You didn't mention budget. The "best" miter saw blade is Forrest's "Chop Master" but they're pretty pricey. Freud's LU series blades are nice too but still pretty expensive. Typically you get what you pay for.

Beyond that you might want to see if your local library has copies of WOOD, Fine Woodworking, or Fine Homebuilding magazines. They regularly do reviews of saw blades.

Have you tried the blade that came with your saw? It probably isn't too bad, unless they did something stupid like put a 40T on it.

Expensive Freuds are nice; Dimar (if you can find them) are also expensive and nice. Never used Forrest, but have heard that they're expensive and nice. (I almost think I see a trend, here.)

In the land of discount/decent, I once got a Delta 80T at Costco (of all places!) for 30 bucks. It wasn't what I'd call great, but it comes out when I have to cut something awful like HDF. I'm sure supplies there are sporadic.

At the bigbox stores here, we've got Oldham brand, which isn't bad and is moderately priced. My resharpener badmouthed them, but I take him with a grain of salt.

Generally, I prefer a blade that isn't a thin kerf.

Freud's Ultra Fine Finish blades are good---80 teeth.

The problem with any blade in a miter saw is the blades tend to push the material when cutting at an angle.

A negative tooth rake configuration is the best design for a miter saw.

Yup it's got a 40T blade in it, so yes indeed, I know I need a new one.

Thanks for the advice - I'll price out the recommendations & learn a bit more, & then might come back with some final Q's :)

I'll do some practice with the current blade (I've never used one of these before, so I'm not touching my CM until I'm feeling more confident)

Oh, & as far as budget, I was thinking it would probably be around $60 for a blade - the saw itself cost me $100, so I figure I can spend a bit more on a blade if necessary.

I'm not quite sure I get the negative rake thing - does this mean that the tendency would be to push the wood into the fence w/ a negative rake, so it holds it in place better?

These 2 Freuds have some very positive reviews for use in a miter saw, both under $60, but I'm not seeing anything about negative rake on any of the Freuds? How important is negative rake, or am I missing something in the blade info?

Freud TK806 Avanti 10" 80 Tooth ATB 5/8" Arbor Thin Kerf Ultra Fine Finish Crosscut Miter Saw Blade

Freud 10-Inch 80 Tooth ATB Ultimate Cut-Off Saw Blade with 5/8-Inch Arbor and PermaShield Coating [LU85R010] (& such a pretty red color!) Hey, I'm female - color DOES count! ;-D

justnigel - Why do you generally not like thin kerf?

I like CMT blades. I use them in table saws, but I expect the make a good chop blade too. If you can't find CMT, a freud blade is fine. Use 80 tooth for a 10" to get a fine cut.
Casey

I think I have one of the red Freud "ultimate cutoff" blades -- it's very good.

The thin kerf blades I've used seem to give a slightly less smooth cut. I don't have any hard facts to back this up, but they seem to flutter or deflect more than a regular blade.

Thanks so much everyone :) You've given me some great info, which pointed me to sites that fed me even more, so I feel that I'm ready to go to the hardware store with enough info to make a good decision now.

The Garden Web Rocks!

Oh & sombreuil (great name!) I remember reading something you posted - I believe in this forum - about subservient pedimented swan's neck archesomethings.....I was utterly clueless - don't even know why I was drawn to opening that particular thread; but you had me in stitches (literally laffing out loud) with your posts. I know you were sharing factual information, but I also heard a smile behind your words :D

Freud 10-Inch 80 Tooth ATB Ultimate Cut-Off Saw Blade with 5/8-Inch Arbor and PermaShield Coating [LU85R010]

The Freud LU85 is for a table saw and has a postive 10° hook angle. If you look at Freud's website you'll see a little diagram of the blade's teeth on the right side just above the individual blade listings.

{{!gwi}}

Hook angle indicates how fast material can be fed into the blade. For tools like a radial arm saw or sliding compound miter saw, a positive hook angle may cause the material to auto feed causing loss of operator control. It's less of a concern for a non-sliding miter saw.

You might want to consider the Freud LU91, which is for miter saws. I have one, it's a very nice blade.