Budget Table Saw Blades.... Recommendations?

[Kev Godwin]

I have 2 young relatives just getting started into woodworking. I (we) would sure like to hear of some recommendations for general purpose or combination blades for a couple recent college grads on very tight budgets.

Please post some options for these young guys looking for the best bang for the buck. (They are both looking for new purchase options, not kind donations from the members here. I've already got them both started with several tools.) Thx!
Kev

[truitt sosebee]

I know there will be some who disagree, but the 10", 60 tooth Carbide blade that Harbor Freight sells for $10-15 depending an the sale they're running cuts pretty darn good when it's new, but does dull faster than better brands. For a dado stack, if needed, the Oshlund set from Rockler is just superb.

[Rick Gooden]

Freud Diablo. Very good blade for the money.

[Cary Falk]

Delta 35-7657 from Cripe Distributing on the Bay for $18 plus ship.

[Joseph Tarantino]

check out wood magazine. over the past ~3 years they have twice tested 10" TS blades under $50. lots of good choices out there.

[Troy Turner]

Believe Lowe's has a DeWalt combo pack (1 - 40T and 1 - 60T) for about $40...maybe a little more either way depending on where you live. Craftsman blades will get the job done on a budget too.

[David Hostetler]

I have had excellent results with the Freud Diablo line from Home Depot. Nice and affordable, and a very nice blade. No $100.00 Woodworker II, but then again, I can't imagine the WW2 offers enough more to get me to cough up the extra bucks either...

[Matthew Sherman]

+1 for Freud Diablo. I have the 50 tooth combo blade and it makes very smooth cuts. Very little tear-out when crosscutting plywood as well.

[Todd Davidson]

The Delta from Cripe is an excellent blade. Sears is closoing out their Professional line of 10" saw blades - made in Italy and comparable to their industrial line (slightly larger carbide teeth that the Diablos).

[Chris Tsutsui]

For those not on a budget, Forrest Woodworker II's 40T standard kerf is under $90 shipped at librawood which was recently bought out by holbren. (Which has great customer service).

When I was broke in college I bought a double pack of cheap irwin 10" blades from lowes using a $10 off $50 coupon. They are very loud and the cut wasn't that great but it did the job. The double pack came with a crosscut blade, and combo blade.

If you plan to go to lowes for a saw blade, then you might as well bring with you a 10% coupon: https://secure.isat-tech.com/banners...nner.swf?c=419

[Ryan Hellmer]

I would agree that Diablo does a decent job. On the other hand, a good quality blade like infinity, freud, Ridge Carbide, on up to Forrest will end up paying for itself. I would urge the buy the best and cry once mentality on this. Great blades can be had for well under 100.

Ryan

[Jerome Hanby]

I bought some Irwin's on a closeout (at WC I believe) and use them for junk cutting (MDF, construction grade lumber, PT stuff). I agree with the pay a little more and cry once suggestions. Freud blades don't draw quite so many tears...

[Ben Hatcher]

The best cheap blade that I know of are the Freud Diabalo 7 1/4" circular saw blades. You can get them for $10-$20 at the BORG and they're big enough to cut up to 2" material on most 10" table saws. They work just as well as the standard 10" blades for about 1/3 the cost.

[Doug Herzberg]

+1 on Freud Diablo line, +1 Oshlund stacked dado - check the price on Amazon vs. Rockler.

Cheaper to resharpen these than to buy the throwaways. I still use the WW2 for my cabinet saw, but even resharpening that is cheaper than constantly buying cheap blades that don't give a good cut.

Avoid the cheaper line at HD, at least in my experience.

[Larry Browning]

Of course it is better and cheaper in the long run to spend more up front. But for someone just starting out, that is just not an option. If you think it is, you haven't lived in my shoes. Trying to scrape together close to $100 for a saw blade is impossible. That $100 is needed to pay the rent, utilities, or buy groceries. For me, the decision was to either buy the cheap stuff or not buy at all. These guys need to find a $5-$10 blade. I think the 7 1/2 inch blade idea is pretty good one. There is always a good variety of these blade at HD or any hardware store.
Latter on in life, the money will not be as tight. Then when you do get the good stuff, you can appreciate it more. If you only start with the best, you will never learn to appreciate it.