The Oregon Chain Guide explains about chains. What you need depends on how your saw is set up. Your pitch will probably either be 1/4, .325 or .375. I'd guess they would put either 1/4 or .325 on an electric saw. The best way to find the pitch is hopefully your bar is stamped with numbers that will indicate what it wants. The bar or a lookup of the part number will tell you what pitch the bar can handle (assuming you have sprocket in the nose), what gauge the groove is and how many links you need. My guess is that the 55, 56 and 57 you saw at the store is the number of links in each of those chains. Your current chain may have some markings on it that indicate what pitch and gauge the chain is.

When you push up on that tab it open a slot that the blade fits into. Inside that opening there should be a very short pin that the blade fits on. My experience is that if I don't get the blade seated properly, it will come out of the seating pocket when I start sawing. So, I normally pull and twist on the blade to make sure it is seated properly. As far as flexible, the shorter blades are rather rigid. I have some 16 inch blades that will bend a bit. What it sounds like is that you have a bit of play in the shaft that drives the blade. I wouldn't worry about it as long as it cuts what you want cut. Bob Central Arizona

Returning to this... Yes, thanks, Bill it was a patio block, which still created a lot of sediment, but the diamond is sparkling. Nevertheless, the blade still pulls to the left, even after obsessive lining up with a large L square, once the whole blade is engaged--it also makes more wobbly vibration than it used to, seems to me. Do you think a new blade will solve the problem? (the blade that's on there I can't read anymore--I remember it was a good blade even for engineered stone, though -- it's got light blue on it, no segmentation--can't remember what it was!)or do I need something else done? I see there's something called a Raimondi T3 -- what do folks think of that? Should I just somehow get it serviced to help reduce the vibration or should I see if a blade change makes a difference? I seem to recall that no one sells Felkers anymore in Portland (did they merge with another company?) so I can't get local service? I need to get to this countertop done, and I have some 24" cuts to make--I need a straight saw! Thanks.

The blade may be dull and bent. Make the measurements again, then rotate the blade 1/2 turn(unplug the machine first!!). That will tell you if the blade is bent. If it is not bent, I'll wager 5 internet$$ the teeth are dull. The easiest thing is to buy a new blade. Probably a ten inch model. You can buy a rip blade, a cross cut blade or a combination blade. Ripping a lot of wood is best done with a rip blade---about 30 teeth of less. Cross cutting(making boards shorter) blades start at about 60 teeth and go up. Combination blades have about 50 teeth. There are several brands--DeWalt, Freud, Ace(Ace hardware) and many more. I favor Freud blades for inexpensive models. You can pay up to $170 for a ten inch table saw blade from the high end manufacturers. A good Freud blade will be about $30-$50.