How To Select The Best Reciprocating Saw Blades

Among the many tools that are accessible, reciprocating saws are pretty flexible. The enormous variety of blades available to cut through a wide range of materials contributes to its versatility. Your Benchmark Abrasives saw blades can cut through a variety of materials including wood, nails, fiberglass, branches, plaster, masonry, and even high-strength alloys made of aluminum, cast iron, and steel. However, how can one select the appropriate blade for the material they need to cut?

There are numerous blade attributes to take into account. This generally refers to the length, width, thickness, and teeth-per-inch (TPI) of the blade. Blade shape, tooth form, kerf-width, gullet, and tooth pattern can all be chosen for particular cut types. Once you understand the fundamentals, selecting the ideal reciprocating saw blade is simple despite the wide range of alternatives.

Choosing Reciprocating Saw Blades Based On Their Material

1. High Carbon Steel

Blades made of carbon steel are the most widely available and least expensive variety. When used correctly, they are the softest and most flexible blade materials, allowing for bending without breaking. They are also the least durable because of this. Particle boards, plastics, and softer wood all cut well with these. But when they come into contact with metal, hardwood, and other hard surfaces, they immediately become dull.

2. High-Speed Steel (HSS)

High-speed steel blades are tempered, which increases their durability and resistance to heat compared to carbon steel blades. They outlive carbon steel by up to five times. Because of their hardness, they are less pliable and more likely to break when bent. Additionally, it enables them to cut non-ferrous metal, hardwoods, and aluminum without suffering from excessive wear, dulling, or tooth breaking. 

3. Bi-Metal

High-carbon steel for flexibility and break resistance is combined with high-speed steel teeth for heat resistance, hardness, and longevity in bi-metal blades. Bi-metal reciprocating blades have an average lifespan of ten times that of carbon steel blades. Although they are a little more expensive than HSS or HCS blades, they are more durable and versatile for use in more demanding applications. Because of this, Benchmark Abrasives in the trades, auto yards, and other occupations where they are used frequently or every day favor this particular blade type the most. Because of its longevity and resilience, bi-metal blades are also suggested for do-it-yourself tasks and infrequent use.

The cutting edge of other bi-metal blades is made of a cobalt-steel alloy. This results in even better wear and heat resistance as well as an extended blade life. These blades work well for a variety of tasks, such as ordinary wood cutting, sheet metal and pipe cutting, vehicle disassembly, demolition (nail-embedded wood), and so on.

4. Carbide-Tipped

Benchmark Abrasives cutting blades with carbide tips are made of two metals, tungsten or titanium, and have a carbide tip at the end of each tooth. These carbide materials are incredibly resilient to impact, heat, and hardness. They also have a cutting life that is 20 times longer than a typical bi-metal blade. The is capable of cutting thicker metal, such as high-strength alloys, cast iron, and stainless steel. This makes them perfect for cutting materials like grade 8 bolts and boron-reinforced vehicle pillars that would nearly instantly shatter an HCS, HSS, or conventional bi-metal blade.

5. Carbide Grit

Unlike a conventional abrasive blade, carbide grit blades (usually made of tungsten carbide) are toothless. For cutting dense materials like ceramic tile, cement, brick, marble, and other stone and masonry, as well as tougher metals like cast iron, they contain an abrasive strip. Because of its hardness, carbide grit may cut through these materials without causing damage or premature wear and tear.

6. Diamond

Although they use diamonds rather than carbide, diamond blades are likewise abrasive. The priciest reciprocating saw blades are these. They can cut masonry, fiber cement, cast iron, glass, and concrete in addition to these materials. To cut through brittle materials like glass, which a toothed blade would shatter, and extremely hard and dense materials like concrete, which a toothed blade would shatter, one needs the hardness of diamonds and the fineness of the abrasive grit. Diamond grit blades last five to twenty times longer than carbide grit because of the hardness of diamonds. They also cut significantly faster.

7. Length

The lengths of reciprocating saw blades vary from 3" to 12". The most often sold lengths are 6" and 9". Other standard lengths include 4", 6", 8", 9", and 12". Because they are more stiff, short blades are more aggressive. Because of their stiffness, they cut straighter and more squarely, which makes them perfect for copper piping, thinner metals, and plunge cutting. Because they have a larger surface area, longer blades can disperse more heat and are more flexible. A longer blade is required for tasks like demolition, pruning, auto-dismantling, and rescue. When a flush cut is needed, you can also bend the blade because of its flexibility.

You should always select a blade length that is marginally longer than the thickness of the material you are cutting. This gives you a little more mobility and less chance of slipping and binding. An excessively long blade may waver, occasionally very violently. This results in severe vibration, which slows down your cutting and may eventually cause damage to your work and a bent blade.

8. Width and Shape

Larger blades provide increased stability—their ability to withstand bending and vibration results in cleaner, more forceful cuts. Wider blades are preferable for heavy-duty tasks like demolition (nail-embedded wood), auto-dismantling, and fire and rescue because of the additional support they provide. Wide blades range in size from 3/4" to 1".

Lower-width blades are more flexible for all-purpose applications or finer cutting. Usually, these are between 1/2" and 3/4". Traditionally used for scroll cutting—curved shapes and precision work in wood, metal, and plastic—very low widths are less than 1/2" thick.

There is significant variation in the form of the blade. Blades with a slanted form work well for plunge cutting. For cutting edges, use straight blades. To effectively accomplish both jobs, many blades feature a semi-tapered back or a notched or slanted tip.

9. Thickness

Standard thicknesses for reciprocating saw blades:

• Standard duty - 0.035" 
• Medium-heavy duty - 0.042" 
• Heavy Duty - 0.050" 
• Ultra Heavy Duty - 0.062"
  

Stronger and more resilient to bending and vibration are thicker blades. Moreover, they permit a higher feed pressure for more complex tasks. For demolition, including nail-embedded wood, auto disassembly, fire and rescue, and cutting thicker or denser metals, heavy-duty thicknesses of 0.050" to 0.062" work best. Heavy-duty blades are not advised for applications requiring flexibility or fine cutting since they are stiff and have a wider kerf width.

Most applications can be served by general-purpose blades, which are usually 0.035" in diameter. They offer a quicker cut and are more flexible. Because they require less material to manufacture, they also typically have lower costs.

10. Teeth-Per-Inch (TPI)

The TPI range for reciprocating saw blades is 3 to 24. The speed and roughness of the cut are determined by the number of teeth per inch.

Lower TPI blades leave faster cutting but rougher edges. The best blades for timber and demolition work are usually those with a TPI of 3 to 11. While demolition/nail-eating blades are typically between 8 and 11 TPI, pruning blades are often on the lower end. In the center, generally, about 6 TPI, general-purpose wood cutting blades are also capable of cutting nails.

Smaller amounts of material are removed with each pass-by blade with greater TPI. As a result, they leave a far smoother edge and cut more slowly. Usually used for finishing cuts in wood, metal, and denser materials, blades with a TPI of 12–18 are utilized. For metal cutting, the 18–24 TPI range is nearly usually used.

Combination blades are frequently used for demolition and cutting both metal and wood because of their variable TPI. The user can adjust the cut depending on how they place the blade because different parts of the blade have varying TPIs. For cutting metal and wood, a 10/14 TPI blade, for instance, alternates between portions of 10 and 14 TPI. A blade with a varied 14/18 TPI is meant to gnaw through metal.