I am continuing work at restoring the exterior of my workshop.  A section of the workshop's exterior walls and ceiling had rotton wood and splintering boards from many years of neglect.  It was over time to replace this section.  To do so, I needed to use a lot of plywood and 2"X4" lumber.  When I started the work, I noticed I needed a new circular saw blade, as my old blade wore out from ripping old wood scraped from previous projects. 

I decided to buy this combination pack of Skil's carbide circular saw blades.  The pack contains two blades:  They are both standard 7 1/4 inch circular saw blades.  The first one is an 18 tooth blade used for ripping or fast cutting through wood.  I used this blade for ripping wood used for framing and for cutting up the wood taken down from the original structure to be discarded.  The second blade has 40 teeth that is used for finer cuts to be used on wood where you want to limit splintering of wood, such as with plywood, doors, cabinets, and shelving.  I used this blade to cut the plywood I used for the exterior walls and for the plywood used for roofing.

The blade I originally replaced on my circular saw was the Skil 18T ("T" stands for teeth) carbide blade.  I had used it many times for various projects before it needed replacement.  The teeth still seemed to be sharp on the blade, but when I went to use the saw, the blade would smoke up a bit when cutting into wood.  Also, the side of the blades were getting marred up with residue from the wood.  The old blade never warped or broke, despite lots of heavy use.  I am told there is a way to sharpen the carbide teeth on these blades but I don't think it is worth the time and effort.   New blades are relatively inexpensive.

I bought this replacement blade combination pack at my local hardware store for $16 during a "dollar days" sale.  However, I noticed that Lowes sells the same blades individually for even less!  The 18T blade costs $4.48 and the 40T blade costs $10.88.  The blades even cost more money at some websites.

I use these blades strictly on my circular saw.  The blades work well and they are tough and durable.  I have accidently cut through old rusted nails that I did not see.  Although cutting nails dull the blades quickly, the blade I was using still lasted a long time.  I usually use old blades to cut up wood to be discarded (that might have nails in them) or I use a cheap all steel blade. 

These blades are made with tungsten steel with carbide teeth.  This makes the steel harder than normal plain steel blades, which makes the blade last longer.  Usually, the more teeth a saw blade has the finer the cut will be on the wood you are sawing.  Also, more teeth make the saw run slower.  I noticed somewhat of a difference when I went from using the 18T blade up to the 40T blade, although both of them still cut pretty quickly. 

Skil has been around for a long time and they have been making power tools and accessories since the early 1900's.  Lately, they have joined forces with Bosch and I noticed that the Bosch Power Tools stores all sell Skil tools and parts.  Both companies make great quality products that are very reliable.  Also, most of the stuff the manufacture is made in the USA.

I would recommend this set of saw blades, if you need both of them.  Shop around as the price of these blades vary largely.  Usually, the more teeth a saw blade has, the more you are going to pay, as it costs more to manufacture the extra teeth.   Thanks for reading my review and best wishes for a nice day!

Mike 

Recommended: Yes