The CMT 213.040.10 is a full kerf 10" premium 40 tooth ATB saw blade with a 5/8" bore intended mainly for use on a TS.
Strike 1:
This was to be the new daily user for my new Shop Fox cabinet saw, but ultimately I’m disappointed, as it underperformed expectations. I really wanted to like this blade...the attention grabbing orange color is awesome, plus it gives a constant warning to keep hands away.
… Unfortunately there are pronounced swirl marks on the edges of every cut that make glue-ups straight from the saw unacceptable. The marks are large enough that you can actually feel them fairly easily with your fingers. The quality of the cut looks like it came from a low quality 24 tooth rip blade, not a premium 40 tooth general purpose blade. On the plus side, it’s fairly free from tearout on the backside of crosscuts, but the edge marks remain. It’s made in Italy with precision manufacturing techniques, high grade materials, and is a common general purpose design, so there’s really no reason it shouldn’t make better cuts. Performance is among the poorest performing of all the higher grade general purpose blades I’ve tried, and even some lower end blades. My $25 Oshlun is better, as are all my Freud, Forrest, Infinity, Tenryu, DeWalt, Delta, Leitz, and Amana blades. I have other CMT products that perform well, so perhaps this one is simply “not quite right” but at $60 it’s unacceptable as my “go to” blade. This one got returned.
Strike 2:
A sale with 50% off CMT products from Woodwerks.com presented a great opportunity for me to give the 213.040.10 another shot. Amazingly, the 2nd attempt was very similar to the first...unacceptable. The saw marks from this blade are easily visible, can be felt, and are too pronounced for glue up without additional attention from a jointer or handplane. I’m surprised and disappointed to get this kind of performance from a premium blade. I’ve used several other good 40T and 50T general purpose/combo type blades that I can glue up straight from the saw with no additional machining required (Forrest WWII 30T and 40T, Infinity Super General, General, and Combomax, Tenryu Gold Medal, RS25540, and RS25550, DeWalt DW7657 and DW7640, Freud LU84, LU86, and LU88, Oshlun 40T, Craftex Blue Tornado, Amana Tools 610504, etc).
It was fairly easy (and logical) to chalk the first one up as an “escaping defect” from the factory...it happens to all of them from time to time. The 2nd one was purchased from a different retailer close to a year apart from the first. The problem could still be a 2nd escaping defect, or could even be part of the same bad run as the first, but the probability of that being the case is pretty slim. This is a straight forward 40T ATB general purpose design. I’ve double checked the saw to rule it out as a possible cause, and I’m getting great results from several other blades. It’s possible that CMT’s execution of this design is simply mediocre, but I’ve read several reports of others being very happy with this blade....some even think it's superior to the WWII and other premium general purpose blades. Also, I’ve tried several other CMT products with excellent results that I’ll heartily recommend when they fit the need, but I can’t recommend this particular blade at this time. The only way third chance could occur at this point would be for CMT to send another complimentary blade my way, because I'm sure not spending money on a third one!
