irwin marples - 12-Inch 40-Tooth General Purpose Circular Saw Blade (Rating: 5)

I picked up this blade about 4 months ago while in the middle of a remodeling project. I have the el cheapo 12" sliding miter saw from HF and I still had the original blade on it that came with the saw, which is absolute junk. I had not really cut much on it and it was so dull that it was burning through things more than it was cutting! I could get it through a modern 2×4 with some effort but it was getting ridiculously dangerous to cut anything on it. The wall we were cutting was mostly made up of 100 yr old pine that might as well have been petrified wood! Had to pre-drill holes to get screws or nails to go in without breaking, this stuff was HARD! Needless to say, the dull blade would barely scar the surface of this stuff.

Well, on went the new Marples 40T blade I picked up at the local Lowes for under $40 (I figured the 40T would be better for this kind of rough work plus it was the cheapest). This blade sliced through that old pine like a hot knife through butter! Literally almost no extra pressure required to bring the blade down through 2.5"x4" (actual dimension) of extremely hard old pine. The saw now cuts better than it did when it was brand new, I actually enjoy using my miter saw once again. I have not used this blade for anything other than construction grade materials, no hardwood unless you consider the rock hard pine as hardwood :) I had even hit a couple of nails in the old stuff and the saw never slowed down, actually sliced the nail clean down it's length for about 1.5 inches. I was worried that it may have chipped or broken off a tooth, but I couldn't see anything by eye and it still cuts like a dream.

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PROS:

Inexpensive! - $38 bucks right now online at Lowes

Easy cuts - Cuts through everything lightning fast with no effort. Made my cheap HF miter saw a joy to use

Large carbide - can definitely be resharpened a few times

Cuts everything - I have sliced up 4×6 treated posts, 2×12 treated pine, 3/4 ply, and the infamous 2 1/2×4 ancient pine in the remodel. All "like budda".

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CONS:

Tearout - This was expected with a 40T blade, it's for general construction and not really intended for trim work or fine carpentry so I'm not marking off for it.

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Overall I couldn't be happier with this blade. I had heard good things about the 10 inch blades for table saw use and I thought I'd give the 12 incher a shot and I'm sure glad I did. I like it so much I'm going to buy the 80 or 96 tooth version for fine work and a 10 inch for the TS as soon as funds allow.