The circular sawing wizard

Get the blade family and the blade specification for a material, a machine and a cut, then open it as a design.

Updated 11 November 2026

On this page

Why: The right circular blade depends on the material, the saw and the cut together.
How: Say what is cut, on which machine and which cut; every line names the published table it was read from.

A row is a row a maker printed, never an interpolation. Where no row was read the wizard says so and asks. The maximum speed marked on the blade is the limit.

What it asks for

Step	What it asks
What is being cut	The material and, for metal and plastic, the form it comes in. It decides the blade family and the tooth form.
The machine	The kind of saw decides which published blade table applies.
The cut	Rip or cross cut, sizing or scoring, a slot on the mill. The tooth form and the cutting angle follow it.
The machine's limits	The largest blade it takes, the bore and the spindle speed, when you know them.
What matters most	Finish, tool life or speed, and how much the blade cuts.

Materials

Group	Materials	Form asked for
Wood	Solid wood	Not asked
Wood based panels and laminates	Chipboard, MDF and plywood, raw or veneered; Melamine, plastic and paper coated board; HPL, compact laminate and hard coatings	Not asked
Composites	Fibre cement, gypsum and cement board	Not asked
Plastics	Plastics, sheet and profile	Profile or extrusion; Tube or pipe; Sheet or plate; Solid bar, round or square
Aluminium and non-ferrous metal	Aluminium; Brass; Copper; Bronze	Profile or extrusion; Tube or pipe; Sheet or plate; Solid bar, round or square
Steel and stainless	Structural and mild steel; Alloy and special steel; Stainless steel	Solid bar, round or square; Tube or pipe; Beam (RSJ); Channel

Machines and cuts

Machine	Cuts
Sliding table or panel sizing saw	Rip, along the grain; Cross cut, to length; Sizing; Scoring
Beam saw	Sizing; Scoring
Table saw or saw bench	Rip, along the grain; Cross cut, to length; Sizing; Scoring
Mitre, radial or pull saw	Cross cut, to length; Mitre
Profile saw for aluminium and plastics	Cross cut, to length; Mitre
Cold saw, HSS blade	Cross cut, to length; Mitre
Cold saw, carbide tipped blade	Cross cut, to length
Dry cut saw	Cross cut, to length; Mitre
Friction saw	Cross cut, to length
Slitting saw on a milling machine	Slitting and slotting

A material the sources do not list for the machine is refused by name. A cut the sources do not list for the machine is refused too and the cuts it makes are named.

What it returns

The blade family, ranked, with the reason for the first choice and what the second is for.
The specification: diameter, kerf and body, bore and pinholes, tooth count and pitch, tooth form and cutting angle.
The speed check: the rim speed from the diameter and your spindle speed, against the published figure where one was read.
The warnings the blade earns, such as a blade small for the machine or a spindle speed above the published maximum for the diameter.
The questions still open, each saying what the answer turns on.

Where the tip material table lists PCD for the material, the first choice moves between carbide tipped and PCD tipped with how much the blade cuts and whether tool life comes first. A PCD blade for board or laminate is specified by the engine of the PCD saw blade selector.

What it will not answer

Friction saw: no maker's page for its blades was read, so no blade is given. It asks which blade the saw maker specifies.
Cold saw, carbide tipped blade: it names the family and gives no dimensions, because no maker's table of them was read.
A rim speed for aluminium: the published figures disagree, so it gives none and asks what the blade maker gives for the alloy.
A rim speed band for carbide on wood and wood based panels: none was read, so it checks your spindle speed against the published maximum and suggests no speed.
A size between two printed rows or past the end of a table: it names the rows it sits between or says the table stops.

What it matches

It ranks the circular saw blades in your catalogue on diameter, bore, family, tooth count, tooth form and kerf. A blade larger than the machine takes or of the wrong kind is left out, not ranked low.

Opening it as a design

Have this one made to order opens the answer at /app/design/<design module>?prefill=. A PCD blade opens in the PCD saw blades design module. Every other blade opens in the Circular saw blades design module, on the family the wizard chose.

Answer	What travels
TCT (carbide tipped)	The use, diameter, kerf, body thickness, bore, pinholes, tooth count, tooth form and cutting angle
HSS	The grade where one was chosen, diameter, thickness, bore and hub, pinholes, tooth count and tooth form
Solid carbide	The fine or coarse tooth series, diameter, thickness, bore, the hub where the standard gives one and the tooth count where one cell was read
PCD tipped (diamond)	The whole specification from the PCD saw blade selector's engine

For a TCT or HSS blade your spindle speed travels too where you gave it. In the circular saw blade design module Family, Use and Bore and hub each set other values when chosen. They do so on the hand-off too and a value the wizard stated wins.

No design is opened for an HSS slitting saw, which has no family in the design module yet; a slitting saw whose tooth series is still open; a two part scoring blade, whose table prints no body thickness; a PCD blade for fibre cement on a row with fewer teeth than the PCD saw blade design module accepts.

Sources

Read on 10 November 2026: the Leitz Lexicon chapter on sawing and the Leitz user manual for tipped blades, the Kinkelder technical specifications, Karnasch and Hoffmann Group product data, the public preview of ISO 2296:2018 and HSE Woodworking Information Sheet 16.

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