Tools, Sharpening and Power Machinery - Table saw blade height

When making a through cut, do you:
a) Have your blade at maximum height
b) Lower the blade to just clear what you're cutting?

Also, What is your "project" blade for furniture, in terms of brand and T count?

Generally, you want the blade to be a little higher than the material you are cutting, but not so low that you have trouble cutting through the material. If the tips are 1/2" above the material being cut, that's plenty high. If for some reason you're cutting something that has a tendency to chip as it's being cut, sometimes raising the blade higher helps. But if the blade has a thin plate, the higher you raise the blade, the more likely the blade will be to wobble, vibrate, or warp as material is pushed through. That's why you usually keep the blade only as high as it needs to be- it generally produces a better cut that way.

I use thin Dewalt carbide blades on my table saw. Ive got a lot of other blades in my shop, but they've been used and sharpened so many times, the names are worn off.

Thanks Sleeper for your reply. Could you elaborate as to how many teeth you typically use? I'm going to be building furniture and wondering if a 40T is good enough or should I get a 60T. I'm going to be using Poplar in my next project.

Usually a 40 tooth blade will be more aggressive than a 60 or 80 tooth blade. That means a 40 tooth blade will probably cut faster than a 60 tooth blade, but it will likely also produce more tearout, and will leave more saw blade marks along the cut than an 80 tooth blade would.

So it depends what you're doing.... and how big the blade is. 8"? I assumed it was 10". Since you mentioned you'd be using poplar, building some furniture, you'd probably want a blade with more teeth. An 80 tooth fine finish blade will produce better results.

For me, it doesn't matter what blade I use to rip, because I end up running everything I rip down over my jointer, which removes all the marks that the saw blade leaves along the cut edge. Then it just gets a light sanding to take out the mill marks.

If you don't have a jointer, you would probably want a fine tooth blade, and you'll either have to sand the cut edge with a belt sander or orbital sander.

So in my mind, it really won't matter- 40 tooth or 60 tooth, because either one will leave saw marks. Nicholson used to make a fine tooth finish blade (not carbide) that made nice clean cuts and hardly left any saw marks because none of the teeth were set beyond the plate- it made very smooth cuts and didn't cost that much since it wasn't carbide. That might be an option for you if you can find one.

For what it's worth, generally the blade should protrude above your wood the depth of the tip cooling slot, which can vary with the number of teeth and manufacturer. That way you are getting the cooling you need, and aren't presenting a large danger to your hands, by having the blade too high, and most push devices aren't really hurt by being passed over it.