TS-75 Blade for Cutting into Existing Wood Floor

J

jbasen

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Jan 27, 2013
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I would like to remove the wood flooring in front of our front door and replace it with slate that matches our mudroom.  I live in the mountains of Idaho and trying to maintain a wood floor there when guests are coming in with their shoes full of snow is simply a challenge. 

The first step of this project is to cut the perimeter of the area where we will pull up the existing wood floor.  I would think that my TS-75 riding on a guide rail would be ideal for this.  I am going to be cutting through lots of nails that were used during the installation of the wood floor. 

So, my question is:  Which blade for the TS-75 would be the best to use?  I want to minimize tear-out of the existing floor but at the same time the blade has to be up to the task of cutting through the nails.

If there is a 3rd party blade that would do the job, and be cheaper than a Festool blade, all the better as I expect the nails will do enough damage to the blade that I will be tossing it in the trash afterwards. 

Thanks in advance for the help.
 
Results of cutting through a load of nails could vary between expensive (blade/saw damage) to dangerously interesting (in case a tooth manages to pull one that catches between teeth and parts of the saws case: spontaneously stopping the saws rotation, kickback, gear/housing damage, ...).

I would suggest to mark the line where the kerf will be and then use a crowbar (setting it on the wood you'll remove anway when needing a pivot point, so damage done by it is no issue) to pull any nails that intersect the kerf.
Might take a moment, but replacing blades, exploded saws or parts of your body might take even longer...
 
Thanks.  A good friend of mine has owned a wood flooring business for 30+ years.  He does this on a regular basis.  He was going to do it by running his skill saw along a straight edge.  I just thought the TS-75 would do a better job.
 
There is no demolition blade for TS 75. I imagine a blade with smaller rake angle is better for cutting nails. Nails cut easily, hardened steel screws on the other hand are to be avoided.
 
Thanks.  Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the Makita blades are available in the US.  I did see a place in England that had a 210mm version of the Makita blade.

What I was able to find were some blades from Oshlun on Amazon.  They seem to be reasonably rated and are significantly less expensive than a Festool blade. 
https://www.amazon.com/Oshlun-SBFT-...GFS2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1517358974&sr=8-3

There are 36, 52, and 72 tooth options though not a true demolition blade.
 
The topic of non-OEM blades compatible with the TS 75 has been discussed in detail before on this forum:
http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-tools-accessories/aftermarket-blades-for-ts75-(list-of-part-numbers-with-specifications)/msg491083/#msg491083

Plus, a quick search on ebay.co.uk using the search phrase "210mm 30mm arbor saw blade" will produce numerous makes and models of TS 75-compatible blades not discussed in the above referenced thread. Many sellers located outside the U.S. are willing to ship to the U.S.
 
How many feet of cut are you talking about?  I am assuming that your flooring is 3/4" thick?

Peter
 
I removed a kitchen floor several months ago. After removing the ceramic tile there was a quarter inch subfloor nailed every six inches or so to the three quarter inch subfloor.  A hellish job to remove.  I ended up cutting the quarter inch ply into 2 by 2 squares and then prying up with a pry bar.  I used my TS55.  I had to buy a new blade.  A small price to pay for saving me hours of an otherwise unbearable task.
 
I am going be removing an aprox. a 6' x 8' section of floor.  We will be laying out the slate tiles in front of the door (including spacers), outlining them, and then cutting the opening for the exact fit of the tiles.  In this way there won't be any cutting of tiles required and it will provide a clean look with no partial tiles installed. 

Yes the flooring is 3/4" thick.  The biggest challenge I see is getting the slate to lay even with the existing wood so there isn't a trip hazard.  The tile is 3/8" thick and I'll use 1/4" cement board.  That just leaves 1/8" for thinset. 

Thanks
 
[member=18233]jbasen[/member] , the reason I asked is that I did two applicable projects in my home.  Although I might be a contractor by profession there are times in my home that I am a DYI / hobbyist (I do stuff in my house that I wouldn't do for others).

When I installed my wooden floors I had to inset a tile area in front of the door for a wet area (like what you are doing) and also change direction of the flooring (to a diagonal).  In both cases I used my TS-55 to make the cuts where obstructions like walls wouldn't come into play and then flipped the rail around so that the non-splinter strip side was on the cut line and finished off with a Fein Multimaster or Festool Vecturo.  Yes, I have done this twice.

Festool blades are not cheap and I understand that.  You could use your TS-75 to make a shallow scoring cut and then finish it off in another way.  Maybe not the way a "professional" would do it, but might be more wallet friendly.

Peter
 
Thanks [member=1674]Peter Halle[/member].  I am lucky in this situation that I will have a pro flooring installer to help me and he has done this many times before.  I started the thread thinking that my TS-75 could probably do a better job than his skill saw but was wondering about the blade since I wasn't aware of a blade for the TS-75 that was made for cutting through nails.  Just trashing an expensive Festool blade didn't seem to be the best approach  [smile]

Of course threads take on a life of their own; which is a good thing because you learn more than you expected.

Thanks again.
 
Brian Livingstone said:
Have you looked into Ditra.  Highly recommend it.
Click to expand...

Ditra heat is also available and if you have a cat/cats, that'll be their favorite place to spend the day. Every day... [big grin]
 
We used to use the FT triple chip blade to cut out hardwood floors, and even when the blades hit nails they kept on cutting with little or no effect on the blade.  We also used the cheaper Oshlun versions , thinking they would be throwaways at the end of the job, but often enough the much-less-expensive Oshlun blades worked well and we would get several jobs out of them before they were trashed.

I just checked and I see there is a triple chip made by Festool for the TS-75.  It's pretty pricey so it's likely better route for you to buy an Oshlun for this one time use.

Someone mentioned Ditra ....The Ditra XL is made for the application you have at your house now.  We used to install tons of Ditra and Ditra XL, so if you have any questions feel free to ask .

 
Thanks so much [member=6193]Rob Z[/member]!

Did you use the 36, 52, or 72 tooth Oshlun blade?

Thanks again
 
Hi,  I would have to ask one of my former employees.  I gave a bunch of blades to him , including those Oshluns.  We used the Festool Panther on the rip cuts (running the long direction of the flooring) where there was no chance of hitting a flooring nail.  The Oshlun were used mostly on the crosscuts and thus had a higher tooth count. 

Remember to use the anti-kickback block on the guide rail when you plunge the saw in for the cut. 
 
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