Devilish Diablo Deftly Dissects

We recently received some new Freud Diablo blades at the magazine to test (two of which will be featured in an upcoming Tool Test in the magazine). The blade is what Diablo calls its Ultimate Flawless Finish blade. It’s a 12″ diameter blade that is designed to work on fixed and sliding miter saws (the 12″ variety of course).

Now, we all know that no one ever replaces their miter saw blades (or so I’ve been told), but you might just want to change that behavior.

I removed the original blade from the saw in the PopWood shop and replaced it with the 100 tooth Diablo. The next several minutes were spent in search of scraps to test the blade. I grabbed some yellow pine and made a few cuts – grabbed some poplar then some walnut and finally some plywood, cutting all the while. Whether cutting fast or slow, full blade-width cuts or just a partial blade width to trim the boards, the blade sliced through the material and left behind a smooth, clean cut. Cutting is effortless and relatively tear-out free – even on plywood. There’s no noticeable vibration or deflection while cutting.

Now, I haven’t done a complete test of the blade at this point (I’d like to try some single and compound angle cuts as wells as some cuts into extremely thin and thick material), but the initial feedback is pretty good. As I, and the other editors, give the blade a workout over the next few weeks I’ll keep you updated. But, at around $65 for the blade, you might not be able to resist the temptation.

–– Chuck Bender