Best Miter Saw Blade for Trim – 8 Reviews, Pros, Cons, Guide

best miter saw blade for trim

It’s definitely not easy shopping for a new miter saw blade as there are a ton of factors you have to take into account. 

If you want to get one for a specific task such as trimming then you must make sure that the blade has the right design for it. 

In this post, we have compiled some of the best miter saw blades for trimming currently available in the market.

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★ WINNER ★

DEWALT 10-Inch Miter Saw Blade
With this pack, you get two blades both of which come with Tungsten-Carbide tips on the teeth. This makes them long-lasting and much less likely to cause tear-out or any form of splintering. The lower-teeth blade can be used for general cutting and the other can be used for trimming. Check on Amazon
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★ RUNNER UP ★

Freud D12100X 100 Tooth Diablo Ultra-Fine Circular Saw Blade

This miter saw blade is the perfect pick if you want smooth and precise cuts with ease. You can use it to cut through a variety of different materials. It’s very unlikely to jam up and the blade is extremely sturdy for the kerf it has. Check on Amazon
★ ALSO GREAT ★

Makita A-93681 10-Inch Miter Saw Blade
This blade has been manufactured from hardened steel and it’s great for a variety of different tasks including trimming. The thin kerf makes it easy to perform intricate cuts. Furthermore, it can be used on plywood as well.
Check on Amazon

After taking a quick look at our top 3 picks, you can delve deeper and assess all of the top products we’ve chosen for this list below.

Best Miter Saw Blades for Trim - Top 8 Reviews

1.Best All-Around Miter Saw Blade for Trim - DEWALT 10-Inch Miter Saw Blade Review

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You get a pack of 2 blades here which is a great offer if you regularly do woodworking. 

The blade with higher teeth has 60 of them and works great for trimming and other jobs that require more precision. 

In addition to that, the other blade is a welcome addition to your arsenal that you can use for general-purpose ripping. 

Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy DEWALT 10-Inch Miter Saw Blade

Tooth count: As mentioned above, you get two blades: one that has 60 teeth and another that has 32 teeth. 

Blade type: Both of the blades are 7-degree ATB blades. You can easily utilize them for quick and smooth cuts.

Kerf: They have thin kerfs which make for precise cuts. At the same time, they are also quite sturdy which ensures they don’t warp while cutting.

What We Liked:
What We Disliked:

Best All-Around Miter Saw Blade for Trim

The best all-around miter saw blade for trim is the DEWALT 10-Inch Miter Saw Blade. For the trimming, the blade with the higher teeth works great and that too, with many different materials.

2.Best 12-Inch Miter Saw Blade for Trim - Freud D12100X 100 Tooth Diablo Ultra-Fine Circular Saw Blade Review

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This blade comes with 100 teeth which are more than enough to make precise cuts on a number of different materials. 

It’s a 12-inch blade which means you need a 12-inch miter saw for it. The blade comes with laser-stabilized vents that ensure it doesn’t make too much noise during operation. 

Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Freud D12100X 100 Tooth Diablo Ultra-Fine Circular Saw Blade

Tooth count: The blade features 100 teeth which makes it highly versatile and also ensures all of your cuts are smooth and precise.

Blade type: The blade features an ATB (Alternate Top Bevel) design. Hence, it’s great if you mostly work with natural wood types and want to trim them. 

Kerf: The blade has a super-thin laser-cut kerf that is perfect for the precise, angled, and complex cuts you’re looking for.

What We Liked:
What We Disliked:

Best 12-Inch Miter Saw Blade for Trim

The best 12-inch miter saw blade for trim is the Freud D12100X 100 Tooth Diablo Ultra-Fine Circular Saw Blade thanks to its sturdiness and ease of use.

3.Best Ultra-Thin Miter Saw Blade for Trim - Makita A-93681 10-Inch Miter Saw Blade Review

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For tasks that require precision such as trimming, you want a blade that is fairly thin so it can make smooth cuts with ease. 

This blade from Makita has a super-thin kerf which is required for precise cuts. At the same, it is sturdy which ensures the blade won’t warp or become damaged when working with thicker materials.

Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Makita A-93681 10-Inch Miter Saw Blade

Tooth count: The miter saw blade has 80 teeth that are more than enough for trimming and cross-cutting against the wood grain. 

Blade type: The blade has a standard ATB design which is to be expected from a blade designed to cross-cut natural wood types. 

Kerf: As mentioned earlier, it has a super-thin kerf. To be exact, the kerf is 0.091 inches thick.

What We Liked:
What We Disliked:

Best Ultra-Thin Miter Saw Blade for Trim

The best ultra-thin miter saw blade for trim is the Makita A-93681 10-Inch Miter Saw Blade thanks to its durable design, razor-sharp teeth and high level of compatibility.

4.Best 12-Inch Ultra-Thin Miter Saw Blade for Trim - Freud 12" x 72T Thin Kerf Sliding Compound Miter Saw Blade Review

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This blade’s design features 72 teeth and a 5-degree negative hook. Both of these aspects come together to form a blade that is super efficient at making cross-cuts and trims.

The thin kerf of the blade also ensures that there is a lot less load put on the motor of your miter saw. 

Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Freud 12″ x 72T Thin Kerf Sliding Compound Miter Saw Blade

Tooth count: As mentioned earlier, the blade has 72 teeth. This is more than enough for trims as well as cross-cutting across the wood grain. 

Blade type: The blade’s teeth face left and right to cement its ATB (Alternate Top Bevel) design. It’s great for tasks that require a higher level of precision and accuracy.

Kerf: The thin kerf of the blade makes it suited for precise cutting. At the same time, the blade is strong enough to ensure it doesn’t crack under pressure when cutting thicker materials.

What We Liked:
What We Disliked:

Best 12-Inch Ultra-Thin Miter Saw Blade for Trim

The best 12-inch ultra-thin miter saw blade for trim is the Freud 12″ x 72T Thin Kerf Sliding Compound Miter Saw Blade since it has an ATB design and a non-stick surface.



5.Best Affordable Miter Saw Blade for Trim - WEN BL1080 10-Inch 80-Tooth Miter Saw Blade Review

93681 10 inch 80 blades available

Buying a miter saw blade can often cost a pretty penny if you’re not careful. 

Naturally, you want to spend a fair amount to ensure you get a high-quality product but sometimes, you want to save some money. 

This miter saw blade from WEN is quite cheap but nothing about its build quality is cheap. It can go head-to-head with any expensive miter saw blade and provide similar results.

Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy WEN BL1080 10-Inch 80-Tooth Miter Saw Blade

Tooth count: The miter saw blade has 80 teeth that are more than enough to conduct trimming as well as cross-cutting against the wood grain. 

Blade type: It has a standard ATB design that is to be expected from a blade that is suited to cross-cutting and trimming. 

Kerf: It has quite a thin kerf with a size of 1/10 inches. It’s not the thinnest blade out there but it’s thin enough to do the job of making precise cuts with ease. 

What We Liked:
What We Disliked:

Best Affordable Miter Saw Blade for Trim

The best affordable miter saw blade for trim is the WEN BL1080 10-Inch 80-Tooth Miter Saw Blade thanks to its low price and sturdy construction.

6.Best Non-Ferrous Miter Saw Blade for Trim - Freud D1296N Diablo 12" 96 Tooth TCG Non-Ferrous Miter Saw Blade Review

Made from shock-resistant carbide, this miter saw blade can cut through wood, metal and also, PVC. 

Its thin kerf allows for great accuracy and it’s the blade to get if you work with many different materials regularly. 

Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Freud D1296N Diablo 12″ 96 Tooth TCG Non-Ferrous Miter Saw Blade

Tooth count: The blade features a whopping 96 teeth which are more than enough for fine-finished cuts, trimming and also, cross-cutting. 

Blade type: The blade has a TCG (Triple-Chip Grind) design which makes it ideal for precision cutting of wood, PVC, and metal. 

Kerf: It has an extremely thin kerf that is only 0.091 inches wide. This makes it perfect for precision cutting where you don’t want to waste a lot of the material.

What We Liked:
What We Disliked:

Best Non-Ferrous Miter Saw Blade for Trim

The best non-ferrous miter saw blade for trim is the Freud D1296N Diablo 12″ 96 Tooth TCG Non-Ferrous Miter Saw Blade thanks to its TCG design and composition. The materials that it’s made from ensure it can cut through numerous types of materials.

7.Best Fine-Finishing Miter Saw Blade for Trim - DeWalt DW3126 12-Inch Miter Saw Blade Review

If you want a fine finish on your trims, this is a miter saw blade definitely worth considering. 

Its large size ensures it can cut through thicker materials. 

In addition to that, the tungsten-carbide-tipped teeth ensure that the blade will last a long time while easily cutting through all sorts of materials.

Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy DeWalt DW3126 12-Inch Miter Saw Blade

Tooth count: The blade has 60 teeth and it can cut through a variety of materials including MDF, particleboard and melamine. 

Blade type: It has an Alternate Top Bevel (ATB) design that’s perfect for trims and cross-cuts.

Kerf: It has an ultra-thin kerf that’s perfect for fast and smooth cuts.

What We Liked:
What We Disliked:

Best Fine-Finishing Miter Saw Blade for Trim

The best fine-finishing miter saw blade for trim is the DeWalt DW3126 12-Inch Miter Saw Blade thanks to its high tooth count and larger size.

8.Best Miter Saw Blade for Molding and Veneer - Hitachi 725206 72-Teeth 10-Inch Miter Saw Blade Review

This 72-tooth blade is quite affordable and simplistic. It gets the job done and it’s also compatible with a decent number of miter saws. 

The blade has a great structure for efficiently performing cross-cuts across the wood grain as well as trimming. 

Factors to Consider Before you Decide to Buy Hitachi 725206 72-Teeth 10-Inch Miter Saw Blade

Tooth count: As mentioned above, it has 72 teeth which is more than enough for trimming and cross-cutting. 

Blade type: The blade has a standard ATB (Alternate Top Bevel) design that makes it ideal for trimming jobs. 

Kerf: It’s got an ultra-thin kerf which wastes very little of the material being cut. At the same time, it provides accuracy and precision as well.

What We Liked:
What We Disliked:

Best Miter Saw Blade for Molding and Veneer

The best miter saw blade for molding and veneer is the Hitachi 725206 72-Teeth 10-Inch Miter Saw Blade. It can cut through many different materials and it’s definitely the blade to get if you want to work with veneer and molding.

Buyer's Guide

best miter saw blade

Before you actually buy a miter saw blade for trimming, it’s crucial that you do your research to ensure that you’re buying the right blade for the job. 

If you’ve browsed for miter saw blades online prior to reading this, you may have seen many different terms and words used to describe them. 

You may not know what they mean at the moment and it’s crucial that you do if you want to find the proper miter saw blade for your needs. 

Some of the factors you must take into account before you buy a miter saw blade include:

Tooth Count 

For trimming and similar purposes, you will need to get a miter saw blade that is typically designed for cross-cutting across the grain. These types of miter saw blades typically have a higher tooth count. 

If you are cutting against the grain of the wood, then a higher tooth count miter saw blade will provide a smoother and more precise cut.

Furthermore, having a higher tooth count also reduces the chances of tear-out during cutting. Tear-out is a term that is used to describe when the wood splinters during cutting due to the blade jamming into it and spinning. 

In addition to trimming, other miter saw blades with different tooth counts are meant for different tasks. For example: 

  • Blades with 40 – 50 teeth and ATB designs are usually used to rip hardwood. 
  • Blades with 40 – 80 teeth and ATB designs are usually used for miter and bevel cuts. 
  • Blades with 40 – 80 teeth and ATB designs can also be utilized to cut other materials such as particleboard, MDF and melamine. 
  • Blades with more than 80 teeth can be used to cut materials other than wood such as metal and PVC. 

Diameter

Next, you need to decide how big of a miter saw blade you want to get. When we refer to the “size” of a miter saw blade, we refer to its diameter. 

Please note that you can’t buy a miter saw blade that is bigger than the miter saw you have. 

Your miter saw can accommodate blades that are smaller than it but not ones that are larger. 

For example, you might be able to fit a 10-inch miter saw blade in a 12-inch miter saw. However, you cannot fit a 12-inch miter saw blade in a 10-inch miter saw. 

Hence, you really need to be careful when it comes to the size of the miter saw blade you buy. You don’t want to end up with a blade that cannot even fit into your miter saw. 

In addition to that, you must also ensure that the miter saw blade you are buying can indeed perform the tasks you want it to. 

As you might probably imagine, larger blades can cut through thicker materials but require a lot more power. On the other hand, smaller blades are easier to handle and require less power. However, they can’t cut through thicker materials.

Blade Type

When shopping for blades online, you may have seen them being described with different acronyms. 

If you don’t know what these acronyms mean, it can be very difficult to understand which saw blade would be right for you. 

These acronyms tell you about the type of blade it is. The blade type determines what type of jobs a miter saw blade is best for.

Some miter saw blade types include: 

  • ATB: This is Alternate Top Bevel and it has teeth that face both left and right. This design is perfect for crosscutting natural wood types. 
  • ATBR: This type stands for Alternate Top Bevel with Raker. It has teeth that are divided into groups of five. Four of them are ATB teeth and the fifth one is a flat-top raker tooth. You can use it to perform clean cuts on plywood and particleboard.
  • Hi-ATB: This stands for High Alternate Top Bevel. Its teeth are fashioned in the same way as an ATB design. However, it has a bevel that is 25 degrees or higher. This allows it to conduct more smooth and precise cuts.
  • FTG: FTG stands for Flat Top Grind design. You can use it when you require efficiency when performing repetitive cuts. It’s designed to cut wood along the grain. 
  • TCG: This stands for Triple-Chip Grind. It’s a combination of two different designs into one (a flat top grind and a trapezoidal top grind). You can use it for general-purpose cutting of not only wood but also PVC and sheet metal.

Kerf

You may have seen the “kerf” of a blade being discussed online as you shop for miter saw blades. 

You really can’t shop for a miter saw blade without knowing what the kerf is and checking for it. 

The kerf of a blade refers to the width of it. You can also think of it as the “thickness” of the blade. 

Naturally, the thinner the kerf of a blade is, the more precise the cut will be. 

Blades with thinner kerfs also waste a lot less material compared to blades with thicker kerfs. 

That being said, thin-kerf blades are also much less sturdy and can only handle thinner materials. 

If you want to cut thicker materials, then you would need a blade with a thick kerf. 

For the purposes of trimming, a thinner kerf is something you should look for in your miter saw blade.

Cuts & Materials

Last but not least, you have to consider the type of material(s) that you will cut with your newly purchased blade. 

Naturally, not all miter saw blades are designed to cut through all sorts of materials. 

Hence, you must first assess which types of materials you typically work with. Based on that, you will buy a miter saw blade that can cut through those materials. 

Some common cuts and materials include: 

  • Ripping blades: Not exactly for trimming. These types of blades are meant for general-purpose ripping of hardwoods. They are great if you don’t want accuracy but want efficiency and speed.
  • Plywood and laminate blades: These blades are designed to cut through niche materials such as plywood and laminate. They also have a different design as they typically come with triple-chipped teeth with a 10-degree hook angle. 
  • Melamine blades: You can’t cut through Melamine with just any regular miter saw blade as it would cause splintering. These blades usually have a high number of teeth along with a TCG (Triple-Chip Grind) design. 

Non-ferrous and steel: These blades typically come with a high number of teeth. They also usually have some coating to increase their longevity and durability.

Learn more with our various REVIEW POSTS.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How Do I Know When to Replace My Miter Saw Blade?

There’s no clear-cut answer for this as it depends on a number of varying factors such as what blade you have, what you’re using it for, how long you’ve had it, etc. 

Typically, you can look out for warning signs that let you know your blade is nearing the end of its life. If it starts to smoke up from time to time or if it gets jammed in the material, that’s a sure-fire way of knowing it needs replacing

Do I Need My Miter Saw Blade to be the Same Brand as My Miter Saw? 

Not at all. While you may have an easier time fitting the blade, it’s not really a necessity. 

As long as you buy an appropriate-sized blade for your miter saw that has the same-sized arbor lock, you’re pretty much golden. 

Can Miter Saws Cut Metal?

Yes, there are many miter saws out there that are powerful enough to cut through metal. 

Just make sure that the miter saw blade you get with it is also designed to cut through metal materials as well. 

Obviously, if you put a miter saw blade that is designed for wood and try to cut metal with it, you won’t have much luck. 

Can I Use a Smaller Blade on a Larger Miter Saw? 

Yes, you can definitely do this as long as the arbor sizes are the same for both the blade and the saw. 

Smaller blades are designed to rotate faster so the motor on a bigger saw might not be able to provide it with that RPM. 

Furthermore, a smaller blade on a larger miter saw might also result in inaccurate cuts. 

In any case, the bottom line is that you can use it but we would recommend that you don’t do so if you can help it.

When are Blades with Lower Number of Teeth Appropriate to Use?

Lower teeth count blades are not appropriate for trimming or any applications that require precision and accuracy. 

However, to perform repetitive cuts that require efficiency and not precision, they can work quite well. 

Wrapping things up

That’s the end of our post for the best miter saw blades for trim. 

As far as our judgment goes, the DEWALT 10-Inch Miter Saw Blade is something that we think will work best for most woodworkers. 

It’s affordable and gets the job done for trimmers as well as cross-cutters. 

Which blade do you think is the best? Let us know in the comments below.

For more information, CLICK HERE.

 

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