Forrest Chopmaster

[Jason White]

Thinking about buying a Forrest Chopmaster blade for my new Bosch 12" slider (miter saw). Worth the money? Is there something better out there that I'm not aware of?

Jason

[Darcy Warner]

Personally, I think there are much better blades out there. Everlast, FS Tool, popular tools, matsushita, etc.

Never cared for any Forrest blades.

[jack duren]

Do a search.....

[Ben Rivel]

Havent tried them all, but I have certainly tried my fair share of cheaper options and I love the Forrest ChopMaster. Have had it on a DeWalt DWS780 and now a Bosch GCM12SD. For my table saw, miter saw and soon probably my track saw, Forrest Blades are all I use/own now.

[Stephen Rosenthal]

Hi Jason,

I replaced the original blade with a Forrest Chopmaster on my 10" Makita slider. It leaves a cleaner edge with almost no tearout. Is it worth the money? I guess it depends on what you'll be using it for. I build furniture using hardwood and have my saw fence and blade alignments set up precisely along with a zero clearance insert. If I'm cutting a 90 degree angle, I clean it up and insure squareness with a few passes on a shooting board. If I'm cutting any type of softwood I switch back to the Makita blade, more to save wear and tear on the Forrest than for any other reason. I cut a lot of smaller miters by hand in my Langdon Acme miter box, which I purchased long after the Makita. Hope this helps.

Steve

[Van Huskey]

The one Forrest Chopmaster I find worth the money is the Signature PTB grind. It has the best finish of any MS blade I have used. It uses a 2+1 ATB+ raker grind vs the standard 4+1 ATB+R grind and I use it when I need excellent finish especially on small parts. For general pre-milling and 2x cutting I use a Frued LU73M. I have a Royce Ayr, Popular Tools and Tenryu as well and they are all excellent blades but the two above tend to stay in the miter saw the most. The Royce Ayr has the biggest carbide and the Tenryu is the quietest of all the MS blades I have.

[Andrew Hughes]

I am very happy with my Forrest blade on my Bosch glide.
I think it's a great pair for a Amauter woodworker like me.

[Gene Takae]

I have a Chopmaster that makes excellant clean cuts but save iit for special cuts like picture frame or box miters. I use a cheaper blade for run of the mill cuts. That being said almost any blade will make clean cuts when new but I feel that because of the materials used in Forrest blades they keep their edge much longer.

[Don Jarvie]

I have one on my RAS. Excellent cuts. Well worth the money.

i also have a WW2 on my table saw.

[Jim Becker]

I've run the Chopmaster on my CMS for many years now and am totally satisfied with it.

[Robert Chapman]

I have used nothing but Forrest blades for years - never had a problem and Forrest sharpens them expertly for very reasonable cost.

[William Bell]

I own five Forrest saw blades. I have a woodworker 1 (60tooth) 3/32 kerf on a 12" Dewalt 7790 RAS since 1990. I have a 10" inch woodworker 2 (40 tooth) 1/8 kerf on a Powermatic 66 tablesaw since 1991. After being very impressed with both blades I purchased a 8" dado set from Forrest for $300 in late 1991. No splintering on veneers and the dado/groove is flat. Pricey but worth the money in my view. Purchased a Chopmaster for my Makita LS 1020 chopsaw in mid 90's. I owned the saw since 1988 and used numerous blades. I was reluctant to spend $100 for a saw blade to put on a $200 chopsaw. Concluded I was an idiot because the endgrain of the crosscut boards was as if it was sanded. In 2003 I traded a Bosch hammer drill for a 12" inch Dewalt chopsaw. I used the Dewalt blade that came with the saw for 6 months. Finally broke down and ordered the Chopmaster for about $120 on sale. I could not be happier with the overall performance of all the blades. While ripping on tablesaw I don't have to rip it 1/16 strong than clean up on jointer it eliminates a step. The radial arm saw and tablesaw have small stiffners the chopsaws do not. I don't think you can go wrong with the Chopmaster.

[Jason White]

Thanks for all the input, folks! I bought a Chopmaster and couldn't be happier. I put it on my Bosch axial glide saw and so far I'm getting splinter-free cuts, even without a zero clearance insert. Amazing!

Jason