The blades that are on the table saws are a Diablo thin kerf 24 tooth ripper blade (near the router table) and a Diablo thin kerf 60 tooth cross cut blade (near the dust collector.)
Up until recently… as the SawStop did it’s job and trashed the 60T blade.
I purchased these blades for a project of mine, and left the blades on the table saws because I want others to feel the joy of using the right blade for the job. I’ve already set off the SawStop once and destroyed my own 60T blade, but purchased another right away to replace it.
I’m not sure who decides, or how it is decided, but I was hoping that the community could decide which blades are standard on the table saws.
Obviously I like the ripper blade and cross cut blade option, but I understand the argument for having a multi use blade on both.
We had a big discussion about thin versus regular kerf about two years ago. I don’t recall all the reasons, but we definitely decided against thin kerf as the default. They caused some issues in the past. More blades are normal kerf than thin, but when you switch types, the measurement markings for the fence are no longer accurate. Some types of work rely on the kerf size. You definitely don’t want a thin kerf blade if you are doing “poor man’s dadoes”.
That was around the time we got the second SawStop, so I don’t know if that was taken into account. Maybe thin on one, regular on the other could make some sense. Ultimately, this is the decision of the woodshop area leads.
I think having a rip tooth and combination saw blade is ideal. I often prefer the thin kerf rip blade when trying to grain match something (ie cutting a drawer face out of stretcher and re-gluing the stretcher back together), but that’s not very often.
We have had a mix of blades in the past but are trying to unify that.
The general purpose diablo blade runs about $50, and those are the ones I have been buying. I have no issues stocking the rip blade for one saw and a combo blade on the other.
Additionally I spoke to a guy at a local company called Weatherford, this week. He says he’ll pickup, sharpen, and deliver a combo blade for abou $25. Caveat, I’ll be calling him when stock up again on bandsaw blades and sandpaper. I’ve heard about him from a few folks now.
I have more exposure to diablo blades and like how they perform, I have nothing against CMT, though. We want blades that will take a beating, not have to be replaced every week or two, and if we can get a second life from it for cheaper than the cost of a new blade, great.