Table Saw Blades: What I Wish Someone Told Me Years Ago

Picking the right table saw blade has gotten complicated with all the tooth counts, grind geometries, and marketing buzzwords flying around. As someone who has been ripping and crosscutting on a table saw for over two decades, I learned everything there is to know about blades through a combination of research, bad purchases, and a lot of board feet. Today, I will share it all with you.

Your table saw is only as good as the blade spinning in it. I ran a cheap combination blade for my first three years of woodworking and wondered why my cuts always looked rough and my saw struggled through hardwood. Then I bought a quality rip blade and it was like using a completely different machine. Night and day difference.

The Main Types of Blades

Probably should have led with this section, honestly. There are four main blade types you need to know about, and understanding when to use each one will instantly improve your work.

Rip Blades

These are your workhorses for cutting along the grain. They’ve got fewer teeth — typically 24 to 30 — with big gullets between them. Those gullets are key. They clear sawdust fast so the blade doesn’t overheat or bog down. I keep a 24-tooth rip blade on my saw about 60% of the time because I do a lot of rough dimensioning. It tears through oak, maple, even hard maple without breaking a sweat. The cuts aren’t glass-smooth, but that’s not the point — rip blades are about removing material efficiently.

Crosscut Blades

Going across the grain? This is what you want. Crosscut blades pack 60 to 80 teeth onto the same 10-inch diameter. All those teeth mean each one takes a tiny bite, which gives you a silky smooth cut with virtually no tear-out. I swap to my 80-tooth crosscut blade for final cuts on visible edges, miter joints, anything where the cut surface matters. Plywood loves these blades too — the high tooth count keeps the veneer from splintering.

Combination Blades

If you can only own one blade, make it a combination. These typically have 50 teeth arranged in groups of five — four ATB teeth followed by one flat-top raker tooth, with a deep gullet between each group. They handle both ripping and crosscutting reasonably well. Not as fast as a dedicated rip blade, not as smooth as a dedicated crosscut blade, but good enough for both.

I’ll be honest though — once I started keeping two or three dedicated blades and swapping them out, I pretty much retired my combination blade. The five minutes it takes to change blades is worth it for the improved results. But if you’re just getting started or working on a tight budget, a good 50-tooth combo blade will serve you well.

Dado Blades

Dado blades are a different animal entirely. They cut wide, flat-bottomed grooves for joinery — shelving dadoes, rabbets, box joints, you name it. I use a stacked dado set, which is two outer blades with chipper blades sandwiched between them. Add or remove chippers to dial in your groove width. You can get it dead-on to within a few thousandths of an inch.

There are wobble-style dado blades too, but I’d steer clear. They tilt the blade to widen the cut, which means the bottom of the groove isn’t truly flat. For rough work it’s fine, but for anything that needs to be precise? Get a stacked set. My Freud dado stack has been running strong for fifteen years now.

What Blades Are Made Of

This matters more than most people realize. The wrong material for your application means dull blades, rough cuts, and wasted money.

Carbon Steel

The budget option. Fine for softwoods and occasional use. But run one of these through hard maple or hickory and you’ll be resharpening it constantly. I had a couple of these when I was starting out. They dulled fast and I spent more time and money maintaining them than I saved on the initial purchase.

High-Speed Steel

A step up. These hold an edge longer and cut faster. Good middle-ground blades for hobbyists who work with a mix of species. They’ll handle hardwoods better than carbon steel but still won’t match carbide for edge retention.

Carbide-Tipped

This is what I run exclusively now. The teeth have tungsten carbide tips brazed onto a steel body. They stay sharp dramatically longer than any other option. Yeah, they cost more upfront — a good carbide blade runs $40 to $100+ depending on size and tooth count. But I get months of heavy use between sharpenings. Over time they’re actually cheaper. That’s what makes a quality carbide blade endearing to us woodworkers who use our saws daily — the consistency just never drops off.

Blade Design Details That Matter

Tooth Geometry

• Flat Top Grind (FTG): Teeth are ground straight across. These are aggressive and fast, which is why you find them on rip blades. They’re basically tiny chisels chopping out wood fibers. Durable but not the smoothest cut.
• Alternate Top Bevel (ATB): Teeth alternate between angling left and right. They slice through wood fibers like little knives, which is why crosscut blades use this grind. The steeper the bevel angle, the cleaner the cut — but also the faster the teeth dull.
• Combination (Comb): Groups of ATB teeth followed by a flat raker. The ATB teeth score the cut and the raker cleans out the waste. Found on combination blades. A smart design that compromises well.
• Triple Chip Grind (TCG): Alternates between flat-top teeth and teeth with angled corners knocked off. Incredibly durable. I use a TCG blade for cutting melamine and laminates because the alternating geometry reduces chipping on those brittle materials.

Kerf Width

Standard kerf blades are about 1/8 inch thick. They’re stiff, stable, and give you dead-straight cuts on a powerful saw. Thin kerf blades run about 3/32 inch — they waste less material and require less horsepower to spin. I run thin kerf on my contractor saw because it only has a 1.5 HP motor. On a 3 or 5 HP cabinet saw, go full kerf for maximum stability.

Hook Angle

This is the forward lean of the teeth. A high positive hook angle (15-20 degrees) on a rip blade means the teeth bite aggressively into the wood, feeding it through fast. A low or negative hook angle on a crosscut blade is gentler and way less likely to cause kickback. Pay attention to this spec. It’s one of the biggest factors in how a blade feels during a cut.

Taking Care of Your Blades

Keep Them Clean

Pitch and resin build up on teeth, especially when you’re cutting pine or cherry. That gunk makes the blade run hotter and cut worse. I soak my blades in a dedicated blade cleaner every few weeks. Simple Green works too in a pinch. Scrub with a nylon brush, rinse, dry. Takes ten minutes and makes a huge difference in cut quality.

Sharpen Before It’s Too Late

A dull blade is a dangerous blade. It forces you to push harder, which increases kickback risk. It also burns the wood and produces rough cuts. I can tell when a blade is getting dull because the motor bogs down slightly and I start smelling burnt wood. At that point I pull it and either sharpen it myself with a diamond hone or send it to a sharpening service. Professional sharpening runs about $15-25 per blade, which is way cheaper than a new one.

Store Them Right

Don’t just toss blades in a drawer where they’ll bang against each other and chip teeth. I hang mine on a wall rack with individual slots. Some guys use the plastic cases they came in. Whatever works — just keep them separated, dry, and protected. A rusted or chipped blade goes straight to the sharpener or the trash.

Safety — the Non-Negotiable Stuff

• Safety glasses every single time. No exceptions. I’ve had carbide tips break off and fly across the shop. It happens.
• No loose sleeves, no dangling drawstrings, no gloves near a spinning blade. I know a guy who lost the tip of his thumb because his glove caught. Scary stuff.
• Use a push stick for rip cuts when the fence is within six inches of the blade. I keep three of them within arm’s reach of my saw.
• Unplug the saw before you change blades or make any adjustments near the blade. Every time. Even if it “only takes a second.”
• Keep your riving knife installed. It’s the single most effective anti-kickback device on your saw. I see people remove them to make non-through cuts and then forget to put them back. Don’t be that person.

The blade is the heart of your table saw. Pick the right one for the job, keep it sharp, keep it clean, and it’ll give you cuts you’re proud of for years. I’ve spent more money on table saw blades than I’d care to admit, but every good blade was worth the investment.