Felder slotting cutter

[djeddy]

Problem: Making flat-bottomed cuts on a sliding saw with no dado prep and a 30mm arbour with pins (so no, I can't use the Timbecon 1/4" kerf blade which I thought might be the ideal solution). Sliding saw blades are almost universally either ATB or TCG grind, neither of which leave a flat-bottom cut, and flat grind blades are difficult to find, especially taking into account the pins around the arbour.

Solution: Felder SilentPower slotting cutter blade 03.0.030. I stumbled across this by leafing through the Felder catalogue (the "silver book"). They list it on the same page as their wobble dado cutters and the like, and I almost missed it since I didn't think I was looking for that. Still, I saw it - one phone call to Con of Felder Perth and it was on its way.

Anyway. This is a 300mm blade with a 5mm kerf and a flat-top grind. It's designed for making grooves, not through cuts, in wood - perfect! It cost me $215 all up - quite a bit, but cheaper than getting pin holes drilled in a Timbecon blade, and as it happens I got some interesting tooth grinding technology as well.
IMG_0403.jpg

The blade is actually quite heavy since it has a 4mm thick plate, but my 3hp saw spun it up with no problems and the 4mm plate means it's very rigid. The teeth are flat radially (so they leave a perfectly flat slot) but I was surprised to discover that they are alternately skew-ground to give a slicing action. This results in an amazing finish, no doubt helped by the thick plate. Here is the result of my first experiment in Jarrah, fresh off the saw - no rubbing, no sanding, no planing - just saw cuts.
IMG_0402.jpg
Note the slight change in colour half way across - this is where I turned the piece around so I always had the bulk of the piece on my side of the blade for better control. (I held it with a Fritz&Franz jig, for what it's worth.) The finish is not quite is smooth as a planed cut but it's darn good - a quick lick with 180-grit and it's ready for finish. If you look at the full-size image you can see a full-width kerf on the right side of the cut where I made an error with work holding. I'm super-happy with the neat, clean cuts, and there is basically no resistance even with jarrah cutting 20mm deep.

As for the "Silent" part of its name... well, it doesn't shriek but it's not super quiet either. It's got some laser-cut reliefs in the gullets and it has a vicious hissing sound rather than the loud ringing of some blades. I wouldn't go without hearing protection but it's not a problem to use in a backyard shed either.

Highly recommended.

[Chris Parks]

More to drill the pin holes than buy the blade?? I bought a carbide drill from Ebay and and my tool maker brother-in-law drilled a heap of blades for me so I never had any idea of what it would cost. I guess Felder are going to get a bit more of my money as I like the results and so easy to do.

[China]

If your saw doctor is charging $215 to punch holes in a blade then find a new saw doctor

[djeddy]

I misspoke slightly. $130 for the 8" Timbecon 6mm kerf blade, probably $30-$60 to get the holes drilled, and $200 of hassle since I live in the country and visiting the saw doctor is not a matter of going to the next suburb. And based off the results, I'm absolutely happy that I went the way I did.

[ejw1234567890]

thanks for post. i have the B3 Winner with no Dado capacity so interested in this. With so few teeth i thought the depth of cut would be limited. How deep do you think it can go without bogging?

[Chris Parks]

When you start the saw with this blade on it you get the impression nothing would stop it. I have never tried to see how deep it will go and I think it would be a tough piece of timber that would stop it to tell the truth. Stunning results though on the stuff I have used it on.

[AJ.]

With regards to drilling the pin holes in a blade. I bought 3 blades from Axminster and didn’t check closely enough as one of them didn’t have the pin holes. I drilled them myself using a basic drill press and a normal HSS drill bit, it was a pretty easy and straight forward job.

Cheers Andrew

[riverbuilder]

All mine do anyway.

[Chris Parks]

With regards to drilling the pin holes in a blade. I bought 3 blades from Axminster and didn’t check closely enough as one of them didn’t have the pin holes. I drilled them myself using a basic drill press and a normal HSS drill bit, it was a pretty easy and straight forward job.

Cheers Andrew

I tried that and it didn't do much more that make some scratches on the plate so I bought a cheap carbide drill bit from Ebay. That drill bit has drilled two blades and Dado set and is still going. As accurately as the Dado set was set up it was still not spot on after driling and the finish was dreadful with individual tracks so I gave it to a sharpening service and they ground the set as one assembly and it now gives fantastic results.

[markharrison]

All mine do anyway.

If you know of where to buy one with a 30mm arbor diameter, I'm all ears. Be damned if I can find one.

[aussiepens]

Try Henry Bros Saws at Riverstone NSW.

Henry Bros Saws - Bandsaw blades & circular saw blades

John

[derekcohen]

Does Felder sell a wider blade, specifically 6mm? It strikes me that 5mm is neither here-nor-there. At 5mm, one would need to widen it as most grooves are more likely to be 6mm and dados 8 or 10mm.

The standard saw blade is 3.2mm, which is not that far off 5mm if you have to do repeat cuts.

Am I missing something?

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Chris Parks]

If you know of where to buy one with a 30mm arbor diameter, I'm all ears. Be damned if I can find one.

Mark, it is not hard to put a 30mm hole is a blade that has a smaller arbour but you also need to drill the holes for the drive pins. I have some blades (30mm with DP holes) that could be ground flat if you are interested.

[Chris Parks]

Does Felder sell a wider blade, specifically 6mm? It strikes me that 5mm is neither here-nor-there. At 5mm, one would need to widen it as most grooves are more likely to be 6mm and dados 8 or 10mm.

The standard saw blade is 3.2mm, which is not that far off 5mm if you have to do repeat cuts.

Am I missing something?

Regards from Perth

Derek

It would appear not, upper RHS page top item, grooving cutters. Browse the catalogue and spend some money!!

The catalog

[AJ.]

I tried that and it didn't do much more that make some scratches on the plate so I bought a cheap carbide drill bit from Ebay. That drill bit has drilled two blades and Dado set and is still going. As accurately as the Dado set was set up it was still not spot on after driling and the finish was dreadful with individual tracks so I gave it to a sharpening service and they ground the set as one assembly and it now gives fantastic results.

drilling harder steel you need to run the drill much slower than normal with more pressure than normal. You can also sharpen a masonary bit if need be, but that might be what you were referring to.

Cheers Andrew