We get asked a lot of questions about our saw blades; table saw, miter saw, and specialty woodworking blades. The two most common questions are; "do I need a combination saw blade or general-purpose saw blade?" and, "what exactly is the difference between the two?" As always the answer depends on what type of woodworking you do and the types of material you typically work with. Both of these saw blade types fit the "jack-of-all-trades" description of one blade for all cuts. But choosing either the Super General 40-tooth blade or the Combo-Max 50-tooth blade can be a little tricky. Let's look at each of these saw blades so you can choose the one that best suits the type of work you do.
Before we dive into what makes these blades different, let's take a look at what they have in common. All Infinity Tools saw blades are made of cold-rolled, laser-cut steel bodies and have extra thick C4 micro-grain carbide teeth that take a sharper edge, stay sharp longer, and can be resharpened more times than most other saw blades on the market.
Each saw blade also features our Chrome Armor plating. Rather than paint, we chrome plate each saw blade for multiple reasons including aesthetics, corrosion resistance, ease of cleaning, durability, and lubricity. If you want to learn more about our saw blade manufacturing process have a look at our Saw Blade University blog post.
Both the Super General and Combo-Max sawblades measure 10" in diameter, have a 5/8" arbor hole and are 100% compatible with SawStop safety technology.
Now for the differences.
The Super General (010-044 standard kerf & 010-045 thin kerf) is a 40-tooth saw blade with a 30° ATB (Alternate Top Bevel) grind. This tooth configuration easily rips hardwoods up to 1" thick and absolutely excels at crosscutting hardwoods and veneered plywoods. The 30° bevel on each tooth acts like a knife that scores the material and reduces tear-out on even the most splinter-prone materials. With a 10° positive rake angle, the Super General has a fast feed rate with reduced feeding pressure that makes it ideal for sizing large sheets of plywood and for long rip cuts in solid wood.
The Super General is unique because it has resin-filled vibration dampening slots. This greatly reduces harmonic vibration and helps produce an extremely clean cut, not to mention it is one of the quietest running blades you will find. If you work with a mix of both solid wood and veneered plywoods and love the finish you get from an 80 tooth crosscutting saw blade, the Super General is the blade for you.
The Combo-Max (010-050 standard kerf & 010-150 thin kerf) is a 50-tooth saw blade that gets its name and distinct look from its combination ATB-R (Alternate Top Bevel - Raker) tooth pattern. The Combo-Max has 10 sets of 5 teeth. The first tooth in each set is a chamfered raker and has a deep gullet. This tooth works like a plow which helps when ripping thicker stock and the extra deep gullet gives all that material a place to go. The small chamfers on the raker tooth make it extremely durable and help it stay sharp longer especially when working with materials like MDF, particleboard, and melamine that are notorious for dulling blades quickly.
The remaining 4 teeth have a 15° alternate top bevel that excels at scoring fibers when making crosscuts in solid wood but are not so aggressive that they dull quickly in those pesky man-made sheet goods. The ATB-R design also has the advantage of producing an almost completely flat bottom cut, so it can be used to nibble out small dadoes and grooves when needed for a lot of situations as long as the surface doesn't need to be absolutely flat and bat ear free.
If you find yourself working with mostly solid wood and man-made materials like MDF and particle board that are notoriously hard on saw blades the Combo-Max is perfect for your table saw.
Both the Super General and Combo-Max saw blades are available in standard 1/8" kerf and thin 3/32" kerf widths. If you are not sure which kerf you should choose we recommend going thin. A thin kerf blade removes 25% less material and will give a boost to table saws with 1-1/2 HP or smaller motors with no trade-off in cut quality or performance. If you stop by the Infinity Tools shop chances are you will find a thin kerf blade installed on our 3 HP cabinet saw.
