The 7 Best Table Saw Blades (Save up to 80%?)

Let me tell you something I’ve learned over my 10 years in the shop:

You DO NOT NEED a fancy, expensive blade for 90% of woodworking projects.

Unless you’re competing on Trading Spaces, you just need a dependable saw blade that cuts straight, reduces dust, improves yield, and limits wasted time at the sander.

I took 15 of the best selling table saw blades I could find and tested them. I built cabinetry, a cutting board, small DIY furniture, a small tool shed, and some outdoor fixtures.

These 7 are the best table saw blades for beginners, weekend warriors, DIY guys and gals, and even pros looking for a great blade for small jobs.

Let’s get to it.

Pros

• Ideal convenience for all DIY jobs
• Beginner-friendly: Pre-balanced to improve accuracy
• Handles wood and laminate
• Perfect hobbyist starter pack
• Great for ripping, crosscutting, and miter
• Unbeatable value for money

Cons

• Dulls fast with strenuous use (4x a week)
• Not ideal for crosscutting hardwood

Recommended for: Beginner to intermediate DIY jobs like molding, small furniture, coffee tables, picture frames, laminate flooring, door frames.

I’ve been in this business a long time, and I have never come across a better value for hobbyists than this combo pack.

It’s the ideal home fixer-upper set for flooring, framing, crown molding, garden furniture, or any other weekend projects where you’ll be ripping plywood or lumber.

And unlike pretty much every other “economy” set out there, it’s computer-balanced to drastically reduce vibration. This reduces burn, operator fatigue, and wear and tear.

For you, that means:

1. Less resistance when cutting (reduced risk of kickback)
2. Your cuts will be smoother WITHOUT the burn from typical cheap blades
3. The blades will last a lot longer (though still not as long as expensive ones).

With this set, you can rip fast and clean for quick projects like sawhorses or laminate flooring and still have a blade for more delicate projects like a coffee table or a picture frame.

As long as you aren’t building dining room tables with purple hearts or having a panel of judges scoring your cuts on Brazilian cherry, you’ll be fine.

This pack covers nearly all your home woodworking bases for $100 less than most comparable blades. It’s the type of general-purpose pack you buy when you want to be ready for anything your home throws at you.

I cut through maple, pine, and walnut. Then, I laid down some laminate flooring in the bathroom and it still cut like a laser the same as the first time.

Why You’ll Like the DeWalt Combo Pack

• Cuts fast and smooth: DeWalt is famous for its laser-like blades. Both blades cut through hardwoods, softwoods, plywood, even laminate like butter.

• Less time at the sander: It’s not as smooth as a baby’s bottom, but I noticed way less burn from this one than the typical 60-tooth blade. That’s a lot more than you can usually expect from a beginner set.

• Value for money: If you compare price to output, nothing even comes close.
• Handles nearly any home job: Coffee tables, flooring, shelving—if it’s an episode of Fixer Upper, you can probably handle it.

The Downsides

Not for heavy use: I don’t recommend this for serious woodworkers cutting 3-4x a week. This is more for 1-2x a week. The blades dull faster than higher-end ones. But they’re so affordable it’s not a big deal. After a few months, throw them out and get a new set.

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Pros

• Save money on big projects: Thinner kerf means less waste
• Rips through construction material like nothing
• Cuts nearly any material
• Very fair pricing

Cons

• Unsmooth finish
• Leaves some tearout
• Not meant for crosscutting

Recommended for: Small to large home construction jobs like siding, roofing, and fencing where volume/speed is more important than looks.

Next up is my top choice for anyone looking to DIY home construction jobs like siding or roofing.

Imagine taking a samurai sword, microwaving it for 3 minutes, and using it to slice a stick of butter. That’s basically what the Irwin Marathon does to heavy-duty construction materials like fiber cement, metal roofing, hardwood, gutters, and even rebar.

Hell, a buddy of mine even installed hood vents on his jeep using it.

With only 18 sharp carbide teeth (2x stronger than steel) and an ultra-thin kerf, there’s almost no resistance, meaning the blade cuts faster with little to no resistance even on hard materials. The downside here is it favors speeds and power over delicacy—the cut won’t be as smooth, so you may need some sandpaper.

If you want to rip fast all day without breaking a sweat and never worry about waste draining your budget ($5 a square foot for metal roofing? I’m moving underground), this will do it for you, and all for way less than higher-end blades from Makita or Diablo.

If your idea of a fun summer is working on your:

• Fencing
• Roofing
• Gutter
• Kitchen acrylic tops
• Siding
• Metal furniture
• Deck railing
• Metal shed

Or any bigger project that doesn’t require fine cutting, your search is over. Just hook it up to your cordless saw and have at it all day—the battery lasts for hours.

Why You’ll Like the Irwin Marathon

• Saves your forearms: Cutting in the sun all day? This tiny blade rips through tough materials with nearly zero effort from you.

• Saves money: lumber, siding, fencing, and metal roofing aren’t cheap. The ultra-thin kerf brings waste as close to 0 as humanly possible, so you can get more mileage out of every square foot. It’s almost like getting extra material for free.

• Cuts anything: Hardwood, softwood, metal, rebar, vinyl—have at it!

The Downsides

• Not for fine crosscutting: This blade is not for beauty pageants. It’s for ripping fast and efficiently. If you’re looking for delicate crosscuts for some indoor furniture, look elsewhere.
• Medium durability: I have to admit, the blade didn’t last as long as I’d hoped. Irwin claims it has a long life, but that’s bull. It’ll get you through some big projects, but it won’t last forever. I don’t think it’ll be an issue, though. How many times are you going to side your house?

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Pros

• Great for outdoor and indoor projects
• Handles nearly any type of wood
• Great combo of fast ripping and smooth cross cut
• Whisper quiet

Cons

• Not recommended for plywood
• Not the best crosscuts—you might need an 80-tooth to supplement your workshop

Recommended for: Cabinets, fencing, decking, and other high-volume jobs. Handles most DIY projects easily.

Now we’re taking a step up into pro territory.

The 7¼ 40-tooth Freud is the type of blade you find pros using on major interior home remodeling jobs, siding, and decking.

This is blde needs to be in your table saw if you’re going to be replacing doors, making fine cabinetry, installing intricate shelving, or building fences with 1x or 2x lumber, hardwoods, softwoods, laminate, plywood, and even OSB.

After just a few hours of working in the kitchen, I noticed how much smoother, quieter, and less wasteful the blade was. It’s hard to believe it costs a fraction of most other blades.

And even though it has 40 teeth, the kerf and TiCo Hi-Density carbide means it cuts as quickly and smoothly as most 24-tooth models.

Why You’ll Like the Diabo:

• It maximizes efficiency: The kerf is an anorexic .059 inches, meaning you can buy the absolute minimum and expect it to last. That adds up to huge savings when building a deck or cabinets.

• It lasts: Diablos are made with Freud’s patented carbide formula that (supposedly) lasts 4x longer than typical carbide. It’s like the Honda Accord of saw blades—you can beat it and it just doesn’t die.

• It’s the perfect mix: The 40-tooth blade rips through hardwood easily while delivering smooth cuts. It’s not the best ripping blade and it’s not the smoothest crosscutting blade—but it IS the best mix of the two for the money.

• It’s quiet: Diablos are made with laser-cut stabilizer vents (those squiggly lines) making it whisper-quiet (for a saw blade). No saw blade is quiet, but this is about as good as it gets.

Cool Tip: Place your finger in the arbor of your Diablo and tap it with a hammer. You’ll barely hear a clunking sound. Hit almost any other blade and it rings like the Liberty Bell. That’s what those “squiggly” designs are for.

The Downsides

• Jack of all trades/master of none: 40 teeth put this model in a “Goldilocks” zone where it’s good for ripping and crosscutting. But that means it’s elite at neither. Smoother cuts will require 60 teeth or more. And if you want to cut thicker wood, you’ll need a bigger saw.
• Not for cutting plywood: Freud claims you can cut plywood and some people say it works well, but it wasn’t very smooth for me. A lot of the wood tore out.

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Pros

• Better at crosscuts than the 40
• Handles larger and thicker wood
• Little to no tearout
• Handles 90% of DIY jobs

Cons

• Can’t handle brittle wood
• Don’t expect speed

Recommended for: Furniture, delicate cuts, showpieces, and thick woods, but can handle most DIY projects too.

Rather than tell you how good this blade is, I’m just going to tell you what I’ve made with it over the last year or so. You come to your own conclusions.

I used this 50-tooth devil on:

• A big Jenga set that I never use
• I gigantic maple cutting board
• One plywood cabinet
• A walnut coffee table
• A solid pine woodworking bench

The DeWalt combo pack is better value for money and mileage, but if I had to choose one all-purpose blade for my garage, you’re looking at it.

This one is for the dedicated hobbyist who’s dead set on building furniture he’s proud of.

The 10 extra teeth make it far better at cross-cutting than the 40-tooth younger brother, leaving perfect edges on “showroom pieces” like coffee tables, cabinets, benches, lawn chairs, and other stuff you probably won’t use half as often as you’d like.

I’ve used it for nearly a year and it’s cut everything from thick walnut (the 10-inch blade cuts thicker wood than the 7-inch) to metal, and it didn’t damage the carbide teeth at all.

NOTE: I don’t recommend cutting metal with this. It’s too big and has too many teeth. However, it CAN handle it in a pinch.

If you’re going to be ripping all day, go with the 40-tooth. If you’re going to be ripping but need a delicate, smooth finish, upgrade to the 50.

Why You’ll Like the Diablo 10-Inch

• Bigger and better: Nuff said. The 40 can cut a 2×4, but the 50 cuts bigger, thicker, stronger woods like walnut more easily. And you won’t get the tearout of lesser-toothed blades.

• Smoother finish: The Grand Canyon-sized gullets wick away shavings when ripping and crosscutting, reducing burn and time sanding/polishing.

• Greater accuracy: The thin kerf (.098) maximizes accuracy, giving you the ability to get more done in less time.

The Downsides

• General purpose: Again, with 50-teeth, this is neither the best at ripping nor crosscutting. It’s right in the middle. If you’re going to be doing specialty work, look elsewhere.

• I don’t recommend it for brittle woods: This thing tore the hell out of brittle timber, and it doesn’t have enough teeth to leave a perfect finish on any products like that. Look for something with more teeth.

• Not very fast: It’s not ideal for ripping hardwood or softwood quickly, so be patient.

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Pros

• Produces finished cuts with no sanding
• Like 200-grit sandpaper
• Ideal for specialty workshops

Cons

• Not for ripping
• Not for most projects
• High-end pricing

Recommended for: Whenever you need the smoothest cut possible.

If you absolutely need the smoothest cut, the Diablo 100-tooth is the ultimate cross cutting blade. The difference between the 100 and 50 is like night and day.

I’m talking zero tearout. Zero chipout. Zero burn. Zero evidence that you even cut the damn thing.

I brought my wife in to do the eye test, and she couldn’t tell I even made a cut till I moved the wood.

The edge looks like you rubbed 220-grit sandpaper to it all day until you got it just the way you wanted—except it did that right off the table.

This is the ultimate saw blade for anything needing a polished finish.

Don’t expect it to move very fast. It’s more like a giant, laser-like tortoise methodically finishing the race slow and steady. I wouldn’t recommend it for ripping very often (though Freud says it’s perfectly fine for that), but if you need a polished cut at a decent price, grab it and be happy you did.

Why You’ll Like the Diablo 100-Tooth

• Freud wins – Flawless victory: Freud built this thing with 200 additional grinds, meaning you get a cleaner, smoother, polished finish that you don’t get with other 100-tooth blades.
• No time sanding: Assuming you keep the wood straight, you’ll never have to worry about a rough cut. This thing produces finished cuts right off the table. It’s equivalent to 220-grit sandpaper.

The Downsides

• Not ideal for all woods: This is the blade you need for hardwood, softwood, and melamine. But forget about plywood, metal, or plastic. Not happening.
• Not cheap: It’s a good deal more expensive than every other blade. It’s worth every penny though. Just think about it economically: If you don’t sand for 2 hours, that’s 2 hours you can work, relax, or make more cuts. It pays for itself!

Bonus Mentions

OK, so we’ve covered the best general purpose, best home DIY blade, best value, best for construction, and best for finished cuts.

But this garage ain’t quite finished yet. There were 2 more blades that didn’t make the cut, but I think they deserve a quick mention.

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The Tomax is the best blade I reviewed for non-ferrous metals like aluminum, copper, and non-iron alloys as well as PVC.

If you’re doing plumbing jobs, installing an aluminum deck rail, adding copper to a home bar or mirror, working with tin or zinc, or basically doing anything with non-ferrous pipes, pick one of these up.

The problem with most non-ferrous blades is that they rust quickly, meaning you need to throw them out and buy a new one. Not this one.

Tomax uses electrophoretic coating (the same technology that stops modern cars from rusting) on all of their blades. This one can last up to 8 months with continual use before it starts to rust. Not bad for a few bucks!

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Want a blade you can beat to death and it just won’t die?

BOOM. You got it.

If you’re the kind of hobbyist that DIYs all day and night, and you just want a good value blade that won’t break on you, then the Overpeak is your best bet.

Its carbide teeth are 5x stronger than most competitors’ teeth, and it has more expansion slots and stabilizer vents than any other entry on this list.

Go ahead and rip softwood, hardwood, plywood, and laminate all day—it’ll take months for this one to wear on you.

If Freud makes the Honda Accord of blades, this is the Honda Civic. It just won’t die.

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Here’s how every conversation goes when a buddy asks me, “Hey, which type of table saw should I buy?”

Them: Hey, I want to get more into woodworking. Which type of saw should I buy?

Me: It depends.

Them: Depends on what?

Me: Well, everything. But general purpose blades are usually a safe bet.

Them: OK, so I’ll buy a cheap general purpose blade at Home Depot.

Me: NO!!!!

That’s why I created this quick buying guide: So you know exactly what to look for before buying. And to make sure you don’t end up with 4 fingers on your right hand, cabinets that look like Berlin 1945, and divorce papers on your workbench.

First, let me give you the best advice I ever got when I was a beginner.

If you’re just starting out, get yourself a quality general purpose blade with 30 – 60 teeth

40 – 50 teeth is the sweet spot. That’s enough to give you a smooth cut on cabinets and tables but few enough to rip cleanly and decently fast.

Chances are a general purpose blade can handle all of your home DIY projects.

A good 40 or 50-tooth blade will rip most hardwoods cleanly enough while still being able to crosscut hardwood, softwood, and plywood smoothly. You’ll spend a bit of time sanding down the imperfections, but you’ll be doing that anyway unless you’re a pro.

If you’re a home DIY guy or gal, this general purpose blade will handle all of your woodworking projects without forcing you to spend a lot on multiple blades or waste time switching.

Keep it simple! You can always upgrade when you improve and keep your general blade for easier work.

The 3 Categories of Saw Blades

Saw blades are more complicated than it seems at first. You’ve got different teeth, gullets, sizes, shapes, uses, and god knows what else.

To keep it simple, I’ve divided them into 3 very broad categories to give you a rough idea of the strengths and weaknesses of each.

#1) Ripping Blades

Ripping blades are designed for breaking down larger boards into smaller “project parts.”

Think of it like splitting wood with an axe. Since you’re cutting “with the grain,” you meet way less resistance, which means you need fewer teeth.

Essentially, with ripping blades you’re sacrificing polish for speed and efficiency. The cut leaves a very rough finish, but that’s fine since this is only for initial cuts. You’ll be finishing up the job later with crosscuts, sanding, planing, etc.

Typically, ripping blades have 10 – 30 teeth, flat-top grind teeth (FTG), and a hook angle of 20 degrees.

TL;DR: Use a ripping blade for high volume initial cuts for speeds and efficiency.

#2) Crosscut Blades

Crosscut blades are for “finishing” the job you started with the ripping blade.

Once you make the initial cuts and break down the material into project parts, you need a blade that produces a smooth finish so you don’t spend hours at the sander.

Ripping blades have a small number of very large, aggressive teeth for ripping wood to shreds. Crosscut blades have a larger number of very fine teeth for sawing gently and leaving a finished surface.

Since crosscut blades have more teeth, that means they move a lot slower and create more friction, which could lead to burning.

For most DIY projects, you’ll want a 10-inch crosscut blade with 60 – 80 teeth. 12-inch blades with 100+ teeth are normally found only in pro workshops.

TL;DR: Use a 60 – 80-tooth crosscut blade for making finish cuts on cabinets, furniture, decking, and any other project you need a clean cut for.

#3) General Purpose Blades

I already covered this a bit so I’ll keep it brief.

General purpose/combo saw blades are jack-of-all-trades blades that are perfect for handymen, home hobbyists, and general DIY folks. This blade handles cross-cutting, ripping, and mitering of nearly all materials to an acceptable level.

As long as you don’t need showroom crosscuts and aren’t ripping a construction site worth of hardwood in a weekend, you should be fine.

Combo blades have a combination of ripping and crosscut teeth configurations in groups of 5 teeth with large gullets (the valleys are for removing waste) in between.

4 Tips for Buying Table Saw Blades

I’ve been in the game for 10 years, so let me tell you a few things I’ve learned over the past decade that I wish I knew before. Buying table saws is actually really easy when you know what you’re after.

Let me share 4 tidbits of wisdom that I live by that will drastically reduce your anxiety about buying a table saw blade:

#1) All-purpose blades can handle 90% of jobs: Seriously, just get a good all purpose blade and be happy you did. Most beginners totally overthink it. I bought maybe 5 or 6 blades in my first months woodworking and barely used most of them.

#2) Get a good 24-tooth blade for hardwoods: If you’re building decks, doing flooring, making fences, or any other “big” job with hardwood, get a 24-tooth blade for ripping large volumes. A general purpose blade can handle it, but you’ll wear the hell out of it fast. Rip the lumber with your 24-tooth quickly and make finishing cuts with your general purpose blade.

#3) I use my 40-tooth Freud to crosscut more than I admit: As much as I love making “diamond” cuts with my 80-tooth, I use my 40-tooth general purpose blade more often. I save my 80 for premium cuts when I need the best cut possible. Everything else I just rip and cross-cut with the same blade.

#4) ATB blades are great for everything except laminate: I’ve recommended a lot of blades here that cut wood and laminate, but if you’re doing heavy volumes of laminate flooring, get a TCG blade (I recommended the Tomax here). The ATB blades will wear down faster than a polar bear in the Sahara if you cut plastic laminate or other non-ferrous materials regularly.

Final Table Saw Blade Recommendations

Here are my final recommendations based on job type.

• Ripping hardwood: 24-tooth blade OR premium 40 – 50-tooth general purpose blade. The 24 will cut faster but rougher. The general purpose blades will cut cleaner but slower. It all depends on the volume you’re working with.
• Cross-cutting solid wood and plywood: 50-tooth combination blade will do just fine. A 40 might do the job, but the 50 will produce a smoother cut.
• MDF, melamine, and particle board: 80-tooth ATB blade will saw right through it like it’s not even there.
• Plastic laminate and other non-ferrous metals: 80-tooth TCG. The Tomax is my top recommendation. It’ll cut right through dense material without going dull.

Here’s a quick overview of some of the vocab we’ve used throughout this post or that you may find relevant, with simple explanations.

Rip Cut

Cutting with the grain. This type of cut is meant for initial cuts and breaking larger products down into smaller project parts.

Crosscut

Cuts across with wood or against the grain. This type of cut is meant to produce a smooth, finished piece of wood.

Teeth

Saw blade teeth typically come in ATB (versatile), TCG (non-ferrous material), or FTG (for ripping).

Gullet

The valleys in between the teeth of the blade meant for removing waste. The larger the gullet the more material it can remove, but the slower it moves. Large gullets are required for deeper cuts in thicker woods.

Arbor

The saw blade arbor is the hole in the middle that connects to the table saw. You must buy the proper blade for your table saw to ensure proper balance.

Blade Kerf

A simplified way of explaining kerf is to think of it as the thickness of the cut that the saw blade will make into the material. It’s the widest part of the saw blade. Typically, it affects the economics of the project since a thin kerf means that less usable material is cut away. At the same time, a thin kerf will also affect the blade’s durability and the amount of residue it creates.