Frank Snyder
12-29-2006, 3:40 PM
For any of you out there who are considering a new multi-purpose sawblade, I thought this might be of interest. I just picked up the Freud Fusion yesterday and did a few test cuts on it this morning. All I can saw is "Wow!" I did a few rip and cross cuts in 4/4 Birch and some Figured Maple plywood scraps.
For the solid Birch, the rip cut was like a hot knife through butter. There was no burning, no blade chatter and no splintering. The cross-cut looked like glass, and again, no burning or chatter.
For the plywood, both the rip and crosscut came out equally as clean and prestine as I could ever imagine. There was also NO tearout on either side of the veneer. This is without a ZC insert.
Mind you, I took waaaay too much time calibrating my saw and fence to exact tolerances, so these results assume that the next saw is in perfect alignment.
My Forrest WWII blade was great for making clean crosscuts, but not so great for ripping (lots of resistance and some burning). So I would have to switch over to a 24-tooth rip blade for that operation. Now I can just keep one blade in the saw for 99% of my cuts.
The proof is in the pudding...
5371253713537145371553716
For the solid Birch, the rip cut was like a hot knife through butter. There was no burning, no blade chatter and no splintering. The cross-cut looked like glass, and again, no burning or chatter.
For the plywood, both the rip and crosscut came out equally as clean and prestine as I could ever imagine. There was also NO tearout on either side of the veneer. This is without a ZC insert.
Mind you, I took waaaay too much time calibrating my saw and fence to exact tolerances, so these results assume that the next saw is in perfect alignment.
My Forrest WWII blade was great for making clean crosscuts, but not so great for ripping (lots of resistance and some burning). So I would have to switch over to a 24-tooth rip blade for that operation. Now I can just keep one blade in the saw for 99% of my cuts.
The proof is in the pudding...
5371253713537145371553716