Blades of that size are difficult to find.5&1/2" blade at Amazon is the best I could find for your use. Be aware that saw's use time cutting plywood is very short.

Big teeth - coarse cuts
Fine teeth - smoother cuts

You trade smoothness for power and speed, so use the coarsest blade that gives you the quality cut you want. Read the product descriptions and the user manual to select a saw blade.

That saw is OK for cross-cutting small lumber in small quantities - I use it for trimming molding - but it truly sucks at doing things like making long cuts in 3/4 plywood because it loses battery power so fast.

For that, an AC-powered saw with a good blade is much better.

"Hollow ground" blades compisate for low power to some extent but they cost more. You might need to check catalogs,call distributors and go online to find a selection of blades. BTW Lazy-g,handheld powersaws in general suck once you have used a panel or table saw. LOL. Seriously Tally, a guide is a must for ripping plywood with a handheld saw. I'm frugal but refuse to compermise quility so I use homemade tools only if they perform well. My rip guide is the side frame from a sliding patio door and two cee clamps. It works just fine.

So for those two woods (pine, and 3/4"ply), where you want a smooth cut, how many teeth would be good?

I live in an apartment and have to do my lumber work either in the passageway, the basement, or out at my father-in-law's in his driveway, and so a panel or table saw is out of the question for me, much as I would like one. Especially given that I don't have that much elbow room, it's likely I won't do that much ripping on my own, since I tend to buy my lumber at a place with the World's Greatest Panel Saw. (Seriously, an entire room--swoon!) It's more likely that I'd buy the wood and have it ripped, and then crosscut at home.

The last time I planned to do that, the panel-saw guy talked me into having him cut the whole project--but I do occasionally need to recut some part that got mismeasured, or I want to do projects with the scraps. (that's the first thing I hope to tackle--a rack to hold the multiple game consoles in a single footprint)

So even w/ the short battery life, this saw is probably just enough for what I will actually do. And the truth is that I'd probably tackle a project in several bursts anyway.

My projects will also probably be relatively small--that console rack would be 14 to 18 cuts that are 11" long. Or I'd want to cut a small piece of lumber to make a small shelf to mount deep inside the under-sink cabinet--so 2 to 4 cuts of 4" to 6" in length, depending. That sort of small stuff.

(I may also splurge on an extra battery or two, which would extend the work time. Since I plan my projects well in advance, I can be sure I'm all charged up.)

I *always* cut with a clamped-on guide. I used C-clamps and a piece of metal when I cut shelves w/ my jigsaw. My dad and I ripped plywood using a piece of molding and some clamps, and it was fine. But for Xmas, I bought him the Kreg Rip-Cut (saw a video of someone ripping plywood with a saw very similar to mine, and it looked like it worked well). I thought that jig would make it easier to rip several boards the same width. Next time I go visit him, I'll have to ask to use it, and make my niece some shelves, whether she wants 'em or not.

Recently I've been using the locking clamp that came w/ my Kreg pocket-hole jig, and it's even faster that using the C-clamps, and I still have that metal, plus some molding. I also have a Kreg cross-cut guide. I only used it once (w/ my jigsaw), but it worked fine.

Oh, I need to check to see what arbor I have, right? The size of the hole in the middle of the blade? (So it'll stay on--which is far safer, right? ;) )

oh, klem1--I have these fantasies of doing lots of woodwork (not going to happen, much as I sort of wish--and I don't really have a huge demand for it anymore anyway). So I was looking at all the directions for homemade ripping jigs, w/ masonite bases and factory-cut trim pieces as the center guide.

That last jig with masonite base reminds me of my homemade door bottom jig. It works pretty well for precision crosscuts. 18"x 36"x1/4tr" tempered hardboard or hardwood plywood plus 2"x 48"x 3/8ths" straight edge cut on table saw or straight hardwood piece from store. Cut 12" off 48" and set aside for later use. Measure saw plate on widest side from blade. Add 1/2" to measurment then position 36" straight edge the sum distance from long edge of panel and glue in place. Here's the only step that must be precise as possible (perfect actually) and it's tricky to perform. Glue 12" strip to underside of panel exactly 90deg to 36" strip on topside. Looking at panel with 36" strip visiable,part that was measured above is to your right (assuming you are right handed). Set your hand saw against straight edge and cut across panel. Draw line on project piece so that line will be cut away. Lay panel on project,push 12" stop underneath tight to project piece and clamp so line is barly visible. Saw will remove line leaving project piece cut to precise length and 90deg square. Panel was sized to cross cut up to 36" because I used it for doors. One could reduce size to what they thought would be widest piece they need to cross cut. I hope my instructions are clear enough. Jig only works with blade (or exact replacement) which was used to build jig. I generally made two or three so I had a fresh one ready if I switched blades. When you succed in correctly building a jig and get the hang of useing it,you can actually remove half a pencil line and leave other half with workpiece. Much quicker to set up, use and much more precise than rip guide we discussed earlier.

The more teeth the more friction, which is important to consider for a battery saw. It looks like the standard blade is 18 teeth.

Casey

It came w/ an 18-tooth blade (and of course, the number of blades will be different from what you need on a 7-1/2 in saw, since the circumference is smaller, so fewer teeth will have the effect of more teeth on a bigger blade).

Maybe I should just use that one and see how it goes.

Now I just need to figure out an apartment-compatible sawhorse/cutting table setup.

Folding sawhorses and a hollow core flat closet door (2ft x 6ft 8in)