Saw blades

[newbee]

I would like to know the best blade to use for ripping melamine veneered particle board with both a table saw and a circular saw?

[Dagster]

Use a good carbide blade. I'd suggest 80 tooth for melamine although you can probably get good results with a combo blade around 50ish teeth. I like Freud as a good middle of the road (cost wise) blade.

When cutting with a table saw put the good side up, with a circular saw run the work good side down. That way the teeth are pulling down on the good surface rather than pushing up causing chipping.

[thekl0wn]

Another thing we've done in the past for cutting melamine (especially with a circular saw) is to use the blue masking tape on the cut line. Just a bit of added protection to keep it from chipping out.

For the table saw, we have a few different Freud's we use most of the time, and for melamine we would probably put on the 80-tooth.

[Don]

Hey, NewBee and welcome to the forum. What the other guys said and consider this as well. On a table saw, blade height comes into play as well. If you are chipping too much on the bottom, lowering the blade increases the shear; chipping on top can be controlled by raising the blade - a balance between the two with the right blade can give satisfactory results. Also, use the largest diameter blade the saw will take.

If you see yourself doing a lot of this for a living then you may want to consider a more commercial method that involves scoring.

If you are able to get good results on melamine with a circular saw then you're a heck of a guy and we'll have to change your name.

All the best, Don