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Brice Burrell
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Easy answer, yes. The Fine Tooth Saw Blade 491952 will rip 4/4 stock pretty well.
davidpawlak
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I tried the combo blade that came on the saw and it made the saw stop . I tried 3 times and Finlay changed to the panther and it worked great at straight lining 5/4 poplar.
chrisrosenb
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I also had problems ripping with the fine tooth blade that came with the TS55. The saw shut down twice. I changed to the Panther. It worked but I was not happy with the rough cut. I ended up getting a Universal 28 tooth blade & it has worked very well.
I have the 28 tooth blade and do everything with it except MDF and particle board. For those, and sometimes rough carpentry work, i break out the negative pitch blade i bought at same time as I picked up my ATF 55.
I have ripped 6/4 and 8/4 white oak, hard maple, Red oak and othr 6/4 and 8/4 lumber. I have always, when ripping thicker hardwoods, whether with ATF 55 or a table saw, done it in stages. I go as deep as i think can be done easilly with the first pass. A little more with second and so on, until I have ripped clear through.
If you go to woodshopdemos.com, John Lucas has a demo in there where he has used the TS 75 to square up 6" wood. (It might have been the ATF 65, I'm not absolutely certain without checking the site)
I have not tried Cherry wth te ATF, but that gives me problems with the old table saw. I have in the past, when working with Cherry, sometimes used the bandsaw for ripping. I do have a project lined up for my daughter that will be a mix of cherry and spalted maple. I have cut down some short logs to season for the purpose. I ripped the wide dimensions (up to 8") with the BS and then ripped the 6" depth with the TS. Some of the pieces were only 4" thick and i planned to rip them with the ATF but chickened out. I will be sharpening (or getting new blade) for the ATF before i start the project.
I am confident (after ripping 8/4 sugar maple) that with the sharpest 28 tooth blade, i will be able to rip the cherry (with care) without burning.
Tinker
I have ripped 6/4 and 8/4 white oak, hard maple, Red oak and othr 6/4 and 8/4 lumber. I have always, when ripping thicker hardwoods, whether with ATF 55 or a table saw, done it in stages. I go as deep as i think can be done easilly with the first pass. A little more with second and so on, until I have ripped clear through.
If you go to woodshopdemos.com, John Lucas has a demo in there where he has used the TS 75 to square up 6" wood. (It might have been the ATF 65, I'm not absolutely certain without checking the site)
I have not tried Cherry wth te ATF, but that gives me problems with the old table saw. I have in the past, when working with Cherry, sometimes used the bandsaw for ripping. I do have a project lined up for my daughter that will be a mix of cherry and spalted maple. I have cut down some short logs to season for the purpose. I ripped the wide dimensions (up to 8") with the BS and then ripped the 6" depth with the TS. Some of the pieces were only 4" thick and i planned to rip them with the ATF but chickened out. I will be sharpening (or getting new blade) for the ATF before i start the project.
I am confident (after ripping 8/4 sugar maple) that with the sharpest 28 tooth blade, i will be able to rip the cherry (with care) without burning.
Tinker
rblaustein
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Matt,
Congrats on the new purchase. I think you'll be fine for standard woods in 4/4. I've used both the Panther and stock blade to trim bottoms of 1 and 3/8" frame and panel doors (so part crosscut, mostly rip). I did have the saw stop using the stock blade and posted about it on the old forum--the one tip that helped was from Rick Christopherson who suggested plunging the full depth of the blade. The cut from the Panther was a bit rougher, but it also was bit rough with the rubber part of the rail. I suspect that that's a technique issue and that keeping even pressure on the saw through the cut would fix that. But I ended up going back to the stock combo blade and plunging full depth without problems.
--Rob
Congrats on the new purchase. I think you'll be fine for standard woods in 4/4. I've used both the Panther and stock blade to trim bottoms of 1 and 3/8" frame and panel doors (so part crosscut, mostly rip). I did have the saw stop using the stock blade and posted about it on the old forum--the one tip that helped was from Rick Christopherson who suggested plunging the full depth of the blade. The cut from the Panther was a bit rougher, but it also was bit rough with the rubber part of the rail. I suspect that that's a technique issue and that keeping even pressure on the saw through the cut would fix that. But I ended up going back to the stock combo blade and plunging full depth without problems.
--Rob
Matthew Schenker
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Matt,
I use the Standard blade for everything I need to do -- cross-cutting, ripping, veneered plywood, melamine. MDF. I've cut 4/4 ash, oak, padauk, maple, poplar, and probably others I can't recall at the moment, all using the Standard blade. It performs wonderfully in each case. Not only that, but the blade seems to last for a while. I have a Panther blade and it is a great blade, but I can't say it does much more than the Standard blade.
If you're doing something like cutting metal or laminates, then you'll need to move beyond the standard blade.
I think Festool saw blades confuse some people. You see the relatively low price of the blades and assume they must not be very good. However, in my opinion (and I've said this before), Festool saw blades are one of the unspoken heroes of the lineup. For around $30 - $40, you get excellent quality, equal to some blades that cost close to $100. I can't emphasize this strongly enough. Festool could charge three times more for their Strandard blades (I hope Christian's not reading this).
I have not tried the Special blade, Universal blade, or the Fine Tooth blade, so I'll let others comment on those.
Matthew
I use the Standard blade for everything I need to do -- cross-cutting, ripping, veneered plywood, melamine. MDF. I've cut 4/4 ash, oak, padauk, maple, poplar, and probably others I can't recall at the moment, all using the Standard blade. It performs wonderfully in each case. Not only that, but the blade seems to last for a while. I have a Panther blade and it is a great blade, but I can't say it does much more than the Standard blade.
If you're doing something like cutting metal or laminates, then you'll need to move beyond the standard blade.
I think Festool saw blades confuse some people. You see the relatively low price of the blades and assume they must not be very good. However, in my opinion (and I've said this before), Festool saw blades are one of the unspoken heroes of the lineup. For around $30 - $40, you get excellent quality, equal to some blades that cost close to $100. I can't emphasize this strongly enough. Festool could charge three times more for their Strandard blades (I hope Christian's not reading this).
I have not tried the Special blade, Universal blade, or the Fine Tooth blade, so I'll let others comment on those.
Matthew
chrisrosenb
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Matthew,
I think the problem may be that the saws are being sold with different blades on them. ??? My TS55 came with a Fine Tooth Blade & a Panther blade. The TS 75 comes with a Universal Blade. The fine tooth blade did not work well when ripping 3/4" poplar.
Chris
I think the problem may be that the saws are being sold with different blades on them. ??? My TS55 came with a Fine Tooth Blade & a Panther blade. The TS 75 comes with a Universal Blade. The fine tooth blade did not work well when ripping 3/4" poplar.
Chris
Daviddubya
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The blade that comes with the TS55 is the Fine Tooth, 48 teeth, 491952. If the results you get ripping 4/4 don't please you, try the Universal, 28 teeth, 490516 for only $40. I use the Fine Tooth blade for just about everything. I get satisfactory results ripping thicker woods with both the Universal and the Panther, 14 teeth, 439685. I was a little disappointed with the Special blade, 56 teeth, 439686. I expected the Special blade to give me perfect cuts in laminates, such as plywood crosscuts and melamine. The results I get with the Special blade are no better than the Fine Tooth blade - excellent cuts on the guide rail side and some slight chipping on the outside (with the ATF55).
Brice Burrell
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Matt Meiser said:
Yes, you are right, in my earlier post I wrote "standard", that was wrong, I should have said "Fine Tooth" (48 tooth) saw blade 491952, the blade that comes with the TS55. I've had no problems ripping 4/4 hardwood with the "Fine Tooth" blade. Just let the saw cut at it's own pace, don't push the saw too fast.
Dave Ronyak
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I've had no problems ripping 4/4 and 6/4 mahogany and oak with the 48 tooth blade that comes with the TS 55, but as others have noted, I much prefer the 28 tooth General Purpose blade for most work. The 28 tooth blade does a very decent cut whether ripping 4/4 poplar (which I am currently doing) or 3/4 birch plywood, and the price of this blade is less than the 48 tooth blade. I've had a Panther blade for about a year but have yet to use it. Stalling of your saw may be due to too fast a feed rate - the 48 tooth blade requires a slower feed rate than a blade with fewer teeth, or perhaps, the toe-in of your saw is not correct. If the toe setting is not correct, the cut edges are likely to show saw markings or even some burning.
Dave R.
Dave R.
Dave Ronyak said:
Dave,
I agree. I spoke with Dave at Festool Tech support about my own issues (mentioned in the earlier thread on blades) and the two things he said that help are a very slow feed rate with the Fine Cut blade and that if you bottom out the saw blade depth of cut (which is contrary to the 1mm to 3mm that I normally do on my supports) it will help significantly. Dave explained that the deeper the saw blade is set, the easier it is for the gullets between the teeth to clear out the sawdust, which inproves the speed and helps reduce burning.
Rod
Matthew Schenker
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I also must correct my earlier point about the blade that comes with the TS55: it is a "fine-tooth" blade, not a "standard" blade. Still, whatever blade it is, it's worked very well for me.
Matthew
Matthew
