My mother wanted to have that pergo laminent flooring put in the kitchen before they sold their house. Of coarse i got nominated to do it so I brought my sliding compound miter saw over. This isnt that wood flooring stuff though, it is the plastic coated stuff that looks like tile. ( HAHAHAHAHA) WEEEELLLLLLL……. My saw blade was….yes was… a 60T freud. Made great cuts but is now DULL. Anyone know a better choice of blades ifn’ i need to cut that !@#$#@ again?
Replies
you need to find a blade in Triple Chip grind, usually (read damn near all) MDF and particle board blades will work. Frued makes one i have it, but dont know the model number.
I ran into the same deal on my 72tooth freud but it was a spur of the moment, 1500sq ft install and my buddy paid to have both of the blades resharpened. but mine was an ATB and it wasnt designed for that stuff. Its rock hard.
I've done laminate flooring before and I'm currently installing it in a mud room. Smooth precision cut are not needed because every cut edge has a 1/4" gap at the end which gets covered by molding. I just put one of my old worn blades on the saws and it comes out fine in the end.
BC
Thank GOD. I'm not alone. Thankyou for the advice. I've actually come up with another solution though. I have gotten really persuasive on getting people to use solid wood flooring!!!HAHAHAHAHAAH. Ok one more question for the pergo crowd. When you start from one wall and go in one direction and you come to where the hallway goes to the left or right, there just happens to be a closet. This caused a need for more people cause now the snap together ends are going the wrong way. We had to lift the flooring up to get the tongue into the groove. Any easy way to do it without ripping the groove out and reversing the pattern. ( Don't care for a butt joint where everyone steps to get their coat!)
Not exactly sure what your question is, but you can reverse directions by butting groove to groove and putting a spline into the groove. The spline is a long piece of wood that simulates a tongue.
First Iraq, then France, then Hollywood!
This stuff eats carbide saw blades. After dulling several high priced carbide blades. The last 2 jobs I did I used a jig saw. It worked very well. The jig saw blade I used was a Bosch 101D.
Tell me about it, I loaned my 12 inch Delta CMS to a buddy along with my tablesaw to put in maybe 200 square ft of that stuff and when i stopped over to help finish the trim around his baseboards actual smoke was coming out of teh back of the CMS cause the blade was so dull.
I was amazed that it dulled those previously sharp 60 tooth blades that quickly.
Though it did finally give me an excuse to go to my local dealer and get a stack of other blades sharpened as well.JD
I used my father's CMS to install about 50sqft of pergo and "ripped" 3 boards to width on my table saw. I started cutting the poplar base moulding and the CMS could hardly get through it! I thought that the 3 rips could not have done that much damage, but ripping 3/4 poplar proved me wrong. I really had to push it through and literally smoked me out of the shop! Only a jig saw from now on! It cost me the sharpening for 2 blades and 2 new blades since I was on a deadline to get the bathroom done. There should be a bright orange warning label- "Warning this material eats carbide for lunch". Lesson learned.
Dr. Bill
hehe, that's exactly what i had to do.
Bought another 60 tooth for Tablesaw and a 44 tooth for my CMS just so i could get the job finished. Didn't have time to wait 2 weeks for my blades to come back from sharpener.
JD
I used my bosch with their line of blades and i wasnt pleased with the results. That laminate flooring is just murder on blades PERIOD.
The terms "carbide" and "blade" are being thrown around as if there is only one kind -- eg., all "carbide" is the same and all "blades" are the same. I cannot claim any knowledge about laminate flooring and it's effects on the spinning blade, so hopefully Charles or someone else with carbide technical knowledge will comment, but it appears from looking at catalog specs that the hardest carbide is used for saw blades that are designed to cut laminates. This carbide is not used on the more typical woodworking blades, because it does not have as much impact resistance as the harder carbide. It is, however, much tougher and resistant to wear.
In addition, the hook angle is different for different applications, and that characteristic, it would seem, would affect the aggressiveness of the blade and how long it will last in a given cutting application.forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
forestgirl ---
You are correct about there being different types of carbide. There are many different factors that affect power requirements and time between sharpening.
Most blades do a reasonable job on all materials. They all do a poor job on some.
Jamie,
You are correct that there are harder grades of carbide for laminates and the triple chip grind is used for further durability. For Pergo type materials I recommend a TCG blade with a very low hook angle on a sliding saw. I have made thousands of cuts in this stuff testing a lot of different blade/saw combos and found that any cuts made into the face of the material as would be done on a miter saw will instantly dull a carbide blade. However, if the blade is pushed across the material as with a SCMS it will last for hundreds of cuts with very little degradation. This also depends on having the correct blade. For a SCMS I recommend a TK806L (very good) or our new LU97 series for the very best cuts.
Charles M
Freud, Inc.
Thank you, Charles, for those details. Very interesting about the cuts made into the face of the board being so hard on the blade. Question from me, since I don't have a SCMS, any problem using a tablesaw with the suggested blades?forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
The table saw can be excellent for these cuts particularly if you have a sliding attachment or sled for crosscutting longer pieces. The trick is to keep the material moving. If you dawdle in the cut you will prematurely dull the blade.
Charles M
Freud, Inc.
I have installed 1000's of feet of Pergo and had no real dulling of my blade. I use a 10 " thin kerf blade normally used in ripping up lumber called the "lightning". (carbide tipped). I used a portable table saw and a jig saw.
Cheers
I "ripped" 12 feet (3 planks) of pergo with my table saw and a Freud Thin kerf combo blade and noticed significant dulling. Tried ripping some poplar which usually cuts like butter, and had to really push the cut. So it does not take that much to really do some damage to your blade. I'll probably never do another Pergo floor again but I'll keep this experience in mind the next time I cut something other than real wood.
Dr. Bill
The thin kerf combo blade is ATB grind and is not designed for laminate cutting. I'm not surprised that it dulled quickly.
Charles M
Freud, Inc.
Well, DRBILL, you have proved my point from above (#12), and made another case for "a combo blade does not do everything well." There is a reason that saw blade companies such as Freud, FS Tools, Leitz and others make a couple dozen or more different blades with different tooth designs, hook angles, carbide applications and number of teeth.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Edited 5/2/2003 12:07:18 PM ET by forestgirl
If you're using your tablesaw, the 10" Freud blade LU98M or LU98R arelisted as Excellent for laminate, plywood and chip bord. It is an 80-tooth Triple Chip Grind blade with H00K Carbide, 10* hook. The "M" and "R" in the numbers refer to whether it has a Teflon coating or not, R being red=Teflon.
They also make a blade for sliding compound miter boxes that's rated excellent for the same materials, but it's ATB.
Don't know where you buy your Freud blades, but if you can't find these blades there, you should be able to order one from Ballew Saw and Tool. Their web site is down this week, but phone is 1-800-288-7483.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Your cutting speed is too high.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled