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Table Saw Blades

5K views 36 replies 11 participants last post by  TomFran 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
Hello Friends,

I'm getting ready to buy some quality saw blades for my table saw. My question is this, if you could only buy (3) blades to do everything you needed to do on your table saw, which saw blades would you buy?

Some examples might be this Freud Glue Line for smooth ripping:



This Forrest Woodworker II blade for smooth cross cutting and ripping:



In another thread, the Freud 40 tooth thin kerf blade was highly recommended:



And what about a blade for cutting melamine or plywood?

Don't forget, you only get to have (3) blades. What three would you buy?
 
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#2 ·
Definitely the WW2. For me, it is the "don't leave the home show without it" product.

Everything else has to depend on what it is you plan to do with your 3 blades. If you ask me what vehicle I want and don't tell me that I'll only be driving in the swamps or in the deserts, I'm going to be in trouble if I ask for a limo, right?

If you do a lot of plywood work or laminate work, yeah, you need to include that in your equasion. If you do nearly all smooth ripping and crosscut work, do you need more than 2? 8^) Is one of them for a chopsaw? Are you talking about a 10 or 12" machine??

Tell us more of what you want to do with these 3 blades.
 
#3 ·
Well, here's the three I'd buy…

2 x Forrest WWII Blades…one is always sharp
1 x Melamine Blade

I may be coerced into trading one of the WWII's for the Freud Glue Line Rip. However, I have that with my jointer.

I have 2 WWII's and that melamine blade and am very happy with that combination.

Cheers!
 
#4 ·
For my 2 cents, I use the WWII blades for almost everything that I cut (wood that is). I have just recently acquired the Freud Thin Kerf blade and am impressed with it. That one will be for certain rips, and for any resawing that I may feel is safe to do on the TS. For any cuts in Melamine, MDF, etc. I use the Bosch blade that came with my TS.

I agree with Mot and Dean - that third blade you talk about would be dependent on the particular material you want to cut.

Personally I think the WWII will handle anything wood that you ever wanted to cut (assuming that you TS's power is up to the task).
 
#5 ·
Hi Tom;

Mot hit it right on the head. You can buy cheaper, but not better. Some of the cheaper blades start out great, but dull quickly.

Forrest's Duraline Hi AT blade, designed for melamine, is what we use for cutting furniture grade plywood, veneer covered sheets, and melamine with perfect results on both side of the sheet.

If I were to change anything about Mots' choice, I would get one regular WW2, and one WW2 thin kerf. The standard blades stand up to heavy duty use for a longer period of time. Ripping thick lumber for example.

I would also always have Forrest sharpen any brand of blade.

If you are considering a dado set, their's is the best as well.

Believe me, I have tried about every blade out there, and Forrest really is the best!

Lee

LJ the LJ
 
#6 ·
I don't own a Forrest blade, because my saw won't accept them but I've used one at the toy workshop and it's a great blade.
 
#7 ·
Thanks, Lee.
I appreciate quality blades, like sirloin, but with my round steak budget, I may never get to buy a WW II.
I use a Freud Glue line when I want to save time on glue-ups.
I have a Ridgid 50 tooth combo blade for accurate crosscutting with minimal splintering.
I use an Oldham 200-tooth malamine, plywood blade for cutting, well, melamine and plywood. If you want splinter-free plywood cuts it is well worth the time to change to this blade.

Total cost for all three: about $100.00! (I picked up the Freud Glue Line for $40.00 from Amazon when they had it on sale. The Ridgid cost $40.00, and the Oldham cost about $20.00)

I use the Ridgid about 80% of the time, and have had good results so far.

God Bless,
Hawg
 
#8 · (Edited by Moderator)
Woodminer,

I have a 10" Sears saw with a 1 hp motor. As I said in my post, I'm looking for "blades to do everything you needed to do on your table saw." In my case that would mean cutting solid wood, cabinet grade plywood, , melamine, or whatever a woodworker (non-professional) might need to cut. That's why I thought that you might need (3) blades to do that.

I may even want to cut some treated 2×4's someday. I thought that 3 blades might be able to get the job done. I'm sure it would be nice to have a lot more, but maybe if you bought the right (3), and if you have a limited budget, you may be able to do just fine with (3) blades.

So I guess, we get one solid vote for the Forrest Woodworker II from you.

Thanks a lot!
 
#9 ·
Mot,

Until I came to this site, I had never even heard of a Forrest blade. Lowes and Home Depot don't sell them, and where I live, I don't think ANY place sells them.

Where would you go to get the best price on these blades?

How much do they charge to have them resharpened?

Thanks Tom.
 
#10 ·
Bill,

So you like the Forrest WWII, but would change the blade to your Bosch if you needed to cut some cheaper material like melamine or MDF. That was one of my thoughts; that you might want to use a cheaper blade at times when cutting wood products that would dull your expensive WWII blade prematurely. I'm thinking that it would be prudent to use a less expensive blade to cut things like melamine, etc.

Thanks Bill.
 
#12 · (Edited by Moderator)
Lee,

So you think that it's worth the extra money in the long run to buy better blades. I saw your post the other day in regard to the Forrest blades and it kind of prompted this discussion.

If the concensus here is that I could buy one blade and not three, then I will be glad to need just one blade.

I am just getting back into my woodworking after several years of "dormancy," while we were raising our children. Most of the blades that I have now aren't even carbide tipped. That's why I thought that I would get some "education" here on the subject.

Thanks a lot, Lee.
 
#14 ·
Hawg,

Can you actually skip the jointer when you rip with your Freud Glue Line?

Here again is why I thought this discussion would be helpful, not only to me, but to others who needed some knowledge on table saw blades. If you could just run boards through your TS and glue them up, that would be worth having an extra blade to me.

Thanks much, Hawg.
 
#15 ·
Wayne,

So is this the WW2 that would be recommended?

"Forrest WW10407125 Woodworker II 10-Inch 40 Tooth ATB .125 Kerf Saw Blade with 5/8-Inch Arbor"

So, this 40 tooth blade will be great for ripping or crosscutting any material?
 
#18 · (Edited by Moderator)
Tom, I buy my blades at Lee Valley as I can get them mail order. I use the one WWII until it starts to show signs of dulling, I then put in the other blade and within a day or so send my dull blade to Forrest for resharpening. Their turnaround for me, with mailing, is about 2 weeks. It takes me a couple of months to dull a blade. Lee makes a very good point regarding the thin kerf blade.

I've never tried the melamine blade that Lee mentions, but my bet would be it's the one to get.
 
#20 ·
Im in the same delimna. I now have a Delta 60T Sidekick blade in the table saw an mitre saw.

I have been eyeing the Freud for my TS as I may be upgrading my MS soon to a 12". I have some gift cards from Home Depot and may have to visit them to take a closer look.

I heard the Ridgid blades are made by Freud???
 
#22 · (Edited by Moderator)
I have a thin kerf WWII and it sliced through a 12/4 piece of cocobolo like butter baby butt smooth cuts also, 1 1/2 HP Sears saw.
I use the blade that come with the saw for 2X4 type jobs
An 80 Tooth Freud ultimate crosscut !/8 kerf I wish I never bought (the WWII does almost as good on cutoff)
I would change the Freud for a Ply Laminate blade
My 2 cents
I'm far from an expert, BUT I could not live without the WWII, really you need one!! you will never regret buying it, got mine at rocklers on 25% sale, Amazon has then for about $98.00 shipping free.

Mark
 
#24 · (Edited by Moderator)
Yeah, I was poking around the marginal motor idea a bit. Once upon a time, I had a cheap Craftsman direct drive saw with a "3HP" motor and it used to scare me to rip 8/4 oak on it. Horse power rating can be missleading, but what is "marginal"?

To solve this I decided to upgrade the blade and chose a stock delta blade which is working fine. (as long as it stays attached to the X5 Unisaw attachment that came with it)
 
#26 ·
If you use any blade on a table saw when the table's miter guides and fence are not really, REALLY closely aligned, it's a scary thing. And ripping longer boards of oak can be scary, too, especially when they start to close up and funny blue smoke starts pouring out of that now blackened slot because your blade is not sharp enough to remove corn from the cob. Been there, done that.

WWII blades come to you SHARP, not merely sharp. They are well constructed and then sharpened correctly. That's part of why you pay more. Many carbide tipped blades will do really well when they are sharpened and the sides of the tips are properly "tuned" so they slip appropriately through the wood. Not something that the average LumberJock can do on his or her own.

If I could only have 3 blades per your latest posts, I'd probably want a blade that would do well on melamine/plywood. And because of my experience with Forrest's WWII, I'd want to do their AT blade for ply/mel.

Karson's saw will take a WWII, but he may have to have it bored to fit. They'll do any size hole he wants for a few extra bucks. Shopsmith's "standard" is a 1-1/4" hole. Some others have used a 1" hole. I'm betting that others have used…well, other sizes. 8^)

As for construction cuts on 2x stock, use the buck two eighty dime a dozen blades for that. Tear out is not an issue there. They're designed to use and through away when the teeth fly. IMHO.
 
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