Which blade for white oak floors?

[Toolpig]

Using my TS55 to cut out some areas in my white oak floors (old dog urine stains that won't sand out).  Used my fine tooth blade, but it dulled quickly after I hit a few old cut nails.  The cuts don't have to be very smooth -- just a rip or two down the middle of each board so I can surgically pry them out.    

Is the 14-tooth Panther a better choice?  Obviously I need to hit fewer nails, but I figure the 14-tooth blade will at least be cheaper to sharpen and maybe cut a bit faster.

Jason

 

[jrs]

If the nails are toenailed in diagonally along the tongue, you should be able to go down the center without hitting them.

two kerfs, about 1/2" apart should do it. 

Since the pather is a rip blade, it would be a good choice. 

 

[Tim Sproul]

Using my TS55 to cut out some areas in my white oak floors (old dog urine stains that won't sand out).  Used my fine tooth blade, but it dulled quickly after I hit a few old cut nails.  The cuts don't have to be very smooth -- just a rip or two down the middle of each board so I can surgically pry them out.    

Is the 14-tooth Panther a better choice?  Obviously I need to hit fewer nails, but I figure the 14-tooth blade will at least be cheaper to sharpen and maybe cut a bit faster.

Jason

For the price of a Festool blade, you can pick up an inexpensive circular saw and a few nail cutting blades at your local hardware store......

 

[justinmcf]

why would you use a festool ts-55 for ripping old floor boards with nails in it?

i rip out floor boards all the time with a makita 7 1/4 inch circular saw, the blades cost me a few dollars.
once you do 2 rips down the board, that board is for the bin, why do you need perfect straight cuts with the track saw?

regards, justin.

 

[jrs]

why would you use a festool ts-55 for ripping old floor boards with nails in it?

i rip out floor boards all the time with a makita 7 1/4 inch circular saw, the blades cost me a few dollars.
once you do 2 rips down the board, that board is for the bin, why do you need perfect straight cuts with the track saw?

regards, justin.

Dust?

 

[Toolpig]

That's what I figured.  Thanks.

Jason

If the nails are toenailed in diagonally along the tongue, you should be able to go down the center without hitting them.

two kerfs, about 1/2" apart should do it. 

Since the pather is a rip blade, it would be a good choice. 

 

[Toolpig]

Because I want to.

why would you use a festool ts-55 for ripping old floor boards with nails in it?

i rip out floor boards all the time with a makita 7 1/4 inch circular saw, the blades cost me a few dollars.
once you do 2 rips down the board, that board is for the bin, why do you need perfect straight cuts with the track saw?

regards, justin.

 

[Toolpig]

Yup.

why would you use a festool ts-55 for ripping old floor boards with nails in it?

i rip out floor boards all the time with a makita 7 1/4 inch circular saw, the blades cost me a few dollars.
once you do 2 rips down the board, that board is for the bin, why do you need perfect straight cuts with the track saw?

regards, justin.

Dust?

 

[jrs]

This kind of task is exactly the kind of thing someone could use as justification for buying a ts55+ct.

When we had floors replaced long ago (before I realized that I could do it myself), they ripped out the old floor with a circ saw. 

They put plastic up and stuff, but we were still cleaning up sawdust for a week.

 

[justinmcf]

if dust is your major factor for using the festool, fair enough. it just seems like an expensive way to rip old boards. different strokes for different folks.

regards, justin.

 

[Snodge]

Not sure if this warning is too late, but...

Be carefull with the panther blade around nails!!!

If I still had it, I'd post pics of the panther that I completely trashed while crosscutting a floor for my floor guy. My thinking was that a blade with less teeth wouldn't get as badly damaged if I hit a nail, but with 20/20 hindsight I see the error of my ways. Most of the cut went well until about 2' from the end when WHAM! a brief spark and the whole saw jumped up off the track and backwards. The blade was a mess with a bunch of carbide tips missing and one whole steel tooth bent over in a hook. the bent tooth had nicked my track and also slammed into the foot of the saw enough to tweak it a bit! After changing the blade and pushing the foot back in place I completed the cut with a trim blade which also nicked a couple nails with no adverse effects beyond dulled carbides.

Looking at the Panther made me realize that the aggressive hook angle is great for wood but horrible for hitting metal. If you look at metal cutting blades they have negative hook and thick carbides with a big steel shoulder behind them. In the future i'll use the finish blades and if they get messed up, charge a new blade to the job.

 

[Toolpig]

Great to know.  Thanks for the tip!

Jason

Not sure if this warning is too late, but...

Be carefull with the panther blade around nails!!!

If I still had it, I'd post pics of the panther that I completely trashed while crosscutting a floor for my floor guy. My thinking was that a blade with less teeth wouldn't get as badly damaged if I hit a nail, but with 20/20 hindsight I see the error of my ways. Most of the cut went well until about 2' from the end when WHAM! a brief spark and the whole saw jumped up off the track and backwards. The blade was a mess with a bunch of carbide tips missing and one whole steel tooth bent over in a hook. the bent tooth had nicked my track and also slammed into the foot of the saw enough to tweak it a bit! After changing the blade and pushing the foot back in place I completed the cut with a trim blade which also nicked a couple nails with no adverse effects beyond dulled carbides.

Looking at the Panther made me realize that the aggressive hook angle is great for wood but horrible for hitting metal. If you look at metal cutting blades they have negative hook and thick carbides with a big steel shoulder behind them. In the future i'll use the finish blades and if they get messed up, charge a new blade to the job.

 

[Toolpig]

Not really.  I used a blade that was about ready for re-sharpening anyway.  Even after accidentally grazing a couple of nails, the teeth on the blade still look good.

Jason

if dust is your major factor for using the festool, fair enough. it just seems like an expensive way to rip old boards. different strokes for different folks.

regards, justin.

 

[Tinker]

As soon as I saw this discussion, i was ready to say what snodge told you.  Donot use a rip blade such as panther.
I was in construction for many moons and cut much used lumber full of nails and impregnated with concrete.  i used negative pitched carbide blades only.  A little slow for ripping, but no sudden kickbacks as I might have expected when a rip tooth blade discovered a nail or two.  I don't know that you would use the blade for more than a few cuts, but there are other companies making blades to fit Festool saws that might be less expensive.  For me, when i was doing that sort of work, i still bought good blades.  they were more expensive, but cheaper in the long run. 

Festool does make a negative toothed blade.  At the moment, my catalogue is in the other room and I am about to go out to breakfast w/son and grandson.  If you want the blade number, I can look it up later today and post for you. 
Tinker

 

[wnagle]

I wonder how this would work for that application?

https://www.dualsaw.com/#order

Although you wouldn't have any dust collection as far as I can see...

 

[Tinker]

I wonder how this would work for that application?

https://www.dualsaw.com/#order

Although you wouldn't have any dust collection as far as I can see...

Wow!  Too bad that wasn't around for last 50 years.  All those years of cutting into everything immaginable with each cut would have been a cinch.  All of those crazy plunge cuts with that old Milwaukee and worrying about kickbacks.  even curved cuts with the circular saw would have been safe to do (to a certain extend much beyond what i did do so many times.)  I even cut arches for fireplace forms with the circular saw.  I wonder how that would work with that saw.  Nails? a breeze.

I have always recommended negatative pitch blades for metals and plastics, but I cannot tell from the DVD what the pitch of the counter rotating blades.  It did not look like much of a hook, if any.  I would guess the dual blades to both be negative hook with the spacing of the teeth and the variety of materials shown to be safely cut.

Tinker

 

[Toolpig]

Got my new 14-tooth Panther blade from Bob Marino and tried it out this weekend.  Works great!

Jason

Not sure if this warning is too late, but...

Be carefull with the panther blade around nails!!!

If I still had it, I'd post pics of the panther that I completely trashed while crosscutting a floor for my floor guy. My thinking was that a blade with less teeth wouldn't get as badly damaged if I hit a nail, but with 20/20 hindsight I see the error of my ways. Most of the cut went well until about 2' from the end when WHAM! a brief spark and the whole saw jumped up off the track and backwards. The blade was a mess with a bunch of carbide tips missing and one whole steel tooth bent over in a hook. the bent tooth had nicked my track and also slammed into the foot of the saw enough to tweak it a bit! After changing the blade and pushing the foot back in place I completed the cut with a trim blade which also nicked a couple nails with no adverse effects beyond dulled carbides.

Looking at the Panther made me realize that the aggressive hook angle is great for wood but horrible for hitting metal. If you look at metal cutting blades they have negative hook and thick carbides with a big steel shoulder behind them. In the future i'll use the finish blades and if they get messed up, charge a new blade to the job.