vision for the end product. The prototype I made worked OK, but not nearly as well as I hoped, but what I learned making it was what I could do to improve it and so here is what I did ...

Selecting Saw Blades for Table Saws

Read Time: 9 mins

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There are hundreds of different table saw blades available from many, many different manufacturers so how do you begin by selecting the one you need. There are probably a number of blades that will work for you so narrowing down what works best for the amount of money you want to spend is a simple matter of knowing the basiscs. This article along with the video will help eveyone new to woodworking, gain the knowledge to make wiser choices when selecting table saw blades.

There are 3 questions you want to ask yourself when looking for table saw blades, 1) - What material will you be cuting  2) - What  machine do you have (table saw, mitre saw and what size, 9 inch, 10 inch, 12 inch and is horse power or amperage of the saw) and finally 3) - what is the purpose of what you are doing - furniture making, building a fence or a chicken coup or installing crown molding. 3 very relevant questions that will all come together to help you find the best blade(s) for your use.

Easily the most popular table saw blades on the market right now are 10 inch blades and also the widest selection. There are basically 2 types of blades, Full Kerf - approx 1/8" (kerf referrs to the width of the saw blade tooth) and Thin Kerf - approx 3/32".

Full kerf blades are thicker teeth, thicker steel bodies and heavier blades. They are used in bigger more powerful saws. Full kerf blades have more carbide in their teeth which means the teeth stay sharper longer, and they can be resharpened more more times than thin kerf. Full kerf blades will cut a wider swath so they will use up more material and will create slightly more saw dust and shavings. Full kerf will be slightly harder to push material through as the width of the blades is slightly wider. Full kerf blades are often preferred by commercial and industrial businesses that are using saw blades constantly as these blades withstand harder more rugged use and can be resharpened more often.

Table Saw Mitre Jig: Make Easy Mitres Cuts & Spline Joints Every Time!

Read Time: 5 mins

Hits: 18949

For most woodworkers, the table saw is most used machine in the shop so it stands to reason that among the most popular and useful jigs are for the table saw. One of the nice features of most table saws is the ability of the saw to angle the blade, often up to 45 degrees, for special angled cuts. The problem with many table saws, especially saws that are older is the mechanism that allows the blade to be angled is often hard to move, and at best, you still need to get down on your hands and knees and crank the blade over ... make a cut or two, then crank the blade vertical again and make sure it is absolutely square to the table saw's deck. Not difficult, but tedious and time consuming and often for only one or two cuts ... and hopefully they are perfect, because who wants to repeat this process?

In this video I am finally getting around to making a jig that can be popped on top the table saw, trapped by the fence so it is safe and adjustable to use and quick and easy to make angled cuts without having to fuss around with moving the blade ... and here are the dimensions ...