There are many hardwood species for woodworking jobs like maple, oak, poplar, birch, cherry, and walnut. When you have to do various projects with wood, you may need to rip the wood. A table saw with a proper ripping blade is an essential tool for making precise cuts.
A proper quality blade used for the right task can help you achieve the intended results, whereas the wrong one can quickly ruin your project.
Are you getting confused about which one to choose? Fret not! I am, as usual, here to help you out! Check out my list of best table saw blade for ripping hardwood and follow the buying considerations to select the right one for you.
Take a quick look at my top picked table saw blades for ripping hardwood you can buy in 2022:
5 Best Table Saw Blades For Ripping Hardwood: My Honest Review
Do you need a quality all-purpose blade to rip or a dedicated ripping blade? Since there is an array of options, it can be overwhelming for you to choose. Please go through my recommended blade options, and thank me later.
Freud 10″ x 50T – Best For Both Ripping And Crosscutting
- Specs: Arbor 5/8", Diameter 10", Grind COMB, Hook Angle 10°, Kerf .091", Plate .071", Teeth 50
- Premium TiCo HI-Density Carbide Combination Blend for Maximum Performance
- Thin Kerf requires less power and allows for faster feed rate
Are you looking for a great thin kerf table saw blade that can cater to all your general purposes? Then grab your Freud 10” x50T thin kerf combination blade. You will probably need this one blade if you use it occasionally in everyday use.
When you are pushing thinner blades and teeth through timber, the saw is doing slightly less work. So, it might allow you to rip the wood more effectively with a smaller motor without jamming up the blade.
Since it has 10” diameter, the maximum RPM is about 6500. However, this 10-inch table saw ripping blade has more potential to slightly bend or wrap, and thus the cut may not be true.
Conversely, when you are trying to create thin strips and get as many strips out of a piece of timber as possible, this will be the best circular saw blade for hardwood.
This combination blade will suit you just fine. It will not be the best for both ripping and crosscut blades, but it will perform pretty well. This comes with 50 teeth and COMB grind with 10° Hook angle.
The thin kerf is 2.4 mm wide. However, it does not have expansion slots with anti-vibration polymer to introduce more harmonic vibration into the saw blade.
Pros
- Less sawdust
- Requires less power
- Allows for faster feed rate
- Easily pass through the wood
- Ideal for both ripping and crosscutting
Cons
- Not like the dedicated ones
IRWIN Marples 10-Inch Circular Saw Blade – A Versatile Model
- Designed for Ultra smooth cross cutting on a Table Saw or Miter Saw
- Hi Alternate Tooth Bevel forms an increased knife like edge on both sides for a clean cut
- Extra Sharp oversized carbide teeth are re-sharp enable for long life
A question may come to your mind – whether a crosscut blade can rip the hardwood or not? IRWIN can meet your requirements. The 10” IRWIN Marples, which come from Italian manufacturers, will impress you with their smooth cut. It is a versatile tool for hardwoods, softwoods, plywood, melamine, veneered plywood, and more.
Thin kerf has a high tendency to wrap for the frictions. But this is not the case for IRWIN. It features a heat-resistant, non-stick coating that has an Aluminum Matrix to dissipate heat for reducing the wrapping.
The coating also avoids kickbacks. The high alternative top bevel of the teeth, where the teeth alternate between the right and left bevel, forms a knife-like edge on either side for smooth cutting.
Its TCG blade is enough when it comes to ripping the tough stuff. So, it can be your go-to blade, and you can do your job without having to swap out the blades.
Pros
- Precision tensioned for true cuts
- Great results on dense materials
- The heat resistant non-stick coating
- Comes in different sizes to meet your needs
Cons
- Not suitable for detailed work like dados.
Makita A-93681 10-Inch 80 Tooth – Another Great Option For Thin Kerf
- PRECISION : ATAF (Alternate Top and Alternate Face) tooth design for ultra precision cutting
- EFFICIENCY : Japanese ultra-thin kerf carbide-tipped design provides smoother cuts with less drag on the motor
- ACCURACY : Fully hardened and expertly hand-tensioned steel saw plates for true cuts
The 10inch Makita A-93681 is one of the great thin kerf blades. The carbide is also the thinnest. You can use it on hardwood, softwoods, plywoods, and composite.
When it comes to longevity and awesomeness, this one gets the point. This blade excels in a sliding miter saw for trim carpentry applications. It will handle heavier material, though with some effort. This one is manufactured in Thailand and has proven to be a real winner.
Longevity has been very good when used respectfully and not ram jammed into the workpieces. While blades tend to not be the quietest power tools, this one makes a whining noise, which is quite unusual.
Since it dulls quickly, it needs to get resharpened. Keep in mind that each time you resharpen it, the carbide coating wears off.
Pros
- Ultra-Thin Kerf
- Suitable for hardwood to plywood
- Hand Tensioned Steel Saw Plates for True Cuts
- Micro-Grain Carbide Teeth ensure Mirror Finish
Cons
- Blunts quickly
Concord Blades WCB0438T018HP – Budget-Friendly Option
- Professional quality, construction grade for ripping & crosscutiing of thick hardwoods up to 3 1/2" thick and soft woods up to 1" thick
- For use on Miter Saws, Hand Saws and Chop Saws. RPM up to 12,000
- Great for Floor Cutting: laminates, solid wood and engineered wood flooring
Concord’s general-purpose blade works well both on softwoods and hardwoods. Thanks to its 4-3/8 inch 18 teeth with a lower hook angle and a 1.8mm thin kerf.
This general-purpose blade will excel at ripping and also crosscutting thick hardwoods up to 3 ½ inches thick and softwoods up to 1-inch thick. So, this multi-use blade saves your precious time by not swapping blades.
It has an RPM of up to 12,000 and ATB Grind. These general-purpose blades have heat expansion slots as well.
Since it has thin kerfs with small dimensions, it will be good for unpowered saws to achieve a smooth finish with minimal waste. And the thinner blades need to do slightly less work, which means you push slightly bigger pieces with faster speed. However, it is slow going through hardwood, so don’t expect a long life out of this blade.
However, the thin blade has more potential to slightly bend or wrap, and this one is no exception. But what do you expect more at this low price?
Pros
- Manages to execute precision rips cuts
- Great for general woodworking projects
- Gives a smooth finish with minimal material waste
- A lower hook angle increases the surface quality of the cut
Cons
- It may tend to wrap
Oshlun SDS-0630 6-Inch 30 Tooth – Great Dado set
- Professional Grade C-4 Carbide
- Full Body Chippers
- Precision Ground Carbide Tips
When you want to cut slots across the grain (dadoes) or slots with the grain (grooves), you need to have a dado set. This Oshlun deluxe dado set offers everything a woodworker needs to cut precision grooves for cabinetry, shelving, and many more.
With the Oshlun SDS-0630, you can cut immaculate dadoes and grooves from ¼ in wide to all way up to 1in. These are quite versatile as you can cut rabbets as well.
This premium blade features an easy setup with its full body chippers. You will not encounter vibration or heat. It comes with a mix of chippers for removing large chunks of timber. And the high tooth-count saw blades are for creating smooth edges and shims for fine-tuning groove width.
However, this blade features a time-consuming setup with its full body chippers. The blades come with a storage/carrying case; however, the case’s quality is poor.
Pros
- Excellent value
- Good choice for hobbyist
- High TPI count for producing smooth cuts
- 6-piece stack set from professional-grade C-4 carbide.
Cons
- The case’s quality is poor.
Buying Guide Of The Best Table Saw Blade For Ripping Hardwood
When choosing a top-quality table saw blade for ripping hardwood, we may get confused about which features to consider. There are a bunch of features to look for, but I am only into some vital ones. If you understand these features when purchasing one, you will surely find the best deals.
Blade Types
You’ll see a lot of acronyms floating around as you look for blades. But it is vital to realize that table saw blades fall into four major groups.
- Flat Top Grind (FTG)
- Alternate Top Bevel (ATB)
- Alternate Top Bevel / Raker (ATBR)
- Triple Chip Grind (TCG)
Each type represents different features. Such as FTG types behave like a chisel when they come into touch with the wood.
On the other hand, ATB will make major rips and crosscuts, removing the need to keep adjusting the blade. ATBR is also called the combination blade.
Also, in terms of TCG, it has two teeth styles, which range from ranker to chamfered tooth.
Materials
You need to consider two things: the maker of the plate and the material used to produce the teeth. Standard quality blades are made of laser-cut steel. They have teeth made of C4 grade carbide microscopic grains, which are typically less than 1 micron in dimension.
Categories
There are various types of blades for ripping. Flat-Tooth Ripping blades feature flat teeth configurations that can quickly remove large chunks of wood. These have 10 to 30 teeth with teeth angles of at least 20 degrees. Again, fewer teeth on the blade allow for more gullets for removing material. There are also general-purpose combination blades.
These can handle both crosscuts and rip cuts and come with 40 to 50 teeth. While they may not be like the dedicated one for ripping or cross cuts, they can do both effectively for occasional use.
Anti-Kickback Shoulders
Anti-kickback shoulders regulate the feed rate of wood around the blade. It lets you minimize speed so that you can drive the workpiece across a saw table.
Anti-Vibration Vents
A blade spinning at 400 rpm will produce a lot of noise and vibration. Laser blade slots help to minimize friction and decrease the noise generated by a vibrating blade.
Kerf
Kerf identifies the thickness of the teeth. An ideal measurement of the kerf should be .126 inches. Any blade that is narrower than this should be considered a thin kerf blade. Thin blades make more vibration.
Tooth Count
The number of teeth a blade will have will tell you about the tooth count. With fewer teeth, you will cut faster and more aggressively. Blades with a higher teeth count will almost certainly make a smoother cut.
However, a general-purpose blade won’t make any cut quite as well as a specialized blade. For example, a dedicated blade designed to cut hardwood-veneer plywood may reduce tear-out by only 5 percent compared to a general-purpose blade. Though it is not a huge difference for most of us, this 5-percent improvement may make all the difference for demanding users.
So, choose according to your taste. However, these general-purpose blades produce better results than ever at their specific tasks. And if you have several blades, you’ll get a longer service life from each one.
Arbor
The arbor of the table saw is the diameter of the spindle on which the table saw blade is attached. The ideal size of it should be around 5 to 8 inches.
Blade Coating
These days, several blades come with coatings engineered to minimize friction and the build-up of heat. That helps to extend the use of your table saw and helps to make it easy to clean the pitch of your blade.
How To Rip Hardwood?
When you have purchased all the necessary tools to rip hardwood safely, you can now make a splinter-free rip cut while avoiding dangers like kickbacks. Here are the types of equipment you’ll need:
- Table saw with a rip blade
- Measuring tape
- Stop block
- Clamp
The steps you need to follow for ripping hardwood:
- Unplug the table saw and lay the rip-board along the blade.
- Take the measuring tape to measure from the board edge a distance equal to the blade width with the strip width.
- Put the stop block according to this measurement. Secure it with a clamp.
- Lay the rip-board against the side of the stop block. Fix the fence along the side of the rip block, parallel to the blade.
- Plug in and power on your table saw, then slide the rip-board through the blade.
Final Thoughts
The harder and thicker the timber, the more vital it is to use a ripping blade.
If you maintain the proper cleaning process and follow the steps of the right way of ripping hardwood, your tool will serve you for years. Keep in mind the caveats and wear proper protective gear to avoid any mishaps. Let me know in the comment section below which one is your best table saw blade for ripping hardwood.
Happy woodworking!