Men don’t shave their faces or women shave their legs with a dirty gunked up razor. You’ll bleed and the cut will be rough with abraised skin. It’s the same with a saw blade. You’ll have a rough cut, and the saw has to run harder. It’s as easy to clean a saw blade as it is to rinse a razor.
Why You Clean a Saw Blade
That’s really a no-brainer. After using a circular saw or any saw over time, resins and pitch will build up on the blade’s cutting teeth edges. The blade will act dull because it’s coated with the sticky stuff.
Heat and friction increase making cutting harder to do with unclean edges on your wood or other materials. Just as it’s said that a dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp knife, the same is true for saw blades.
When saw blades cut at their greatest ability, the struggle for the saw’s motor to overwork is reduced. This is for all saw blades: circular saws, chainsaws, jigsaws, miter saws, coping saws, crosscut saws, hand saws, back saws, bow saws, hacksaws, fret saws, pruning saws, band saws, table saws, chop saws, reciprocating saws, radial arm saws and about 20 more saw types.
Saws used for cutting wood must have their blades cleaned of resin to perform efficiently. A quick clean 2 to 3 times a year will keep the saw’s blade sharp even if you don’t use it all that often.
Carefully check the teeth and tips on the blade. If they are missing or dull, replace the blade for those saws that can have blades replaced, or get a new hand-type saw if you use those.
Plain steel saw blades can be sharpened with a metal file and carbide-tipped teeth must be sharpened by the professionals. More than not, it’s just more time- and cost-effective to buy a new blade or chain.
How to Clean Saw Blades
For circular saws, and chains on saws as well, a citrus cleaner works well, also cleaning many things around your home or business. Oven cleaners can be used but those products are toxic and smell horrible. Another reason not to use oven cleaners is that they can be harmful to carbide tips.
Simple Green is a good general-purpose product. I like CMT Orange Tools™ Formula 2050 Blade and Bit Cleaner shown on Amazon.com® better.
It’s non-toxic, non-flammable, biodegradable, and does the job well to remove resin, pitch, and other adhesive residue.
Do not use on vehicles with tree sap; it will harm the paint. It melts off the gunk quickly and is earth friendly. It does not remove coatings from blades either. It works well as a saw blade cleaner, cleaner for drill bits, and cleaner for hedge trimmers.
Easy Circular Saw Maintenance Tips video.
