TS55 Saw Blades

MrGinCT

MrGinCT

Member
Joined
Jul 28, 2008
Messages
104
I want to buy a couple replacement blade for my TS55 and wondered what "good" brand blades other Festooler's have used - I'm looking for both a 48 and a 60 tooth.  I primarily cut cabinet grade ply and hardwoods.

Thanks  [smile]
 
Really, really tough to beat, at any price, the stock Festool blades.  I'd go so far as to say that you can pay more money, but you're not going to get a better cut than what you get with the Festool blades.

That said, if you have a TS75, also, you might want to look at Tenryu in order to maintain an identical kerf location between the two saws. 

YMMV.  [big grin]
 
I've been using the Tenryu blades and like them.   There are other makes of very good blades (Freud has one), but I chose the Tenryu because they make a variety of blades with the same kerf width.   Watch your kerf when you change blades.  They will alter your splinter guard.
 
The current TS 55 blades from Festool all have the same kerf, 2.2mm.

The Fine Tooth Blade, which is the one that comes with the saw, is 495377. All of the others begin with 496 so it's easy to remember...

496304 - Universal
496305 - Panther
496307 - Aluminum/Plastic
496309 - Solid Surface/Laminate

Tom
 
Ted Miller said:
I have been using blades from this guy @ eBay. Great blades excellent price:

http://cgi.ebay.com/160mm-x-48-Tooth-ATB-Festool-TS-55-2-Pack-/180622123407?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2a0deae18f
Click to expand...

I use those too, they're sourced & sold by a guy from the UK. It says they're shipped from the US too, don't know if he has a colleague over there.

They're good blades. The carbide tips are very small compared to the Festool blades, so I doubt they can be resharpened (I never tried, they're so cheap they're disposable), and IMO they don't stay sharp quite as long as the Festool ones, but not far off.

He also sells 48T triple chip blades for solid surface.
 
i never understood the kerf differance as the left side of the blade is alway set the same isnt it? so it could be 10mm thick and still be on the splinter guard.

As for the cheap blades i dont rate them at all, dont last anywhere near as long and cost a bit more than resharpening a decent blade. i know as i bought a bunch of 10
 
The teeth are centered on the blade and not offset to one side, so when the width of the teeth is greater, half of that difference is on the splinter guard-side of the blade. Wider teeth will cut away more of the guard and your cuts with the new blade will be will be accurate unless you go back to the original blade. Then your cut will be slightly proud of the edge of the splinter guard. Now Festool has made all their blades have a common width. Some third party blades have this as well.
 
i never understood the kerf differance as the left side of the blade is alway set the same isnt it?
Click to expand...

It depends on two things, the kerf and the plate thickness. That's assuming there's no offset.

If two blades have the same plate and different kerfs, one will be closer to the splinter guard.

Tom
 
Back in January 2006, when I bought my first TS55, I only intended it to break down sheet goods leaving a glue-ready edge. So with the TS55 I not only bought extra rails, I purchased two extra 48 tooth blades shipped with the TS55, Cat # 491 952 (currently cat #495 377) All of those of course have a 2.2mm kerf. When I bought a second TS55, I was careful that its toe-in was identical and that the inner edge of the keft was in the same relationship with the guide rails as the older saw.

Where things go complicated was with my purchase of a TS75. Since I knew I would be using the TS75 for solid hardwood more than sheet material, I bout all the available blades. None had identical kerfs All also would have cut into the splinter guards. My solution was to be sure the toe-in of the TS75 was appropriately adjusted. Taking all the TS75 blades to a precision machine shop of which I am a partner, we measured the distance from the inside of the plate to that side of the kerf. Since that was always more than the TS55 48 tooth blades, we turned a length of tool steel bar stock with a hole that would be a snug fit on the TS55 arbor. We then cut thinish slices off the machined bar. One by one those slices were mounted on the magnetic flat holder of a surface grinder.

In woodworking terms the first pass on one side is like using a joined to the flat of a plank. Then we turn the blank shim over and use the surface grinder as a thickness planer. Once completed and tested we engrave each shim with the SN of its corresponding blade.
 
Tom Bellemare said:
i never understood the kerf differance as the left side of the blade is alway set the same isnt it?
Click to expand...

It depends on two things, the kerf and the plate thickness. That's assuming there's no offset.

If two blades have the same plate and different kerfs, one will be closer to the splinter guard.

Tom
Click to expand...

so the actual differance is very same in fact. Cant see it making that much diffrance to chipping/splintering myself
 
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