I am a big fan of Freud Diablo’s D1050X 10″ combination table and miter saw blade, which sells for under $35 via Amazon. I wrote about that blade a few months ago, in my “Best Miter Saw Blade” post.
About a week ago I pulled a brand new Irwin Marples combination saw blade out of the bottom of a box, model 1807368. I believe it was a review sample, and that it had somehow inadvertently gotten itself buried for a few years.
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I had some table saw cuts to make, and while I’ve been using a Dewalt saw for my current cabinet build project (I’ve been making the second set of drawers), I also have a SawStop portable table saw test sample that’s been itching to cut some wood.
I only have one of those Diablo blades, and it’s loaded in the Dewalt saw, and so I found this Irwin saw blade just in time.
It’s a 50-tooth blade with alternate tooth bevel carbide teeth, and raker teeth. It’s said to excel at cutting all kinds of materials, including plywood, and is said to be suitable for table saw and miter saw use.
I didn’t have a lot to throw the SawStop’s way, just 8 cuts in 6mm (~1/4″) baltic birch plywood, around 171.2 inches (~14.3 feet) in total, and a few feet of 12mm (~1/2″) baltic birch plywood.
Whoa. The blade performed quite admirably, leaving clean and smooth edges. And the SawStop? It was smooth-cutting and powerful. It felt smoother than the Dewalt saw, and the guard’s anti-kickback pawls didn’t score the wood in the same way.
It’s not relevant to the discussion of the blade, but I found the SawStop to be a LOT quicker and easier to set up than any other portable table saw I’ve tested, ever. I had to set it up and take it down outside several times because the weather was playing tricks on me.
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I’m the type of user that uses full guarding on through-cuts, and it was a pleasure to have the fence and guard on and off stowed away in seconds.
See Also: Setting up a SawStop Jobsite Table Saw – How it Went
I’m going to need to swap the blades back and forth from saw to saw, to try and see if I can tell any difference between the Diablo and Irwin blades.
But so far, I’m really liking the Irwin blade. More than the Diablo combination blade? It’s hard to say.
This Irwin blade costs a few dollars more. If I had trouble getting an immediate Diablo replacement, I’d probably buy this one without a second thought. Maybe I’ll be more open-minded about blade selection in the future. I’m a Freud fan, but this impression has me willing to consider other Irwin Marples blades in the future.
That’s as close to a recommendation as I can stand by right now. If asked outright, “do you recommend this blade,” I’d offer a simple answer – “yes.” Not “YES!!,” at least not yet, but a “yes” nevertheless. It seems to be a great general purpose 10″ woodworking saw blade.
Price: $42
Buy Now(via Amazon)
Compare(Diablo D1050X via Amazon)
It will also be interesting to see what happens to the Irwin Marples brand, now that Stanley Black & Decker owns it.
As of the time of this posting, this blade is made in Italy. (Perhaps this design is made for Irwin by Freud, which also manufactures some blades in Italy.)
I have not yet tried this blade on a miter saw, but will try to report back if anything notable happens.
Thank you to Irwin for providing this review sample unconditionally.
Kris
Definately Freud. Both blades sport a .098″ kerf, nearly identical teeth and Irwin reports on their website the blades are made in Udine, Italy. Where Freud has their factory 🙂
Stuart
Thanks, good sleuthing!
The blade profile looks very similar too, aside from the slightly differently shaped gullet.
Irwin typically works differences into their OEM-made products.
Or, the extra middleman might be what’s contributing to the higher street price.
ktash
I nearly always get Diablo blades, so thanks for the review. Lowe’s carries Irwin products, but not Diablo blades. This might figure into it, especially for sales. I recently bought two 50 tooth DeWalt 10″ blades for my miter/contractor saws. Why? They were about $13 each at Ace. Haven’t tried them yet, but couldn’t pass up the price.
Michael
Dewalt also has blades in line with Diablo and Marple. I also picked up a CMT on closeout at Lowe’s a few years ago and it great cuts cross grain in plywood.
Kevin T
I have been using this blade in my table saw for a couple years. It works better than the Freud Diablo combination blades, but that may have just been since my Freud blade was dull.
They stock them at Lowe’s for cheaper than amazon ($40). It makes perfectly smooth cuts for me. I have shaved off paper thin slices of wood from an oak one by stock. The cut was incredible.
Hep
This has been my experience with this blade as well….great cuts in plywood, solid oak, solid pine, and dimensional pine. I would buy again!
Hep
kcalhoun27
this is what I have used on my mitre saw for a few years. great blade! I was pleasantly surprised at the clean cuts on hard woods I used for a kitchen island
Brian
Have you tried the Irwin Marathon 40T blade? It seems like an absolute steal at Lowes: https://www.lowes.com/pd/IRWIN-Marathon-10-in-40-Tooth-Carbide-Circular-Saw-Blade/1000145441
I’ve been happy with my 80T Makita blade, it was only $30 and the cuts have been super smooth.
Stuart
“Fast cutting” often means a blade is more of a framing blade than finishing one.
Les
Have used this blade for a couple of years now and on semi exotic hardwoods, works perfectly, I definitely recommend it in a heartbeat.
Bryan
I have used the Irwin Marples Blade for years and really liked it. I just bought a SawStop and I want to make sure it will not short circuit the safety feature. The blade says it is coated with a non stick coating. Does that mean non-conductive as well? If the blade is non conductive it would not activate if it was touched.
Stuart
SawStop says:
I believe your blade would work perfectly in the saw, but to be absolutely sure, you should contact SawStop to ask.
N
Old post now – but since you discussed the COO in the original post, I thought I’d add: Irwin has moved production of this blade (and others) to China and has lowered quality. I just purchased this 50T blade and it no longer proudly displays the COO on the blade, but rather in teeny-tiny writing on the back corner of the packaging. I’m guessing they aren’t proud of the switcheroo? Anyway, the carbide teeth on the Italian version are considerably larger and longer than the new Chinese version. I guess the purchase of Irwin by Stanley has led to a poorer quality product. Too bad – Irwin’s now on my “do not buy” list.