Best circular saw blades for plywood: picks by tooth count, grind and fit

01What should a circular saw blade for plywood have?

A blade for plywood should have a high tooth count, a bevelled top grind that slices the face veneer, a low hook angle for control, and a kerf that suits the power of your saw. The blade that leaves clean edges is the one built for crosscutting, not the one built for fast ripping. Each attribute below is stated as a requirement, followed by the published figure behind it. For the general background on each term, see our explainer on tooth count, grind and kerf.

Tooth count: the crosscut range

A 10 in blade meant for clean crosscuts usually has 60 to 80 teeth, compared with 40 to 50 teeth on combination and general-purpose blades and as few as 24 teeth on a rip blade. More teeth means each tooth takes a smaller bite, which leaves a smoother edge at a slower feed. The blades that Freud and Diablo market specifically for veneered plywood and melamine sit at the top of that band. Handheld saws use lower counts for the same finish. For ultra-fine cuts in plywood, melamine and MDF with a 7-1/4 in circular saw, Diablo and DeWalt both sell blades with 60 teeth, and the usual steps for 6-1/2 in cordless saws are 24 / 40 / 60 teeth, with the highest count for plywood and melamine. Compare tooth count within the same diameter rather than against a table saw blade.

Grind: ATB at minimum, Hi-ATB for veneer

Alternate Top Bevel (ATB) teeth are bevelled left and right in turn, so they slice the fibres instead of chopping them, and they are the normal grind for crosscut and general-purpose blades. High Alternate Top Bevel (Hi-ATB) teeth use a steeper bevel of about 30–40 degrees and are sold for chip-free cuts in melamine, veneer and veneered plywood. Flat Top Grind (FTG) is the rip grind and is the wrong shape for clean plywood edges. Triple Chip Grind (TCG) belongs to laminate, melamine, MDF, plastics and non-ferrous metal, and it becomes the better choice when both faces of the panel carry a hard plastic laminate.

Hook angle: low or neutral

A low or neutral hook angle of about 0 to 6 degrees gives more control and less tear-out on crosscuts and veneered sheet goods. Positive hook angles of 10 to 22 degrees pull the blade into the cut for fast feeding, which suits ripping solid wood. Makers do not agree on the figure for the same job: Freud's 80-tooth plywood blades use 2 deg, while Diablo's 80-tooth ultra finish blade uses 15 deg. Read the hook figure on the blade's own spec sheet rather than assuming it from the tooth count.

Kerf: thin or full, matched to the saw

A full-kerf table saw blade cuts a slot of about 1/8 in, while published thin-kerf examples run .087-.098 in. Thin kerf removes less material, which helps a lower-powered saw keep its speed. Rockler's guide ties full-kerf blades to more powerful cabinet and contractor saws and thin-kerf blades to lower-powered jobsite saws. Rockler also says thin kerf brings no significant advantage on contractor or cabinet saws, which corrects the common idea that a thin-kerf blade is an upgrade for every table saw.

02What rules a plywood blade out before you compare teeth?

A blade is ruled out if its diameter, arbor hole or rated speed does not match the saw, however good its teeth are. These three checks come before any comparison of grind or tooth count, and they apply to US and European saws alike. The full size tables live in our guide to circular saw arbor sizes.

• Diameter. Fit only the blade diameter marked on the saw or given in its manual. A 7-1/4 in blade does not belong on a 6-1/2 in saw just because both use the same arbor, because a wrong-size blade may not be guarded properly.
• Arbor size and shape. US 7-1/4 in saws use a 5/8 in round arbor, and US 10 in blades also use 5/8 in. Compact 10 mm-arbor trim saws, worm-drive saws with a diamond arbor, and track saws with a 20 mm bore all need blades made for them. European circular saws such as the Bosch GKS 190 commonly take a 30 mm bore, so a US blade with a 5/8 in hole is not a direct swap on a Bosch or Makita EU model.
• Rated speed. The maximum speed marked on the blade must equal or exceed the no-load speed marked on the saw.

US and European sizes differ for the same class of saw. Makita's EU mitre and table saws in the 10 in class take slightly larger metric blades with a 30 mm bore, while the US versions with the same model numbers take 10 in blades with a 5/8 in hole. The two tables below give both systems.

04How do the plywood picks differ from each other?

The picks differ mainly by the saw they fit, then by kerf and hook angle, because their grinds and tooth counts are close. Only one of them, the Diablo D0760A, is a 7-1/4 in blade for a handheld circular saw. The other four are 10 in blades for table, miter and radial arm saws.

Freud LU79R010 vs LU80R010: thin or full kerf?

The two Freud blades share the same tooth count, Hi-ATB grind and 2 deg hook, and differ in kerf. The LU79R010 cuts a 0.098 in kerf on a 0.071 in plate, while the LU80R010 cuts a 0.126 in kerf on a 0.087 in plate. Freud lists portable table saws for the thin-kerf LU79R010 but not for the full-kerf LU80R010. Choose by your saw: a jobsite saw whose maker allows thin kerf points to the LU79R010, while a cabinet or contractor saw with a standard riving knife points to the LU80R010, because a thin-kerf blade can bind on a standard-thickness knife.

Freud vs Diablo at the same tooth count: does hook angle matter?

Hook angle is the clearest difference between the Freud plywood blades and the Diablo D1080X. Freud uses 2 deg, inside the low or neutral range that published guidance links to less tear-out. Diablo uses 15 deg, which sits inside the positive range used for faster feeding. Both makers sell their blade for veneered plywood and melamine, so neither figure is wrong, but the lower hook gives more control when feeding by hand. Low or negative hook blades are the type specified for sliding miter and radial arm saws, so read your saw manual before fitting a positive-hook blade on one.

Hi-ATB vs ATAF: what is Makita's grind?

Makita describes the A-93681 grind as alternate top, alternate face (ATAF), a different label from the Hi-ATB used by Freud and Diablo. Makita lists the blade for miter and cross cuts in wood, hardwood and plywood on a miter saw, so it suits a saw that cuts plywood strips and trim rather than full sheets.

Is the Diablo D0760A hook angle settled?

Not completely. Diablo lists 10 deg, while one retailer's spec table lists a higher figure. The manufacturer value is shown here. For comparison, Diablo's 40-tooth D0740A finish blade of the same diameter lists 15 deg.

05When is a plywood blade the wrong choice?

A plywood blade is the wrong choice for ripping thick solid wood, for panels with plastic laminate on both faces, and for materials its maker does not list. High tooth counts trade feed speed for finish, and that trade-off works against you in several common jobs.

• Ripping solid lumber. A rip blade has as few as 24 teeth, a flat top grind and large gullets to clear chips. Feeding thick hardwood slowly through a high-count blade builds friction, and burning on hardwood rip cuts is a common result. Our page on saw blade burn marks lists the causes in order.
• Double-sided laminate or melamine. Freud sells a separate 10 in blade, the LU97R010, with a TCG grind for double-sided laminate and melamine. Its spec table lists a negative hook, although one of Freud's own product bullets describes a positive hook, so check the figure on the blade. A Hi-ATB plywood blade cuts melamine, but TCG is the grind published for hard plastic faces on both sides.
• Laminate flooring. Diablo lists laminate among the cuts for the D0760A and D0740A, and Freud lists laminates for the LU79R010. TCG remains the grind published for laminate-faced material.
• Fiber cement and composite decking. None of the five picks lists fiber cement siding or composite decking among its manufacturer applications. Use a blade whose maker names that material; for fiber cement, that means the PCD blades in the next section.
• A saw that is not on the maker's list. Freud lists the LU80R010 for stationary table saws, not portable ones, and Makita lists the A-93681 for miter saws. A handheld circular saw takes none of the 10 in picks.

Combination and general-purpose blades are the middle ground. Diablo describes general-purpose blades as suited to most wood cutting, including plywood, laminated wood and melamine, and combination blades as designed to both crosscut and rip. A combination blade groups its teeth in sets of 4 ATB + 1 flat raker, with a large gullet in front of each raker. If one blade must stay on the saw for every job, that is the compromise; if plywood is most of the work, the higher count is the better match.

06What saw blade do you need for Hardie board?

Hardie board and other fiber cement siding need a polycrystalline diamond (PCD) blade with only 4 to 8 teeth, not a plywood blade. NIOSH notes that saws cutting fiber cement normally use PCD blades of that kind, designed to cut the material and limit dust, and James Hardie recommends its HardieBlade saw blades when cutting its products with a circular saw. A common belief is that any carbide framing blade will do; both sources point the other way. None of the plywood picks above is a fiber cement blade.

Fit rules stay the same. Diablo lists HardieBlade sizes of 5, 6-1/2, 7-1/4, 10, 12 in, and Diablo's 7-1/4 in HardieBlade D0704DH lists 4 teeth, 5/8 in arbor and a marked maximum of 10000 rpm. DeWalt's DWA3193PCD of the same diameter uses a 5/8 in arbor with a lower marked speed, shown in the table, so check it against your saw's no-load speed like any other blade.

The saw matters as much as the blade. James Hardie ranks a circular saw with a HardieBlade and attached vacuum dust collection as its best power-saw method, alongside shears or score-and-snap, and says never to cut its fiber cement with a power saw indoors. NIOSH recommends connecting a dust-collecting circular saw to a shop vacuum of about 30 CFM or higher. Check the saw's manual too: DeWalt's DWE575 manual says not to cut fiber cement with that wood-cutting circular saw at all, so a plywood blade on an ordinary framing saw is the wrong setup on two counts.

Blade design changes how much dust you breathe. In a 2019 NIOSH laboratory test of 22 fiber-cement saw blades, uncontrolled respirable dust rose with tooth count, averaging 0.48 g per metre of cut with 8-tooth blades, and a continuous-rim diamond blade released the most. With the saw's dust box feeding a passive cyclone, the collector captured 26–66% of the respirable dust, depending on which blade was fitted. Both are laboratory figures for siding blades, and among them fewer teeth meant less dust, the opposite of the high-count logic that suits plywood.

07How do you reduce tear-out in plywood with any blade?

Tear-out drops when the blade has more teeth, a bevelled grind and a low hook, and when those teeth are clean and sharp. Blade choice does most of the work, and upkeep and setup do the rest. The points below come from the manufacturer and specialist sources behind this page.

• Keep the teeth clean. Baked-on pitch hides sharp teeth and adds friction. Rockler recommends a neutral-pH blade cleaner or mild detergent and warm water with a nylon or brass brush, then drying the blade and protecting it from rust. Strong acids and bases, such as oven cleaner, can damage the coating and weaken the cobalt binder that holds the carbide.
• Replace or resharpen a dull blade. A dull blade feeds harder, runs louder and burns both sides of the cut. Clean it first, because pitch often causes the symptoms while the teeth underneath are still sharp.
• Match grind to the panel. Hi-ATB for veneered plywood, TCG for double-sided laminate.
• Support the panel near the cut. DeWalt and Makita tell users to support large panels near the cut line so the kerf does not close on the blade and cause kickback.
• Fit the blade the right way round. On a handheld circular saw the teeth point up at the front of the saw, matching the rotation arrow on the guard.
• Protect the carbide. Carbide teeth are brittle. Store blades so that teeth do not touch other blades, and do not drop them.

Setup matters as much as the blade on a table saw: Woodcraft notes that a blade not parallel to the miter slot rubs the work with the rear of the blade. For other saw blade categories and how they compare, the saw blade guides hub groups them by tool, and the buyer guides section lists the other product comparisons. If you are unsure which accessories your saw model accepts, the accessory finder lists the published specs by tool.

08Questions readers ask