The Best Blades for Your Circular Saw

Unlike the immobility of table and panel saws, a hand-held circular saw is often seen as the one-stop saw for most home and professional projects. It’s a lightweight, portable, and reasonably priced option that can easily cut boards of wood to size, due in part to how flexible you can get while angling. However, your circular saw only amounts to much if there’s a good blade spinning at that 45-degree angle. A sharp blade is good, but a smart blade—one that is reinforced with specialty features to bring about the most precise cuts—is the best kind of blade. If you’re in the market for superior circular saw blades, here are a few options we recommend.

There’s More to it Than Just Being Sharp

Consider these factors when buying your next circular saw blade:

• Teeth: A blade with a high number of saw-teeth delivers a much smoother and finer cut at a significantly higher price. Blades that feature fewer teeth are cost-efficient but may leave you feeling less satisfied with your finished project’s overall appearance. Either way, you’ll still get the job done, so find a blade that promises an output equal to the cost.
• Kerf: The kerf of a blade refers to the width of a cut or how much material is removed when cutting. Blades with a thinner kerf are ideal for smaller circular saws and moderate projects. A full kerf is a lot more durable, so you can use it for projects involving more powerful saws and thicker pieces of wood.
• Application: The most important factor to remember is that no saw blade is alike. There are some sharp blades out there, but you can’t work under the assumption that a blade made for cutting wood will help you with masonry items. Before buying your next blade, make sure you know what you intend to use it for.

Best Multipurpose Blade: Luckyway 10-Inch Multi-purpose TCT Circular Saw Blade

For starters, the best circular saw blade is one that can dice up anything you throw its way. The Luckyway 10-Inch TCT Blade is multipurpose to the bone, not only capable of cutting through planks of wood, but chunks of plastic, sheets of aluminum, slabs of metal, and stainless steel pipes. All 52 teeth on this blade’s fully hardened steel body are reinforced by a Triple Chip Grind design to help deliver some seriously clean and precise cuts without bending or deflecting. Each blade also features an impact-resistant plastic protective sleeve that should be in place before and after each use to keep your blade sharp but minimize injuries.

Best for Cutting Wood: Overpeak 10-Inch Carbide Tip Saw Blade

If you’re only looking to cut a certain material, and cut it well, then it wouldn’t hurt to invest in a blade that was specifically designed to get the job done. The Overpeak 10-Inch Carbide Tip Saw Blade is to chunks of wood like a duck is to water: a true natural. It features 80 teeth that shred through wood with the utmost precision and smoothness, capable of reaching a blade speed of up to 6,000 RPM. Its anti-vibration technology vibration not only makes for a sharper cutting experience, but it also maintains the durability of your blade and reduces the amount of noise heard while cutting. On hardwood or softwood, this circular saw blade provides a dependable cut time after time.

Best for Cutting Metal: Irwin 8-Inch Circular Saw Blade

An ideal choice for all of your metalworking projects, the Irwin 8-Inch Circular Saw Blade is laser-cut for laser precision. Metal being a far tougher material to get through, this saw blade was still designed to slice through ferrous metals and hold up over time just as well as your traditional wood saw blades. It’s been stabilized to deliver uniform cuts, rather than grinds, through an especially solid material, while its anti-kickback design reduces the chance for sparks and dust. If you’re in the market for a professional blade that cuts through metal with the best of them, look no further.

Best for Cutting Concrete: DeWalt 4 1/2-Inch Diamond Blade

While cutting through concrete is a notch above metalwork as far as difficulty goes, don’t panic because there’s a blade for those projects too. The DeWalt 4 1/2-Inch Diamond Blade is a high-performance masonry blade—a thinner kind of blade, but that only amounts to an increased speed while minimizing dust and enhancing material remover. Though it’s preferred for cutting through thinner masonry materials, this blade has a lifespan 30 times longer than most bonded abrasives and cuts through stone without chipping it to bits like other cutting and grinding wheels tend to do.