Saw Blade Size Guide for Power Saws

When starting a new project, you always have to consider whether or not your tools are suitable for the task at hand. For instance, you can’t easily cut wood that is too thick or too large for the size of your saw. Otherwise, you may find yourself losing time on a workaround or spending money on a more appropriate tool. In order to avoid that situation, we advise that you understand the limitations of your tools before purchasing materials. Our saw blade size chart will provide you with the minimum diameter for popular board heights. Whether you’re using a circular saw, table saw, miter saw, or radial-arm saw, this guide will give you the minimum saw blade size for popular board heights

Pro Tips:

• Reminder – a saw blade’s radius is half its diameter
• The max depth for cutting into a board is the saw blade’s radius
• Circular-shaped saw blades are sized by their diameter

At a first glance, the saw blade sizes seem a bit large for the given board heights. However, there are two important factors we can’t afford to overlook. And simply using a saw blade’s radius as the max cutting depth would overstate its reach.

 

For starters, we have to accommodate the radius of the bore (a.k.a. anchor hole). Thus, we might as well subtract that from the the max depth we previously established as being the blade’s radius. On smaller circular saws, the bore is generally 3/4″ or less. Miniature hand-held power saws even have bores as little as 1/4″. On the other hand, larger miter saws and table saws will have a shaft closer to 1″ to 1-1/4″ in diameter.
 

Secondly, we have to keep in mind that the saw blades only cut as deep as the teeth’s gullet. Though saw blade diameters are measured from the tops of the blade’s teeth, their reach is limited to the gullet. Depending on the type of saw blade and the number of teeth, the gullet will vary in depth quite a bit. When woodworkers fail to consider this buffer, the result is more splintering in their cuts.