Abstract: An improved circular saw blade designed for cutting fiber cement workpieces, which are becoming more and more prevalent on the construction site, includes a PCD/carbide tip mounted in the rim of a saw blade at six, rather than the usual four locations, equally spaced around the blade. The tips are mounted adjacent a relatively large-diameter, semi-circular gullet, which itself is preceded by a chip and dust minimizer. The minimizer includes several alternating hills and valleys formed in the rim of the saw blade, each hill and valley having the same radius, producing a sinuous array essentially centered on the rim of the blade. It has been discovered that such a dust and chip minimizer reduces the level of dust and chips produced by the blade and clears the same from the kerf generated in the blade-workpiece interface.

Abstract: An improved circular saw blade designed for cutting fiber cement workpieces, which are becoming more and more prevalent on the construction site, includes a PCD/carbide tip (16) mounted in the rim (31) of the saw blade (10) at six, rather than the usual for locations, equally spaced around the blade. The tips are mounted adjacent a relatively large-diameter, semi-circular gullet (20), which itself is preceded by a chip and dust minimizer (18). The minimizer includes several alternating hills (52) and valleys (54) formed in the rim of the saw blade, each hill and valley having the same radius, producing a sinuous array essentially centered on the rim of the blade. It has been discovered that such a dust and chip minimizer reduces the level of dust and chips produced by the blade and clears the same from the kerf generated in the blade-workpiece interface.