A good Table saw Blade

On my chop saw I use a Freud blade that I got from Big Orange. It has a negative angle on the blade and it gives a smooth cut.

The negative angles are for radial arm, chop saws and some metal cutting applications. So don’t get a negative angle but I ‘ve found that they are good blades.

At the toy making workshop we have the Forrest II and yes it is a great blade.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

Thanks for the info Karson. Do you have a standard blade or the thin kerf diablo brand.

Also, if anyone knows of another thread where this has already been done, and could point me there that would be great as well.

-- remember always measure once and cut twice

You may also want to look at the Freud LU83R010. About $45.00. This is an excellent combo blade at a good price. It’s a thin kerf blade.

-nick

-- Nicky

If you can try thr Forest, You will never regret it.

-- WOOD/DON (...one has the right to ones opinion but not the right to ones own facts...)

Nick, That is the one I have been looking at, but I wanted to see what others thought.

Don, I’ve heard nothing but good things about the forrest, if I can find one as low as about $65 (including shipping, I saw one at $70 on ebay last night) I’ll get one.

-- remember always measure once and cut twice

I’ve got a 12” one on my chop saw. I don’t know the model.

But on my table saw I’ve got 16” commercial blades. I take whatever I can get. The last three were donated to the toy workshop, by Seally but they don’t have any saw that they will fit on so I brought them home. Trade some wood for them. My saw takes 1 1/8” arbor hole and are hard to find at a reasonable price.

I’ve got about 6 now that I paid about $25.00 a piece for used. Solder on new tips where necessary and sharpen them up and they work great.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

Hello Dale
I’ve always had luck with thin kerf combination blades. Irwin is a good brand. So is Freud.
Regards
DAN

-- ..... art for lifes sake ... danwalters@lumberjocks.com

I own the Freud thin kerf combo (LU83R010) blade. I absolutely love it. It gives a good clean edge. It cuts like a warm knife through butter. If you buy one from Amazon, be sure to use the LJ store so the site gets a small commission.

-- Joshua, Olathe, Kansas

I am a relative novice but I have in the past few months had an opportunity to compare a standard middle of the pack blade with a premium blade: several months ago I upgraded from the original Ridgid combination blade that came with the TS2424 contractor saw I bought. I installed a Forrest Woodworker II with the Forrest blade stiffener. The difference in smoothness of cut, absence of tear out and even the quietness of the blade when running was dramatic. I was skeptical that there would be all that much difference but seeing is believing. I can’t speak from experience about other premium blades like the Freud – they may be as good!? The Forrest is definitely pricey but it is just excellent.

-- Howard in Ottawa

howard, you mention using a blade stiffener. What’s the consensus on these? Does everybody think they are worth the extra cost? Do they really improve the cut quality? I see that Forrest sells one that is only $20 on Amazon.com. Maybe I should pick it up.

-- Joshua, Olathe, Kansas

I use a blade stiffener as long as the depth of cut allows it. It makes me feel like I get a better cut but I have no emperical data.

-- Bruce from Central New York

Roundabout, Any stock blade tah comes with a table saw is probably just some blade tha tthe manufacturer put on there to look good. Most know that woodworkers have their own special blades that they use, so they put some generic combo blade on their saws just to fill the arbor.

One of the woodworking magazines i subscribe to did a TS blade comparison, and while the Freud and WW2 by Forrest came out as best, the Ridgid 50-tooth combo blade came out as best value. It cut about as good, with less noise and vibration than the others tested, and all were “good” blades we might use. The cost is about $40.00 at Home Depot. I just bought one, but haven’t used it yet. I wil probably use it today when I get back from town, and I will let you know how it fares.

God Bless,
Hawg

-- Saving barnwood from the scrapyards

I’ve had great luck with Freud and Oldham blades but I only use carbide tooth blades anymore. The biggest thing is to keep them clean from pitch. Pitch seems to accumulate mostly behing the teeth and really slows the blade down, as well as getting the burning process going too.

I read an article somewhere awhile back that explained the different rakes and pitch angle of the teeth…I think it was on one of the Freud websites.

-- Bob Vila would be so proud of you!

I’ll preface and say that the Forrest/Woodworker blades, seem to dominate any thread like this. My brothr in law swears by his WW2. That is until it threw a tooth rcently after findind a very covert nail in the blade path. Yikes. I use a Freud 10” 40T thin kerf combo for most everything. I didn’t know how quiet good blades are in comparison to the stock crap that came with it. I’ve had great results so that makes me want to try one of their glueline blades. My B-I-L uses a stablizer with his thin kerf, but I’ve yet to see much difference. I do have 2 blank CD’s on each side as make shift stabalizers. They don’t do much I’m afraid.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

I used the Freud 10” 40T thin kerf combo for almost all the projects I posted here.

I bought a Forrest blade, when I bought my Unisaw a year ago, but the blade that came with the Unisaw was so good that I have yet to install it.

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

Question:

How many blades do you have to have? What I mean is, do you have to change the blade when you do fine cross cutting, and then change it again to a different kind when you cut melamine, and then again when you cut plywood? Or do you just buy a 40T Freud and cut everything with it?

Also, if you are going to do a bunch of ripping, do you install a rip blade, like the Freud glue line blades?

-- Tom, Surfside Beach, SC - Romans 8:28

Tom – That’s what I did for about 8 years with the same blade. A 40T Freud.

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

Gary,

I was hoping you would say that – I’ll be out to Lowes tomorrow to get mine ;^D

One more question:

How often do you have to get a good quality blade sharpened (carbide)? I realize that how much you use it is a big factor, but how about a ball park guesstimate?

-- Tom, Surfside Beach, SC - Romans 8:28

Tom – I suppose when your cut starts to get ragged. Never had one sharpened.

I would think that you would also want to get a close look with a strong magnifying
glass and look for small chips in the carbide and a rounding off of the corners.

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

Gary, But you used yours for 8 years without sharpening? Wow! And I’ll bet you cut a lot of wood with it.

-- Tom, Surfside Beach, SC - Romans 8:28

I have about 20 blades that need sharpened, but just ordered another one on amazon. Guess when I find a good-cheap-easy way to get them resharpened, I’ll recycle them.

-- ..... art for lifes sake ... danwalters@lumberjocks.com

You guys are great. I was hoping for just a little advice and I got that and more. Thanks everyone. This is why I like being a LumberJock, Everyone is willing to help out. You’ve convinced me, I’m goint to go ahead and get the freud.

-- remember always measure once and cut twice

I don’t change blades too often. To go to a different tip. I don’t have any problem on chipout on plywood even with a rip blade so to put in the triple chip blade didn’t seem like too efficient a change. I even use the triple chip to rip if that what is in the saw. It’s a little slower but not a problem.

I do have my blades sharpened, because it’s very expensive to replace the blades.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

When I was working everyday, 10 hours a day building decks and installing kitchens, I would sharpen my blades at the beginning of the season, all carbide tipped. Now that I play in the shop as a hobby I have not had to sharpen a blade in years but it is about time to get them tuned up :) again.

Where do you take your blades to get sharpened? I always went to the local lumber yard and pick it up a week later. Now that I have moved again I will have to see if that still holds true.

-- "so much to learn and so little time"..

I guess sharpening carbide tipped blades doesn’t happen very often, but cleaning the blade in pitch remover periodically is a good idea.

-- Tom, Surfside Beach, SC - Romans 8:28

Hi Roundabout22;

I just wanted to go against the flow here. We use 100 % Forrest blades in our shop.

We use specific blades for everything, except corian, for which we use the woodworker two.

I bought an expensive blade for corian, from a different BIG name manufacturer, and after one cut I returned it. I took a used Forrest blade and tried it out. The results were perfect.

Every once in a while I’ll try a different brand, but always return to Forrest. The will also sharpen any brand of blade at a reasonable cost.

Lee

-- by Lee A. Jesberger http://www.prowoodworkingtips.com http://www.ezee-feed.com

I need to try the Forrest blades but have stuck to the Freud Glue Line Rip. I have a 12” DeWalt miter saw I use for most cross cuts then just trim with the TS. The Glue Line Rip is about $55 from Woodcraft. I have a sharpener in Nampa and seem to always have some out.

-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon

Thos Angle / Lee:

Is the Freud Glue Line Rip only good for rip?

In other words, do I need to be changing blades back and forth from rip to cross cut if I use that blade (the Glue Line one)?

-- Tom, Surfside Beach, SC - Romans 8:28

The Freud glue line rip is for rip only (with the grain, solid wood only.) Cross cuts will splinter.

You will need to change blades to cross cut.

I have a combination blade on my saw 99% of the time. I own 4 of the Freud’s (three are at least 10 years old.) When I have two that are in need of sharpening, I’ll send them out. I’ll have the blades sharpened twice, before I’ll replace it.

Maybe my next replacement will be a Forrest; can so many woodworkers be wrong?

-- Nicky

Tom, I don’t change blades but like I said, I mostly cross cut on the DeWalt. I don’t notice an excess of splintering. Maybe I should look closer.

-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon

Instead of changing blades all of the time, you should just buy another table saw. It’s best to have a dedicated saw for each operation. I also buy a new router for every bit. The same goes for drill presses.

Yeah, right!

-- Joshua, Olathe, Kansas

Okay, Josh, we’ll get right on it!!!

-- Thos. Angle, Owyhee Design, Oregon

Joshua is right. When I got my Grizzly 1023 Cabinet Saw, I gave away my piece of junk Lowe’s bottom shelf bench top saw. I now wish I didn’t. I could have dedicated a dado blade to it. I also am wanting to try and build ShopNote’s TS powered drum sander published many issues ago. I could have use that motor. Now I have a POS Bandsaw in a corner as I upgraded. Can’t give this one away. Trying to think of how it could be used.

Even worse, about 4 months into owning my first router (a cheap Skil model) my Dad got a Dewalt 616pk for a gift. After not using it once for a whole year, he gave it to me. I learned later as I developed as a WWer that you never get rid of routers. I’ve since bought 2 trim routers. One is dedicated for roundovers, the other for flush trimming. The Dewalt stays in the table.

-- Jeff, South Carolina

ShopNote’s TS powered drum sander, sounds like a new thread. Home made drum sanders.. I think I’ll go search that out. Great idea? or nightmare waiting to happen <grin>

-- "so much to learn and so little time"..

Freud – Freud – Freud. If and when I have to replace a blade, then my only selection is Freud – I have no problems with the blades, they perform fantasticly and if they become damaged they are not too expensive to replace (I have no blade sharpening service here in Finland).

-- Tony - All things are possible, just some things are more difficult than others! - SKYPE: Heron2005 (http://www.poydatjatuolit.fi)

I have and have used a variety of blades and manufacturers.

My experience is:
- MOST IMPORTANT criteria for a blade is that it be SHARP.
- 2nd MOST IMPORTANT criteria is that it be CLEAN.

My experience is that all of the top brands work very well as long as the blade is clean and sharp. Very smooth edges, easy cutting, minimal tear out. If the blade is dull or gets gummed up all of the blades suck, to put it politely.

I do change blades to suit the cutting needs. When doing long or thick ripping I switch to a 24 tooth ripping blade. There is a significant difference in the feed rate (MUCH faster) and cut quality (quite a bit poorer).

Lately I’ve been pretty much using WWII 40 tooth thin kerf w/o a stiffener. BUT I’ve most of my work of late has been cutting 4/4 or thinner solid or thick laminate hard woods.

The new Delta blades actually look really good… I dont have one but at the AWFS show they were running that one and the Forrest side by side and for half the price it looked just as good… The new silver Frued blades looked good as well.

-- Drew, Pleasant Grove, Utah

Drew – I have the Delta blade that came on my Unisaw, and like I said earlier I have yet to replace it with the brand new in the box Forrest blade I bought for it.

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

Ditto to Gary. I was planning to buy a Forrest, but the stock blade on my Unisaw was great.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

Wayne, Gary – I only started this topic now because it was my stock blade that lost its teeth. The blade that came with the saw when I bought it about 5 years ago ran great. I never had it sharpened (didn’t really use it enough), but I did clean it every once in awhile, and it cut pretty smooth up until I noticed the problem. I think saw makers are starting to realize woodworkers what good blades in their saws to start with.

-- remember always measure once and cut twice