A question for the wood botherers

[Anguz]

My circular saw has had several new blades over the years. Every time I buy a new blade, they seem to get thinner. Is there a recommended thickness of the riving knife (correct term?) Behind the blade and the thickness of the saw?

 

[MattF]

It's merely to stop the wood clamping down on the blade, so overall blade thickness plus a smidgeon is all it needs.

 

[Anguz]

Think I may need to thin mine down a bit on a surface grinder if I am gonna keep using the dewalt blades.. blade isn't removing enough wood

 

[brightspark]

the knives are suposed to be ten percent wider than the blade . they are available in diffrent thicknesses

 

[Anguz]

Assume that's the thickness of the steel, ignoring the set and tips

 

[brightspark]

Assume that's the thickness of the steel, ignoring the set and tips

yep wider than the disk and less than the witth of cutting tips

 

[gaz1]

if your tips are thinner than the blade seperator that stops the wood clamping together then your using the wrong blades so stop using them

dont go grinding your blade seperator its there to stop kick back of the wood if it clamps together and many pieces do this

 

[Agroshield]

Every time I buy a new blade, they seem to get thinner.

With respect, that is garbage. A blade will have its kerf written on it (probably as part of the regulations governing its sale). A blade you bought 20 years ago marked 1/8" kerf will still cut the same width as one you buy tomorrow marked 3.2mm.

With the advent of cordless saws, the manufacturers realised that using a thinner kerf blade saved power and prolonged battery life. Hence, they started supplying thin kerf blades as OEM items. The replacement blade sellers then followed so both standard- and thin-kerf blades are equally available today.

You have to decide on what kerf thickness you want to use, adjust the riving knife to suit (110 % of the saw plate) and buy only that thickness of blade from now onwards. A thin blade used with a thick riving knife is hard work; a thick blade used with a thin riving knife is hazardous.

 

[Keith 66]

I just rebuilt my old Startrite circular saw for a wooden mast building job, New fence & riving knife which had been missing for years. I have a selection of blades for the saw & often use the thin kerf ones. If you are cutting thin timber to laminate together a wide kerf often means losing 30 to 50% of wood on the floor as sawdust. Thin ones you save a lot of wood!

 

[brightspark]

and using thinner blades puts less strain on on the motor as it has less work to do than a wider one