I just use them until they need sharpening and either replace them or have them sharpen them. The saw sharpening shop will clean the blades, sharpen the teeth and coat the teeth with a protective coating.

 

It depends on the condition

Sawing Pine and other wood with sap can gum up a blade rather quickly. When that happens they will overheat and then burn the cut or worse yet, warp out of shape. If you find this happening, before it gets too bad clean the blade in a round pan filled with Simple Green, the purple or professional version and a brass brush. Let it soak for an hour then the sap will brush off easily.

I have also used a blade cleaner from www.peachtreeusa with good results, called Sprayway, but it's rather caustic for indoor use....apparently no longer available, but here's some others:
https://www.ptreeusa.com/tablesaw_cleaners.html

Easy Off oven cleaner also works but it's more aggressive and whether or not it's true ....may loosen the carbide tips ... I donno?

Hardwood like Maple and Oak generally do not gum up the blades in my experience. I've sent out a few blades for resharpening and they came back with the plates clean and the tip protected in a heavy wax coating ... nice. I use "The Cutting Edge" in Dryden, MI who sharpens blades for lumber yards and woodworking machinery sales locally. They have been in business for 28 years.

http://listings.findthecompany.com/l/5962782/The-Cutting-Edge-Sharpening-Service-Llc

 

In this area we have a service called Exchange-A-Blade where you initially buy a blade then when it gets dull you trade it in for a sharp blade at a lower cost. I use this this service for general purpose blades. For speciality blades like thin-kerf ripping or melamine blades I purchase outright and have them sharpened.

To clean blades I use Simple Green with a plastic brissled brush, then I rinse in hot water, dry on paper towels, and use a heat gun on low setting to ensure all moistures is evaporated.
I finish up with a tool protective coating.

 

Clean them when necessary and have them sharpened when they get dull. It's not rocket science. :grin:

 

Maybe for you, but for novices like me, it isn't so easy. We don't have your experience to know when they need to be cleaned and when they are dull. The problem is that blades still cut as they get dirtier and duller. Knowing when it is time to clean or sharpen blades comes from the experience that you have internalized, but that novices like me have not learned yet.

 

when I find myself having to push harder than a mere thought of pushing . . . something is wrong.
either the saw has a setup problem - blade or fence alignment - or the blade is dull, getting dull.

I don't do much softwood, so I don't get a lot of gunk build up on saw blades - more on high speed stuff like routerbits - but that is much easier to see/clean.

not a lot of force is required to cut wood with power tools - when you notice you're pushing, it's time to check for the problem. especially because having to use a lot of force all too often results in slips and "oops! there goes another finger" kind of situations....

 

I agree with Tom. You shouldn't need a lot of force when cutting wood. I've had a few hand-type injuries over the years, none related to woodworking though, and plan to keep all 10 for the duration.

 

I have a set blades for paint grade and stain grade. Whenever I need to cut nice wood then I have a sharper blade whereas the paint blade gets dull rather quick as paint dulls wood rather fast, or at least the stuff we have.