Infinity Saw Blades

I was doing some research on saw blades tonight and began to wonder what specific application would lead you to select a T40 vs. a T50 or T60 general and all-purpose blade. In particular, what about the Infinity 40T Super General, 50T Combination and the 60T General Purpose Blades? The Infinity web site provides a description of each blade but they don't give you an example of a particular situation where they are best used. Since most all of my saw use is with a general purpose T40 blade I would most likely purchase another T40 in the future. So, am I missing something by not having a T50 or a T60 in my inventory of blades?
Thanks,
Ron

Ron,

If you're happy with your 40T combo blade, I don't see a reason to get a 50 or 60T combo. I have two identical 40T Forrest blades that I use most of the time. I would recommend a less toothed rip blade when you work with thick hardwoods. Depending on the smoothness of cut you get with sheet stock, melamine, etc., you may also want an 80T fine cut blade. I happen to have one that works great, but my Forrests make it pretty unnecessary. I do have an inexpensive 50T combo blade that I used to use more, but now use for plastics, MDF, Aluminum, composites and anything else that I didn't mention that might be brutal on a blade. I also got a 50T blade with my Unisaw that was quite good (unfortunately got destroyed in a small shop avalanche :rolleyes: ).

I think the design of the blade including stiffness, tooth set angle, and angles sharpened into the teeth seem to have more to do with cut quality than small variances in number of teeth.

Jay

Hi Ron,

You mention that it's difficult to see what the difference is between our 'combo' blades and you'd like to know which one would be best for your purpose. I'll try to bring out the differences in more detail here w/o getting too long winded.

Our 40tooth Super-General blade has an 18deg. forward rake angle with a 20deg. ATB grind. This geometry makes this blade slightly more suited to high performance rips in solid wood than in crosscutting veneered plywood. Although you will get very good results cross-cutting on your table saw with this blade bc of the 20deg. ATB you can be sure that the more forward rake angle the blade teeth have the more efficient it will be at producing smooth rips (all things being equal). This blade is also different bc we give it 2.5deg of side clearance on the carbide teeth as opposed to 5deg on our other blades. This reduction in side clearance gives the teeth a polishing effect when they are cutting and produces a super smooth finish without any saw marks. But you have to make sure that your fence is parallel to your blade to take advantage of this extra feature. This blade is your choice if your main task will be ripping or crosscutting solid wood and you do occasional veneer or melamine work.

Our 50tooh Combo-MAX blade has a 12deg. forward rake angle and a 15deg ATB but we also add a Chamfered Raker tooth. This blade will be slightly better at cross-cutting delicate veneer plywood or melamine composite material but it will tend to work harder on tough rips than our 40 tooth Super-General blade becasue it has more teeth and a less aggressive rake angle. This is an excellent blade to use if you'll be cutting plywood, melamine, hardwoods, and softwoods and are both crosscutting and ripping. I'd use the 50tooth blade if your projects require both solid wood and veneers and crosscutting is your main application.

Our 60tooth General Purpose blade is a slightly different concept. We've only given it a 5deg. positive forward rake angle because it is designed mainly with the RAS in mind. With 60 teeth and a high ATB of 30deg. your crosscuts on your RAS will be awesome and the blade won’t try to 'climb' as you are cutting. You can use this blade on your TS as well but don’t expect to do any fast ripping of stock. It has too many teeth and too high of an ATB to be an efficient ripper. Use the 60tooth blade if you are using a Radial Arm Saw or you want perfect crosscuts in veneer plywood or hardwood, but again, dont expect for it to rip as well as the 40 tooth or the 50 tooth blades.

My opinion: Use the 40-tooth blade if your main application will be ripping or crosscutting solid wood and you do occasional veneer or melamine work. Use the 50tooth blade if your projects require both solid wood and veneers and crosscutting is your main application. Use the 60tooth blade if your are using a Radial Arm Saw or you want perfect crosscuts in veneer plywood or hardwood on your TS. I would not use the 40 or the 50 tooth blades if you are using a RAS bc the forward rake will make the blade climb your work.

I hope this helps but if you need to ask any questions you can reach me at the office at 877-872-2487.

Best regards,

David Venditto
Infinity Cutting Tools

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Originally Posted by Ron Fritz

I was doing some research on saw blades tonight and began to wonder what specific application would lead you to select a T40 vs. a T50 or T60 general and all-purpose blade. In particular, what about the Infinity 40T Super General, 50T Combination and the 60T General Purpose Blades? The Infinity web site provides a description of each blade but they don't give you an example of a particular situation where they are best used. Since most all of my saw use is with a general purpose T40 blade I would most likely purchase another T40 in the future. So, am I missing something by not having a T50 or a T60 in my inventory of blades?
Thanks,
Ron

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Ron, if you go with an Infinity blade make sure you check it for rust. I've had 2 sets of their dado blades, both have had rust on the chippers new out of the box. They do give an excellent cut IMO so I kept the 2nd set. Hopefully it's only the dado sets.

David; thank you for your reply. It was very helpful. I didn't mention this before but I do have an RAS and have been running a T40 blade. Most of my cutting is in solid pine, cherry and red oak with some occasional cabinet grade plywood. Since I need a new blade, I'll try the the T60. Thanks again for you help. Ron