12" ripping blade Ridge Carbide or Forrest?

[Patrick Kane]

Need a blade for my saw im finishing up, and while ive only ever used Forrest and Felder blades, im open to suggestions. Thats technically a lie, i did use a freud industrial blade many years ago. I know people love those blades, but i am not one of them. Looks like $133 for 30t Forrest WWII and $130 for 24t Ridge Carbide TS2000. 99% of the time i am ripping hardwood. Most of those rips are in the 1.5-2" thick range with thinner stock about 30% of the time. TS2000 is 1/32" thicker, which might be meaningful in a larger blade. I guess its also worth throwing in the 20t WWII that is only $103. Not sure what i gain or lose in 20 vs 24 vs 30 tooth count. 20 teeth over 12" diameter seems pretty coarse, but what do i know. Any reason to make the switch and abandon Forrest for Ridge Carbide?

[lowell holmes]

I can only speak about the Forrest blade, but I have had one for many years. I had it re-sharpened at Circle Saw in Houston some years back.

I am still using it, and if I needed a new one, I probably would look for another Forrest blade.

[Jim Becker]

Both brands are good. I use Forrest. In fact, I just ordered a second 12" WW-II 48T blade for my slider today with the Cyber Monday sale at Silver's Mill. I do have a ripping blade, but it's a 10" and since I use it so infrequently, I've chosen not to upgrade to 12". But...it cuts thick and gnarly like butta...

[Dave Cav]

I have a Delta 12" table saw, and I have two Oshlun 12" 28 tooth rip blades. $39 on Amazon. They're not "glue line" rip blades but I've done more than a few glueups straight off the saw with them. I do probably 99% of my ripping with them and don't have any complaints.

[David Kumm]

What is the hp of the saw? ( I forget what you are working on ) I like a thick plate and lots of carbide on a rip blade. Ridge, Leitz, FS Tool, Royce Ayr, Nap Gladu are all heavy industrial choices. Tenyru and Forrest are good but usually slightly more narrow in plate and kerf. Depends on what your saw can handle. Dave

[Tom M King]

Amana makes a thicker blade too, or at least they're sold with their name on it. I don't know if they make them or not, but I bought a couple of their smaller blades to try on circular saws, and like them a lot.

[Warren Lake]

what dave said plus some swear by Kanafusa. The bottom line is a saw company said no company makes the best blades, that they all have different blades that shine, if that is true then the names dont mean as much. Andrew that used to post here loved the Kanafusa stuff, ive yet to try them and will. I dont care about thin kerf, in a hand circular saw found them to be junk, they wander. Realize that doesnt matter on a table saw and of larger size and thicker. Do have a 14" glue line blade here, Leitz I think someone got cheap at a US machinery show, sold it to me cheap, does say glue line, yet to try it, am I confusing or what

[Patrick Kane]

Only 5hp, so nothing too crazy on this saw. Ok, so then the ridge could be a better choice than Forrest? I completely forgot about Royce Ayr, but i know ive seen the name either on FOG or here. Are they all the same 5/32" thickness, or are some thicker?

[Darcy Warner]

I like everlast. I usually toss all Forrest blades in the scrap pile.

[Bruce Wrenn]

I usually toss all Forrest blades in the scrap pile.I've got my popcorn, so let the fun begin

[Darcy Warner]

I've got my popcorn, so let the fun begin

I hate their blades. Don't like the tooth geometry, don't like that basically strong arm you into sending it back to them to sharpen. There are way better choices out there for less money.

[David Kumm]

I run a bunch of old saws and have bought old industrial blades off CL and Ebay. I have a good sharpening service and believe that sharpening is more important than brand when you get into the industrial level. If there is plenty of carbide left I'll buy a used blade for 50 or less and spend the 30-50 to have it sharpened. I end up with a blade that will still cost less than a new Forrest. I buy Forrest when the kerf width matches my split scorer so I don't have to reset it. Dave

[Patrick Kane]

I don’t have any problems with Forrest—used a variety of blades over the last 5-6 years—but I do feel like I fell into their marketing ploy. As Darcy describes they have built an air of they have the best blades, need proprietary sharpening methods etc. I forget the pricing off the top of my head, but for them to resharpen a 10” blade of 40-50 teeth, it is like $30-40. That’s double Dynamic Saw. Anyways, everyone’s statements coincide with the whole reason I started the thread. A lot of people, myself included, are lead to believe Forrest is the best, because they do a great job of marketing to hobbyists and small shops. Kinda similar to Sawstop.

Ok, can’t find out where the heck to buy Royce Ayr. Looks like the closest distributor is a few hour drive. Any reason not to buy the Ridge Carbide ts2000?

[Andrew Hughes]

You didn’t get mislead Patrick Forrest makes good blades so does Ridge. There’s no shame in trying a new maker. I’d like to try them all myself I love cutting wood even if it doesn’t need to be cut.
What saw are you finishing new old?

[Stephen Rosenthal]

I’ve got a Forrest WWII on my CSMS, Ridge RS1000 on my RAS and Forrest blades on my Skilsaw and PC trim saw. All are great blades. I can’t tell the difference in the quality of cut between the WWII and RS1000. Ridge seems to be slightly cheaper, while Forrest offers a much wider selection. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy the Ridge if it suits your needs.

[lowell holmes]

I would like to know where Darcy's scrap pile is. :)

[Jim Becker]

I would like to know where Darcy's scrap pile is. :)

This. :) :D

Seriously, I could buy multiple brands of blades if I wanted to and there are many quality options available. I've stuck with the one brand because I'm happy with the performance and they all match in thickness exactly. The last time I looked at alternative 12" blades, there was a whole lot of variability in cut width which I just don't prefer. It's a little thing, but each of us has our own "little things" that are important. ;)

[Jeff Heath]

I own a dozen Forrest blades, as well as two of their Dado King dado stacks (different sized arbors and saws). I just took delivery of a new 14" Woodworker II for my recently acquired Martin T17 slider. I've been using their blades for 30 years, and I think they are great.

Absolutely, they do an excellent job of building the hype around their sharpening services. It's called marketing, and they are pretty good at it. Still, even if you choose your local sharpening service to resharpen your blades (I do), their plates are well made, and their grinds are very accurate. I have never had a blade that cut poorly from them.

Are there other good blades available. Absolutely. But, don't think for a second that Forrest blades are all hype. They are not. I'll gladly pay for that scrap pile delivered to my shop if they aren't knife fodder. They're good blades that hold their value well, too, if you ever decide to sell one. You can't say that about most others.

Just my .02.

[Brent Malwicks]

Good products, but each has their pros and cons. The Ridge Carbide blade feeds easily and can be sharpened a lot of times, but it can be easily affected by weather conditions. In my opinion, the Forrest is almost guaranteed to last longer and does the job better.

[Mark Bolton]

We run the Freud industrials and keep the money in the bank. Have 4 forest blades and a bunch if thick plate auction finds and have never once seen the need to pay for the forest.

I can almost buy 2 Freud industrials for a single forest and run the living guts out of a rip blade before resharp. Spending megabucks on a ripping blade makes no sense fo me.

[Patrick Kane]

I ended up going with the ridge carbide blade. Variety is the spice of life, and I’ll see if I notice any difference between this and Forrest blades from the past.

I can’t argue the fact that a $60 Freud blade cuts wood. However for me, I’m looking at things 3-5 years out. In that I don’t want to buy a tool or similar investment that needs to be replaced or cost me more over the next 3-5 years. It’s why I’ll probably front the extra money for carbide blades in my jointer over the typical tersa hss. Same reasoning for this blade. By the time I sharpen it 2-3 times a year, the $130 I just spent will pale in comparison to shipping and sharpening costs over 3-5 years. Good blades aren’t disposable to me. I have a resaw king that was purchased new in 2004.

[Van Huskey]

I am surprised the Felder/AKE/NAP Gladu diamond blade thread didn't spill over into this one.

[liam c murphy]

I use the 20 tooth Forrest WW2. Overall, I am happy with it. It leaves a fairly decent surface for being such a “coarse” blade. It cuts 5/4+ hardwoods noticeably faster than a 40 tooth blade. Of course, this is staying the obvious.

[Mark Bolton]

I ended up going with the ridge carbide blade. Variety is the spice of life, and I’ll see if I notice any difference between this and Forrest blades from the past.

I can’t argue the fact that a $60 Freud blade cuts wood. However for me, I’m looking at things 3-5 years out. In that I don’t want to buy a tool or similar investment that needs to be replaced or cost me more over the next 3-5 years. It’s why I’ll probably front the extra money for carbide blades in my jointer over the typical tersa hss. Same reasoning for this blade. By the time I sharpen it 2-3 times a year, the $130 I just spent will pale in comparison to shipping and sharpening costs over 3-5 years. Good blades aren’t disposable to me. I have a resaw king that was purchased new in 2004.


No different here. We have some nice thick plate blades that were auction bought branded as Dewalt but Im sure they werent made by them that are 10+ years old easy and been sharpened more times than I can count with a few couple of re-brazed tips as well. No doubt you make the investment you feel works. We run the guts out of the Freud industrial rips The plates are thick, carbide is thick, and they re-sharp just as good as any of our other ripping blades which is why it makes it difficult to spend twice the money on a rip blade. We were lucky to have sharpening about 15 miles from the shop that make a weekly loop for pickup and drop off so there was no shipping involved but cancer has left us in the shipping loop. He would go as easy as possible on a blade and we have a half dozen freud's that I couldnt even tell you how old they are.

We are mainly breaking down rough stock so we may not value a ripping blades cut quality as much as many but life of the carbide is tops on the list and I cant say Ive ever gotten the money out of the high dollar blades. We have a few forests that havent seen an arbor in a long time. I think far more to do with the life of any blade actually is the fact that most are hand fed so they are fed at painfully slow feed rates which destroys them. If we are breaking down by hand its on the slider and we are crowding the blade as fast and hard as it will allow but more often than not its with a feeder and again we feed as hard as the blade will allow. The feeder alone in my opinion ads more to blade life that anything out there as long as your not running it at ultra turtle.

Enjoy your new blades!

[Jeff Heath]

I tried a Freud blade. I did not experience the joy with it that you describe. It's hanging on my wall now, waiting to get re-sharpened, when I send out a bunch. I am not using it in the same way as you, though. I am not running a feeder. As you say, it may be all the difference, and comparing night with day. I'm very satisfied giving my hard earned money to an American company. I will always decide that way, but I know I'm probably in the minority. I will readily admit that I haven't used enough of any other brand of blade to comment on their performance over a long term trial. My comments, made earlier in the thread, were in rebuttal to a comment made that Forrest blades are garbage, and should be scrapped. That, of course, simply just isn't true. I've been running them, in multiple saws in multiple sizes, for about 30 years.

[Andrew Hughes]

I tried a Freud blade. I did not experience the joy with it that you describe. It's hanging on my wall now, waiting to get re-sharpened, when I send out a bunch. I am not using it in the same way as you, though. I am not running a feeder. As you say, it may be all the difference, and comparing night with day. I'm very satisfied giving my hard earned money to an American company. I will always decide that way, but I know I'm probably in the minority. I will readily admit that I haven't used enough of any other brand of blade to comment on their performance over a long term trial. My comments, made earlier in the thread, were in rebuttal to a comment made that Forrest blades are garbage, and should be scrapped. That, of course, simply just isn't true. I've been running them, in multiple saws in multiple sizes, for about 30 years.

+1 Here nicely said Jeff. I’ve also found Forrest blades to be quieter.

[Darcy Warner]

I guess that after using over 20 different blades from different manufacturers I must just not realize how wonderful those crappy Forrest blades are.

It's really odd because I never see Forrest blades hanging on any wall or any cabinet in any commercial shop. Huh.

One of my favorite blades is a golden eagle. Too bad they are not made anymore.

[Van Huskey]

Forrest is always a lightning rod for debate. Without weighing in with just another opinion on which is the best ice cream company anyone that wants to buy American and try something different than Forrest that can handle commercial shop duty just a couple of options are Everlast and Popular.

[Mark Bolton]

I'm very satisfied giving my hard earned money to an American company. I will always decide that way, but I know I'm probably in the minority.

Your not in the minority with me. Its directly quoted in my business plan repeatedly that I am asking my customers to support local and I am intent on doing so as well. That said, money is money, and as Ive stated I have forrest blades hanging in my shop right now. They go on the miter saw when we are doing certain work, they go on the slider when we are doing certain work, but as a business owner I cant arbitrarily pay twice what a blade costs just because its from Forrest. I dont trash them, but I also understand where Darcy is coming from that you just dont see them hanging in every commercial shop you walk into and thats for a reason, they are pretty much too expensive in that environment. Sad but true. I have made, and continue to make, every domestic choice I can in our business and will continue to do so for as long as I can.

Other than the pain on purchase I have not had anything negative to say about most +$100 blades. That said, when I find a good thick plate, heavy carbide, blade that is cost effective I have no choice but to give it a thumbs up.

I think something we have to remember here as well, domestic aside, is at least to me this thread is not speaking to a glue line rip or a blade that is going to rip to a sanded finish (though we go straight to glue up off the Freud) but a rip blade. Its like comparing a dovetail saw to a sawzall blade. We have several high tooth count, glue line rip, super nice, blades that we have simply not mounted in a long time because weve worked our process to avoid them because they are slow, they cost a fortune to buy, and a fortune to sharpen. Is better to rework your process to avoid those all together.

[Darcy Warner]

Everlast is made here, others are as well.

I hate cheap saw blades, I also hate saw blades that are overpriced when you compare them to others.

[Patrick Kane]

I like to glue straight off the saw as much as possible, but that is usually a 33-50% chance. Either some tiny amount of stress release or blade chatter causes me to take a light pass at the jointer prior to gluing up. Which now sounds like an argument against why i would spend $130 on a ripping blade when im going to process the edge afterwards....

[Mark Bolton]

I like to glue straight off the saw as much as possible, but that is usually a 33-50% chance. Either some tiny amount of stress release or blade chatter causes me to take a light pass at the jointer prior to gluing up. Which now sounds like an argument against why i would spend $130 on a ripping blade when im going to process the edge afterwards....

My point exactly

[Darcy Warner]

Glue off a rip saw.

[Mark Bolton]

Glue off a rip saw.

yeah, um, wait, uh? wait.. whaa?

[Darcy Warner]

yeah, um, wait, uh? wait.. whaa?

I glue right off my SLR.

[Larry Edgerton]

The best rip blade I have ever bought was a FS Tool 10" bored to fit my Minimax. For stock under 1 1/4" I see no need to run a 12", get better results with a 10" heavy blank blade. With this blade you really have to look hard to see what edge is ripped and which is jointed. I agree that thin kerfs do not save material, quite the opposite in my opinion.

[Joe Calhoon]

I have used most of the blades mentioned here but 3 brands stand out as excellent in my opinion. Kanafusa for all around ripping and crosscuting of solid wood in my slider, AKE for fine crosscuting on the slider and a high tooth count FS Tool blade in the Omga. I do have a Forrest blade that came with my Graule and not impressed with that but it was used and I had it sharpened by my normal saw doc so maybe I am missing something not sending it back to Forrest.
I use Leitz rip blades in the SLR and they seem fine but have never tried anything else. Usually no glueups off a saw blade for me. A ton of US made blades over the years that I would have to look at to remember the names.

I think it’s important to find a good sharpener. Bad sharpening can ruin a good blade in a hurry.

[Jeff Heath]

My only opinion on thin kerf blades, and when they might be a reasonable option, is on an underpowered saw. 25 years ago, when I used to do a lot of jobsite work and installations (architectural millwork) I had a contractors saw that I would leave at the jobsite. It was really immensely underpowered for hardwoods over 1" thick, as I recall. I bought a thin kerf blade for it, and it seemed to make a difference. It was a long time ago, but I have carried that thought and reason with me all this time.

I no longer own any underpowered saws, so I no longer use a thin kerf blade for anything. I would agree that they have no place in a commercial shop. The only thing they save is horsepower requirement.

[Richard Haislip]

my ridge ts2000 and rs1000 shipped from everlast , so im assuming everlast makes the blades for ridge carbide.. found that interesting.

[Van Huskey]

I came back to this thread to see if anyone had addressed the Everlast/Ridge "connection". In rereading the thread I realized I did not include what I think the big reason people like Darcy and production shops don't love Forrest blades and many hobbyists do, it is actually pretty simple and it is by design.

Jim Forrest really designed the "Forrest Grind" for the hobby world and set about selling them at wwing shows and they really are great for hobbyists (don't let anyone tell you different) but they really aren't very good for production shops.

Forrest uses a grind that has very narrow side clearances, a rasp effect behind the tips and narrow ground shoulders. All this produces a beautiful finish off the saw BUT in production it causes very large increases in heat, tooling plus heat equals bad. Saws* designed for industry do not have these tight side clearances to reduce heat production and increase the time between resharpening. So while the average hobbyist might be nonplussed by Darcy's rather blunt opinion the key to tooling is the application so while they might indeed be junk for Darcy's applications they might work better for the hobbyists than the very best industrial blade. You will find similar low clearance grinds on Freud's Premiere Fusion and Infinity's Super General blades.


*in the industry "blades" are called saws not blades BTW so I like to act all smart once in a while

[Andrew Hughes]

The Resaw King and the Forrest woodworker 2 have a lot in common. But I wouldn’t say they are only appealing to hobbiest. Professional/Amateur furniture makers use them.
I thought Darcy is a machinery dealer/restoration I didn’t know he sells lumber also.

[Van Huskey]

The Resaw King and the Forrest woodworker 2 have a lot in common. But I wouldn’t say they are only appealing to hobbiest. Professional/Amateur furniture makers use them.
I thought Darcy is a machinery dealer/restoration I didn’t know he sells lumber also.

I consider amateur furniture makers to be hobbyists and professional studio furniture makers have similar requirements, duty cycles and feedrates to hobbyists, albeit they MAY have more duty cycles per week. So I should have included studio furniture makers but they still have the key differences from production work.

Darcy also does custom millwork which is production facing and favors blades designed with production duty cycles.

I also agree the RK and WWII have similarities in the grinds. The Trimaster and Woodmaster CT, for example, have grinds that are more appropriate for production work and cutting material that is not conducive to using tight clearance grinds.

[Andrew Hughes]

Fair enough but the hobbiest may not have the passion or love that the Studio craftsman has. The Amatuer and the Pro share this quality.
I think the Amateur and Pro share the same coin just different sides.

[Van Huskey]

Fair enough but the hobbiest may not have the passion or love that the Studio craftsman has. The Amatuer and the Pro share this quality.
I think the Amateur and Pro share the same coin just different sides.

I have never made any distinction between an amateur and hobbyist woodworker. In fact, I don't think I have ever used the term amateur with regards to furniture making, the Paul Sellers discussion is as close as I have gotten to that. I also don't see a clear line between the hobbyists and professionals passion, the most passionate woodworker I know personally has never sold a single piece.

Semantics aside the requirements of production work on a saw are different from that of someone making a piece or a few pieces at a time whether they are getting paid or not. That is the salient issue here and the Forrest blades are less suited to production work and thus have a generally less favorable opinion by those that engage this type of work.

[Jim Andrew]

Interesting discussion. I bought a WW2 because of the recommendations on this forum, and was not impressed. Do appreciate the difference between a rip blade and crosscut blade, and bought a set from Carbide Processors for my Hammer K3 Winner, Tenryu brand. Best blades I have ever used. One other thing I have found, is that cleaning restores a blade to near new condition. So when changing from rip to crosscut, if a blade looks like it has pitch starting to build up, I put it in a pan and spray cleaner on it. Only has to soak a minute or 2, then run a tooth brush over it, rinse with water, dry and it is ready to put away. When I worked in a pro shop, found that blades were covered with pitch, then overheated, and were then worthless.