Replies

1. 
   Turbo | Feb 10, 2003 04:23am | #1

          Hi!  Accuracy of cut I believe is what you may be referring.  A 10" blade will have less wobble than a 12", 14", etc. blade, even with blade stiffeners.  There are other physical parameters as you alluded (safety, etc.), and others with more experience than I can answer.  I'd use the larger blades only when the thickness of your material needed the extra size.  Smaller, better saw blades are less costly too.

2. 
   garth | Feb 10, 2003 07:22am | #2

   If your northfield is like the one I am familiar with it will have a 1 1/8 or 1 1/4" arbor, I am not sure if you can get a 10" blade in that arbor size. The northfield that I used had a 1 1/4" arbor and we ran a 16" blade, the other thing to remember is the kerf is more like .175" and not the .125" of a 10" blade.

   Scott T.

1. 
   UncleDunc | Feb 10, 2003 07:29am | #3

   You can always make the hole bigger. Making it smaller gets tricky.

3. 
   Andrew | Feb 10, 2003 07:56pm | #4

   The major disadvantage to a large blade is that they're a lot more expensive, and in a small shop you won't see much benefit other than increased cutting depth. But in a large production shop there are some advantages, first of all, the blade has more teeth thanks to the larger circumference, which means faster feed rates (noticeable with power feeders), or better quality cuts with a slower feed, more teeth also mean less frequent sharpening, and a thicker blade body and larger diameter arbor mean that the blade can stand up to heavier abuse. With a home shop you'd never see the savings, but in an industrial situation they are more economical to run.

   For your saw I think a 14" blade would suit it best. I worked on a 20" Bauerlee, and most of the blades we used were 14", using a 20" blade is pretty scary (especially when you see it spinning 8" above the table). Your lucky to have such a nice saw!