Sharpening Forest WW II Blades

[Scott C. Williams]

For those that have their WW II blades sharpened.

Is it worth the cost of shipping etc. to return Forest WW II blades to Forest for factory sharpening?

Does Forest special grind their blades which a local reputable sharpening service cannot duplicate.

[Gary Max]

It's worth the cost if you want it done right. They go over every tooth and inch of the blade, it's a lot more than just getting a blade sharpened. My last WW11 lasted 10 years and was sharpened twice.

[scott spencer]

Some local sharpeners are every bit as good as Forrest....some not. If you're not sure about yours, it's really not worth the risk over a few dollars difference. I'd stick with Forrest, Scott Whiting, Ridge Carbide, and a handful of others.

[Grant Wilkinson]

Scott: I can't see in your profile where you are located. It is definitely NOT worth it if you are in Canada. Shipping, brokerage and sharpening are more than a new blade.

[John Fabre]

If it needs repaired, chipped tooth, it worth sending to Forrest.

[Jeff Duncan]

I have a local service that does a very nice job on all my blades, however I believe Forrest is still slightly better at sharpening.....especially their own blades. Is it worth it for you....only you can decide. For me is was, and so I built a plywood box which allowed me to send 6 blades at a time. It cost a little more than 1 new blade, but was like getting 6 new blades back.

If you have to ship it for sharpening anyway than the only difference is in the cost of sharpening, in which case a good quality service isn't going to save you too much and is more a risk than Forrest whose quality is a given. If you have a good quality local service, than the cost difference will be more substantial.

good luck,
JeffD

[scott vroom]

What does Forrest charge to sharpen a WWII? Where are they located? I'm about to send out 2 WWII blades for their first sharpening. I had planned to use the same company that my local Woodcraft uses: Standard Saw in Oakland. Cost is $14.95 plus a few bucks to UPS it (40 miles). 3 - 4 day turn around.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Scott - go to their website - and click on sharpening - they have the price list there. They are in New Jersey.

40t 10" is $21.00 plus return shipping.

http://www.forrestsawbladesonline.com/forrest_saw_blade_sharpening.html

[scott vroom]

Thanks Kent. I'm on the left coast so shipping + sharpening would run ~$35-40. A bit pricey unless Forrest does a significantly better sharpening job than the local guy.

[glenn bradley]

I am lucky enough to have s good local shop. My WWII never cut as good as when I got it back from them. Many folks are not so lucky and it doesn't make sense to send a $100 blade to a questionable service.

[Steve Kohn]

I was the victim of a poor local sharpening service. Since then I've sent all my blades, Forest and others, in for sharpening. I've been very pleased with the sharpening, but it does cost more and takes longer.

[Gary Venable]

I have always just used Forrest. For the cost it was never worth trying anyone else to see if they were as good.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Gary....that's always been my thinking. I wouldn't mind saving ten bucks, but I've never wanted to run the risk. If someone in Atlanta gave me a hands-down highly recommended local service, I'd give it a run, I guess.

Plus - I have enough blades & backups that I almost never ship out just one at a time....cuts down on the shipping $$$$ a bit.

[Matt Meiser]

You might try Scott Whiting at Scott's Sharpening Service. He's in AZ so he might be significantly cheaper shipping-wise. I used him for several blades including my WWII and some knives.

http://scottssharpening.com/

[Don Jarvie]

I sent mine to Forrest last year and had the blade back within 5 days of me sending it out.

[Daniel Berlin]

It's worth the cost if you want it done right. They go over every tooth and inch of the blade, it's a lot more than just getting a blade sharpened. My last WW11 lasted 10 years and was sharpened twice.

Sorry, it's not, and they don't.
1. AFAIK, All sharpening at forrest, except for tooth repair,is now done by CNC based sharpening machine. They do quick checks of blades to see if they are damaged, then throw them in the CNC. This is true of most sharpeners these days.
2. I've sent 5 blades to forrest over the past 3 years. On 2 of them they missed chipped teeth that needed repair (they were not damaged in transit, it came back with the wax coating perfectly intact with a clearly damaged tooth in it). 2 of the remaining 5 were nicely sharpened. 1 was "sharpened", but done very badly and didn't cut well.

Since then i've stopped using forrest, and started using dynamic saw, who have done an amazing job for me in all cases.

Forrest is a pretty high volume operation these days. This can make them hit or miss sometimes.

[Bill Huber]

Here is a place you may want to try, I have only used them one time so far but they did an excellent job, and they do sharpen Forrest blades.
This is from their web site.

Print this Cook's Sharpening Cash Coupon and present it to your sales representative or mail it in with your first order.

We will sharpen one carbide tipped saw blade of any style or brand at no charge and will provide free return shipping or delivery in about a week. Offer good for first time Cook Industrial Tool customers only. Limit one coupon per customer. Broken tips will be repaired at normal cost.



http://www.cookssharpening.com/index.html

[Ray Chalenski]

I have 2 Forrest ww blades that I took back to them to have them sharpen. Was less than impressed with their customer service. The office staff were a little taken aback by my walking in to drop off my blades.Noone in the office could take my order. I had to wait 15 to 20 minutes for the guy in receiving to accept my order.It is what it is. Blades came back sharp. Next time out I went to Ridge Carbide.Smaller operation,very personable people.When asked if he would mind sharpening his competitors blades he said he didn't mind one bit making them cut better than when they were new. They did an excellent job.

[Bruce Wrenn]

I'll give you my take on Forest. They are OVER, over rated, and over priced! Forest is a sharpening service that also makes blades. I sent a WWII back to Forest that lost five teeth when it hit one of those staples that hold a SKU tag on. (I have saw through many of them with other brands of blades and no damage.) After all was said and done, about ten bucks more would have gotten me a NEW WWII. Some time later, I sent a 12", 100 tooth HATB Freud blade to Dynamic with similar damage (not mine) and cost was about $25 to replace teeth and sharpen.

[fRED mCnEILL]

After I sent my first forrest blade back for sharpening to Forrest I decided it was too expensive and too much hassle as I live in Canada. So I asked the local Lee Valley store who they recomend. They suggested European Saw Sharpening in Surrey, B.C. Blades have never been sharper.
But what I would really like to know is "what do you have to do to get your Forrest blade to last 10 years with only TWO sharpenings"?

[Van Huskey]

I have used most of the big services over the years and Forrest is about in the middle of my list. Ridge and Dynamic are at the top of my list.

[Rick Potter]

Hey Glen,

What sharpening service do you use? I had a local one in Pomona ruin a WWII for me. They ground the sides of the teeth too much and the blade burned from then on, because of no side clearance.

Rick Potter