Customer Reviews

CMT 213.040.10 10" x 40 Tooth ATB, .130 Kerf, 5/8" Bore General Table Saw Blade

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I really wanted to like this blade...the orange color really grabbed my attention, and this was to be my new daily user for my new saw, but am ultimately disappointed as it underperformed expectations. There are pronounced swirl marks on the edges of every cut that make glue-ups straight from the saw marginally acceptable at best. The marks are large enough that you can feel them fairly easily. The quality of the cut looks it came from a low quality 24 tooth rip blade, not a premium 40 tooth general purpose blade. On the plus side, it's fairly free from tearout on the backside of crosscuts, but the edge marks remain. It's made in Italy with precision manufacturing techniques, high grade materials, and is a common general purpose design, so there's really no reason it shouldn't make better cuts. Performance is among the poorest performing of all the higher grade general purpose blades I've tried. My $25 Oshlun is better, as are all my Freud, Forrest, Infinity, Tenryu, DeWalt, Delta, Leitz, and Amana blades. I have other CMT products that perform well, so perhaps this one is simply "not quite right" but at $60 it's unacceptable as my "go to" blade.

Purchased this blade from a woodworking store where the clerk said he heared this blade is good but didn't have any experience with it since he uses a Forest WW II, which is what I have found to be the best. Bought this blade for $60 and brought it back to the school to use while I send in my Forest blades for sharpening. Did six different test cuts on different types of wood and was very disappointed. There was significant blade scoring on all of the test cuts. I usually run a piece of chalk down the edge of a board to see the amount of scoring a blade is leaving, didn't need to do that with this blade since you can see and feel the scoring easily. I took the blade off the saw and put my dull Forest WW II blade back on and compared the cuts, they weren't even close. So I guess I just spent $60.00 of my own money on a blade which I might put on the saw for summer for the jaitors to use. Not worth the money, have purchased 10.00 hardware store blades that have performed better. CMT has let me down, and I do use a lot of their router bits, but don't know if I will trust them anymore.

I disagree with the previous review. I have two dozen or so premium blades and another dozen not so premium blades in the shop. I tend to use 40T General Purpose and 50T combination blades most of the time. I never use ripping blades. I've got 50T combination blades from Harbor Freight that go on sale frequently for about $13. They are labeled as Lifetime Carbide, made in China with Japanese machinery, and are very satisfactory for most things. They give me glue line quality cuts, decent feed rates, long life, and large carbide teeth that can be resharpened several times. I might add, most of the other blades offered by Harbor Freight aren't worth the time of day. Now, when the situation demands absolute quality of cut, ease of use, longevity and value, I have many others including Craftsman Professional, Oldham Signature Premiere, Forrest WW, Freud, Stehl, and Dewalt Series 40 and 60. All offer excellent performance, and some for far less money than others providing a much better bang for the buck ratio. One of the saws wears the aforementioned Liftime Carbide or the Signature Premiere series nearly exclusively. Even when crosscutting with the Incra Miter 1000SE or the sliding table, the Oldham Signature works great. No tearout, no burns, and no swirl marks to speak of.

The Powermatic 66 usually wears a Dewalt DW7657 (a British made clone of the WW II and now sold under the Delta brand), and it gives me excellent performance. In fact, it outperforms the Forrest blade ever so slightly. Truth be told, they're equal, but I like the DeWalt better because I bought it for about 30% of what the Forrest cost. The Craftsman Professional blades are very nice as well, and of course the Freud blades live up to their reputation. One of the claims to fame from Forrest and Dewalt is their blades are sharpened using 600 grit diamonds. I don't know if CMT uses 600 grit, but the CMT General outperforms them all in my shop. When I cut Cherry, which is notorious for burning, and other woods including Hickory, Oak, Mahagony, etc. the CMT cuts with no effort and leaves the cut edge so smooth, it looks like a jointed and sanded edge ready for the finishing department! I dropped the blade on the concrete once and chipped a couple of teeth. The blade still cuts like brand new. I also have the CMT HATB Melamine blade and it cuts so well, I marvel each time I use it. I love my equipment and all my blades. I might add over the years I've tried many blades for shop and/or field use. Cheapos and expensive alike. The ones I didn't like were turned into shop clocks, frisbees, end tables and rifle range targets. I'm a tool nut, and appreciate tools that work, especially when they exceed my expectations. My CMT General truly exceeds my expectation. Wow, what a blade!