Table Saw Blades:. Ridge Carbide vs. FS Tool

[John Hollaway]

Looking to buy several new 10" table saw blades. I've been using Freud Industrial blades for some years, but now days the carbide teeth don't seem to be holding up well for me. A friend with a commercial shop swears by FS Tool blades, while the Ridge Carbide blades seem to have quite a following as well. Since I've never used either the Ridge Carbide or the FS, I thought I would check in with the collective for opinions on Ridge vs FS. Thank you.

[Dave Sabo]

Looking to buy several new 10" table saw blades. I've been using Freud Industrial blades for some years, but now days the carbide teeth don't seem to be holding up well for me. A friend with a commercial shop swears by FS Tool blades, while the Ridge Carbide blades seem to have quite a following as well. Since I've never used either the Ridge Carbide or the FS, I thought I would check in with the collective for opinions on Ridge vs FS. Thank you.

Can't comment on FS , but I have a couple of ridge blades and they are fantastic.



But, I don't really notice any better or worse longevity of the sharpness over my other blades from freud, forrest, leitz, or CMT.

[Kevin Jenness]

Blade design is a bigger factor than name brand among reputable blade manufacturers. Ridge and FS both make good tools as do Forrest, Amana, Onryu, Freud, Leitz, etc., etc.

[Michael Burnside]

Tried both as well as a few others. Ridge Carbide all the way. I have both rip and crosscut blades. Not sure if it stays sharper any longer but they just seem to cut smooth for a long time and they are very well balanced.

Personally I found Freud to be pretty good too, but I’ll be staying with RC for the foreseeable future.

[Edward Weber]

I use Freud pretty much exclusively.
I've not had any issues with any blade since I started using them almost 20 years ago.
Freud also makes their own carbide, which allows them to control the entire process from start to finish.
If you have a Freud blade that you're not happy with, like the OP mentioned, contact them.

[John Kananis]

My go-to's are:
1) Ridge Carbide ts2000 combo blade does most of the heavy lifting. Perfect edges on ply and can crosscut and rip almost like a dedicated blade.
2) Forrest ply-veneer blade that's just flawless on delicate material
3) an older delta 24t rip blade for the rough stuff
4) Freud glue line rip - for the little stuff that you don't want to spend too much time cleaning up
5) there's a ww2 somewhere that hasn't seen the light of day in a pretty long time
6) Ridge Carbide super dado - awesome and heavy as hek
7) older Freud dado set for utility.

In my experience, Ridge or Forrest all the way, and my preference of the two leans towards Ridge - especially their customer care.

[Izzy Camire]

I use Rigid Carbide on my tablesaw and SCMS and much like them.

[Rod Sheridan]

I have around 10 FS Tools blades, they all work very well.

Of course they’re just up the road from me which is nice when I need something custom made…..Regards, Rod

P.S. For me, being made locally is a bonus.

[William Hodge]

I like FS saw blades. Connecticut Saw and Tool sells them. Since I buy my custom cutters there, I also buy an occasional saw blade.
I did use Freud blades for rough ripping, but I can't find out what the non-stick coating is. I don't want PFAS chemicals in my shop. Does anyone know what the coating is? It's called "Perma-Shield™ Non-Stick Coating".

[Jim Becker]

William, sadly, you're going to find it's "likely" that pretty much any non-stick coating in this context is going to contain PTFE (teflon) or other PFAS compounds. I'm not saying that's "for sure"...just that it's likely. If you want to be sure you are avoiding PFAS compounds, stick with (pardon the expression) uncoated blades and tooling. Personally, I don't feel that the coatings add a whole lot of value, at least to me, and none of my blades, other than the Diablos in my cordless circular saw have any coating.

[Scott Bernstein]

Ridge Carbide blades are fantastic - they just work better than any other blade I have tried. I switched to these 10 years ago and don't use another. Great customer service and they also do excellent sharpening and repair work. I have also had a couple of custom carbide router bits made over the years.

[Michael Burnside]

Just setup a new crosscut sled, cut a few test cuts to make it square and then cut a few BB panels for a shop project. I used a Ridge Carbide TS2000 Ultra Combo blade. Man, what a sweet blade.