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Any product that can help you keep the upper hand in remodeling is a good thing. So when I spotted Freud's multi-material Diablo blade recently at The Home Depot, I gladly plunked down about $60 for it and put the blade to use on bathroom remodeling job in an old house.

Designed for use in a 10-inch miter saw, the 80-tooth blade is rated to cut plastics and non-ferrous metal such as aluminum and copper. Each tooth has a carbide tip with three ground edges (also known as triple-chip grind). Although it's not designed for wood, it does a capable job at that too, at least for remodeling purposes. I wouldn't use it for general carpentry or woodworking, but just because Freud has many specialized blades for those purposes.

With the blade installed in a DeWalt miter saw, I marched through nearly all the materials that I had to cut on any given day: framing lumber that was turned into wood blocking and reinforcement, PVC pipe that became a drain assembly for a sink and bathtub, fin-tube copper baseboard for a heating circuit, and copper tubing to supply a wall sink, toilet, and the bathtub. Each cut was fast and clean and left the material free of sharp edges.

Someday I hope Freud goes a step further and makes a blade that will handle all these cuts and also slice unhardened steel, too. Until then, this great blade comes as close to being universal as we can hope for.

Headshot of Roy Berendsohn
Roy Berendsohn
Senior Home Editor

Roy Berendsohn has worked for more than 25 years at Popular Mechanics, where he has written on carpentry, masonry, painting, plumbing, electrical, woodworking, blacksmithing, welding, lawn care, chainsaw use, and outdoor power equipment. When he’s not working on his own house, he volunteers with Sovereign Grace Church doing home repair for families in rural, suburban and urban locations throughout central and southern New Jersey.