7" Circular Saw Blade?

[vanguard]

Well, several years ago my father-in-law gave me his circular saw. It's a great craftsman unit made sometime in the 70s I'd guess. Still works great, but now needs a blade. I figured it was a 7 1/4" so I picked up a Bosch blade at the Home Depot, but when I tried to put it on it wouldn't fit.

Turns out the saw is a 7" Circular Saw and the 1/4" extra on the modern blades hits the guard. I can't seem to find a 7" blade. Any ideas? Is this an obsolete size now? New Saw?

Thanks,

Joel

[AlanWS]

www.carbide.com has sawblades in lots of diameters, including 7". I've not bought from them, but others have spoken very highly of several brands they carry (in particular FS Tool and Tenryu). They are not cheap blades.

Freud also makes various blades in 6" and 7" versions. www.routerbitworld.com has decent prices, and now and then takes off something like 15%.

[Tequila]

You might be able to find a 6-1/2" blade at HD. Some of the cordless saws use them, and I know the HD's near me stock them in a few different styles.

[don_hart]

It most likely is a 6 1/2" saw alot of the older saws were 6 1/2" I have an old B&D that is that size. HD does carry blades that size.

[vanguard]

Thanks for the tips guys. Alan you're right those blades aren't cheap. The blade is definitely 7". I'm going to try Sears later today. If I can't find something cheaper, I'll probably run a 6 1/2" blade for now and look for a new saw.

I'll let you guys know what I find out.

[jbalders]

I think I have that exact same saw. Right handed (weren't they all back then?), brushed metal, silver in color? Model 315.27782, says, 'Craftsman 7" electric hand saw'?

I had actually pretty much written it off, and replaced it with a LH Porter Cable 743K (or was that 347K?) from last year. However, I didn't want to get rid of it, since it was my grandfather's, one of the few tools that I got from him that were in decent condition. He was a bit of a junk collector, but there are a few gems.

For Freud, they claim the following wood blades are 7":

LU72M007
LU73M007

A number of them like the TK903 Thin Kerf Combo claim to be 7" - 7-1/4". Whether that means they're really a 7", but will work in a 7-1/4" as well is a question I would like to have answered.

I'm tempted to get one of the Freud 7-7.25" blades and test it out, since I could always use it on my PC if it doesn't fit.

Jeff

[vanguard]

Yep. That's the same model. I called Sears and their parts line, but they don't carry the blades anymore -referred me back to the store. I saw the Freud Blades, but at those prices I'm probably better off with a new saw. I'll probably just get a 6.5" cordless blade and use it with that and get a new replacement to run 7 1/4" blade.

[vanguard]

I had a chance to visit the Store at lunch today and found these:

http://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...id=00932270000

7" 24 tooth Carbide Blades for $14.95. The salesman said they were on closeout. They also had a clearance set-up with 10" freud blades for $35 buy one get one free.

I picked up two of the 7" blades. I probably should have bought more, but it's not in the budget.

Thanks for all the help!

[jhgrady]

HF has a 7 - 7 1/4 blade that should fit. $3.99 38537-5VGA

http://www.harborfreight.com/

Hope this helps,
John