BLADE BARGAIN ALERT ... DW7657 - $40 shipped

[scott spencer]

FYI for all you full kerf general purpose blade users, Amazon has the DW7657 40T on sale for $40.09 with free shipping. It's a bargain at regular price of $55 IMHO.

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B00008K2TZ.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V1118262321_.jpg
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/B00008K2TZ/ref=cm_cr_dp_pt/103-0666017-4028638?ie=UTF8&n=228013&s=hi

***** The Best Value on the Market! , February 9, 2006

"This is DeWalt's finest general purpose blade and has got to be the best value on the market. With blades of this caliber, it's possible to get excellent results with one blade on most cuts and materials. Savvy owners swear by the DW7657's performance, including many who have also used the famous top rated Forrest WWII 40T blade, which is well known as an industry icon. The DW7657 is uncannily similar in design to the WWII, (C4 micrograin carbide tipped teeth, alternating top bevel grind, aggressive 20 degree hook angle, superior construction quality) and delivers predictably similar results...clean, smooth, polished cuts on a wide variety of materials and thicknesses. I'm a staunch supporter of the venerable Forrest blade, but am extremely impressed with the DW. Woodworking magazines have done comparison tests between the DW7657 and the WWII and found the 7657 delivers remarkeably similar performance to the Forrest at close to half the cost. I agree with their findings and so do many others who've tried both blades. If you balk at spending $100 on a saw blade, give serious consideration to this worthy contender from DeWalt. Over the years I've gotten pretty spoiled with some excellent blades. IMHO this one deserves a place along side the elite 40T general purpose blades from Forrest WWII, Ridge Carbide TS2000, Tenryu Gold Medal, and Freud F410."

http://www.epinions.com/pr-Shop_Tools-DeWalt_40T_General_Purpose_Woodworking_Saw_Blade_D W7657





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[Bruce Wrenn]

DeWalt 7640, 50 tooth combo blade is $36.99 delivered also. About $75 buys TWO good blades.

[Noah Katz]

Thanks Scott, I just ordered one.

[Mike Henderson]

Scott - maybe you can answer this - you seem to know blades well.

How do you tell which DeWalt blades are the top of the line? Other manufacturers identify their top-of-the-line blades with a different name, like the Tenryu "Gold Medal". But all the DeWalt blades are identified the same, DWnnnn.

Other than price, how is someone suppose to know that the DW7657 is a "fine woodworking" blade instead of something to be used on salvage wood?

Mike

[scott spencer]

Hi Mike - It's a little tough to differentiate the DW blades, and it doesn't help that their lines are changing. They used to have series 20, 40 and 60. The package stated the series right on the box, but I'm not sure that they even use the series designation any more. The prefix "76##" was always a series 60 blade AFAIK....7640, 7657, 7646, etc. The black coated TK's were always a series 40, but there are some series 40 that aren't TK's and that aren't coated...like the 7124. The series 40 and 60 were all made in the UK.

Their new "Precision Trim" series is reportedly made in the US, but I'm not sure what the quality is like compared to the series 40 and 60. I've heard some complaints about them, but it might be just startup manufacturing problems as opposed to inherent design issues.

In a nutshell I don't have a good current method for identifying them anymore. DW needs a Charles! :)

Edit: I just browsed the DW website. Their circular blades are listed by categories of Construction, Woodworking, Metal Cutting, Steel, and Precision Trim. Series 20 was always considered their construciton grade blades. The "Woodworking" category includes the coated TK's and most of the former series 60 numbers. The PT series models have a PT suffix, but most of the numerals equate to the former series 40. I still don't know the scoop, but thought I'd include what the website has.

http://www.dewalt.com/us/products/accessory_category_listing.asp?categoryID=202&x=9&y=4

[George Moore]

the 7657 is listed under woodworking blades on the DeWalt site.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Both the 7640, and 7657 are series 40 blades. These blades are very good performers, often very close to Forrest blades in magazine reviews. I've used a series 40, 80 tooth for ripping plywood for years. Probably cut up a couple hundred sheets with it. One day, maybe, I will need to have it sharpened.