As we speak Milwaukee is shipping their new line up of Carbide Circular Saw Blades for wood-cutting and fiber cement with polycrystalline diamond (PCD) tips which covers just about any size and application for construction. From 5-3/8” to 12” with basic rip blades to 100 teeth finish blades, they got all the bases covered. This is a very logical step for Milwaukee with what must be hundreds of thousands of circular saws, miter saws and hopefully someday they’ll have a table saw as well, all those saws need blades. It doesn’t make any sense for them not to have a premium blade lineup.
Of course Milwaukee Tool is heavily geared towards cordless tools so no surprise these blades are engineered to improve runtime as well. The white anti-friction blade coating keeps the blade running smooth and cool. Each blade is laser cut from sheet steel for more stability and accuracy. These blades also have laser cut and polymer filled vibration slots which cut down on blade vibrations again not only improving cut quality but ideal for battery life in coreless saws.
None of these premium features are new to the world, the big circular saw blade players like Freud Diablo (in the Bosch family) or Irwin (in the Dewalt family) have had these features for sometime in their premium blades but certainly Milwaukee doesn’t want you putting a blade from someone else on their tools. Stanley Black & Decker spent nearly $2 Billion, yes that’s with a B and 9 zeros, to get Irwin & Lenox so clearly this is an important battle ground. If Milwaukee can just keep their Milwaukee Tool Fans continue to buy their blades we think this will be a very successful addition for them.
These blade were just launched and initial feedback has been very positive but it’ll take a few weeks/months until we have real field results back. We were surprised they did not address any of the Metal Cutting circular saw applications here as Milwaukee is very dominant with the 5-3/8” M18 FUEL Metal Saw 2782-22 and the 8” Corded Metal Saw 6370-21 that so many others make blades to accommodate. Perhaps these will be next addition to the lineup?
