Table Saw Blade

The best general purpose tablesaw blade in most tests is the Forrest Woodworker II. Freud blades rate high, but the Forrest WWII seems to rise to the top no matter who is testing them. You can get them at http://www.leevalley.com

-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)

Hey Mot,
Thanks for that lightning quick response. I was about to log off and saw that I had a reply…I just posted this a few minutes ago.
Should have also mentioned, I my $100 is in the form of Amazon.com gift certificates. When I saw you mentioned Forrest WWII, I immediately looked at Amazon and saw this blade:
Forrest WW10407100 Woodworker II 10-Inch 40 Tooth ATB .100 Kerf Saw Blade with 5/8-Inch Arbor
(photo below).
Is this a good buy ?
Dave

-- You gotta laugh a little...

I second Mots recommendation on the Forrest WWII. You can’t go wrong.

Some of the local Rockler stores have a 20% discount on them until Feb 8. Call them to find out.
Here is the coupon.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

Thanks GaryK, I appreciate your opinion, and the coupon.

-- You gotta laugh a little...

I will add a third amen to that suggestion. If you only want to buy one blade I would suggest the 40 tooth WWII. You can rip and crosscut with this blade. The thin kerf will waste less material but it is more prone to deflection than the 0.125 kerf blade and should have a stabilizer with it. But you can’t go wrong with any Forrest blade.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Dave . . . here are two other posts to read. I bought two Freuds (TK806 & TK906) and love them – see second post.

http://lumberjocks.com/topics/957#reply-10452

http://lumberjocks.com/topics/1008

-- The significant problems we face cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them

I have had very good performance from a Ridgid 1050T 50 tooth thin kerf carbide blade. It is about $50.00 at big orange.

-- Maplewood, MN

The forrest is the way to go! The cuts are the best and you can glue ‘em right up as soon as you cut ‘em.
Forrest will make blades for you if you have specific needs too. I had them make me a custom blade for non-ferrous metals (aluminum Extrusions) and that blade is going strong too! When you can afford it get the dampner disk as well.
I use one in a cheap benchtop saw and blow minds with the quality of the cuts! These blades seem to wear well too under normal use, I’ve had mine for a few years and never had to have it sharpened yet.
Chuck

-- --Chuck

Wood magazine recently did a blade test/review that you’ll find helpful. Issue 181, Dec/Jan 07/08. Forrest makes only premium blades that run $100.00 or better. High quality stuff here and they come with a factory backup that will resharpen them when necessary. I really like that. But in the “Economy section” the top rated blade is an Amana TB10400 for $65.00. Get this at Amanatool.com. I see even Craftsman had a high rating with their model 32808! I got a free Craftsman blade with my tablesaw…says “Made in China” on it. Haven’t used it yet. Probably won’t either. I use Freud and Oldham on my saws…No complaints here.

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!

After reading everyone’s recommendations, I went with this blade at Amazon:
10”Freud LU88R010 10-Inch 60 Tooth ATB Thin Kerf Crosscutting Saw Blade with 5/8-Inch Arbor and PermaShield Coating”
for $40 after sale and promo discount. Good blade and on sale, leaves me a little amazon cash to buy another blade for my Delta comp mitre saw. Haven’t done much ripping, subject to change I guess.
One worry I have is the thin kerf on this new blade…I noticed when I cut 45’s on the table saw, my old blade wavered, it’s not a thin blade, just a cheap blade, can’t remember the manufacturer. Hope the new blade doesn’t do that. Thanks again for everyone’s advice.

-- You gotta laugh a little...

I think the Forrest is the best blade on the market but I use Freuds. I have a Glue Line Rip and a Melamine and laminate that I use on plywood. I’ve had good results with them but will probably go with Forrest on the next round.

-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon

After reading the replies, I see that F-WWII is the top choice. I went with my Freud because of the reviews I read about it, and the fact that I own a 2.5hp Craftsman table saw, this blade is supposedly great for under 3hp. But I would imaging the Forest blades are too. Had to make a chpice, and went with the less prices blade, but still a good blade. My table saw doesn’t get a whole lot of work (I hope to change that). I have a ww proj in mind to start on, just need the confidence to push me to the starting point.
Thanks

-- You gotta laugh a little...

Dave I bought that same blade a few months back from Amazon. I have been using the blade in an old tired table saw with great results.

That’s good to hear Josh. Did you get the sale price ?
I checked LJ’s store, and 9 of 10 reviews gave this blade 5 stars. That was enough to convince me.
Now I’m thinking about upgrading my Delta comp mitre saw blade, but I need to check the blade and arbor size.

-- You gotta laugh a little...

Dave, I bought a Forrest WWII as my first quality saw blade. I was able to get a deal on it, but still expensive. Have to say it is toss up between the Forrest and Freud saw blades once you factor in cost. You will have one of the top quality blades with Freud saw blades. Especially when you can get two quality blades for under $100.

Dalec

I’ll put another vote in for the Forrest blade.

One other thing that I’m not sure has been mentioned is that for ~$20 you can send it back to Forrest for resharpening and tip replacement. I have only had mine a few months so haven’t had the need to send it off, but I really liked the idea of buying the best blade out there and being able to resharpen it and use it forever.

My $.02