How to Change a Circular Saw Blade

Step 1 –Unplug lead or disconnect the battery.

Step 2 –Use Ln Key or socket to remove the center bolt, find a button on the skill saw that locks the blade in place this stops the blade from spinning when you’re trying to loosen it. To loosen the bolt turn the bolt the opposite direction to that the blade spins.

Step 3 –Remove the blade, be careful with any spacing washers, that will need to be the same for the new blade.

Step 4 –Make sure you put the new blade in the correct way around, there will be a small tick some-ware on the saw casing indicating the way to face the teeth.

Step 5 –Put the center bolt back in reasonably tight, don’t go overboard as the blade spins the opposite direction to the bolt to stop it from undoing.

By the way, if you are new to using a circular saw you should also read my how to use a skill saw guide, I recommended that if you don’t already know about kickback you should have a read from the link below.

When To Change A Circular Saw Blade?

You need to change your blade when your skill saw stops gliding easily through your timber as you cut it. When you are putting in extra force to push a blunt blade through to make your cut. Makes using your circular your saw a dangerous task.

However, it could be hard to push your blade through timber for a few reasons.

Reasons 1.Your blade has become blunt

Reasons 2. The timber is hardwood and/or wet, and/or you are ripping along the grain instead of cross-cutting against the grain which is the primary cut that requires a lot less grunt than ripping.

Reasons 3Your saw is under-powered for the reasons above.

You need to periodically, unplug your saw from its power source and gently rub your finger along your blade to check that it is feeling sharp like it was when it was new. If you are having difficulty cutting through timber with your saw, it might be also because 1 or more teeth have broken off your blade. If only 1 tooth is broken but the rest of the teeth are good it is still alright. Be the judge on how easily the saw is gliding through your cuts. When you have multiple teeth or the teeth are feeling dull, you need to replace your blade to stay safe, and to stop the blade overheating.

Example: of a broken circular saw tooth from hitting a nail.

Unplug or disconnect the battery from your skill saw before you check/touch your blade. Does the blade feel blunt or are their broken teeth?

Re-Sharpening A Circular Saw Blade

The best way to recycle your circular saw blades is to keep your blunt blades aside so when you reach having a number of blunt blades in a nice pile you can look at getting them all sharpened at once. If your blade has too much damage it is not worth re-sharpening read below:

• If the blade is blunt or only a couple of teeth are broken take it off and put it aside, once you have a collection of blunt blades you can get a professional to fix and re-sharpen all of them at once.
• If more than 5 teeth are broken throw it away.
• Don’t sharpen a skill saw blade yourself, buy a new one, and save up a collection to get professionally re-sharpened. For the same reason, you don’t want to be using a circular saw with-out a perfectly sharpened blade.

Changing skill saw blades on both, cordless and plugin models requires the exact same technique. If you are thinking of upgrading or getting a cordless saw check out the links below. 

Click Here if you want to read my cordless circular saw review.

Click Here to have a look at my  corded circular saw review.