Miter Saw Blade recommendation

[Matt Meiser]

I noticed my second miter saw blade is getting pretty bad and after cleaning it I found out that several teeth are chipped. Of course my first blade is still sitting waiting for me to send it in for sharpening.

The first blade (the one to be sharpened) is a Dewalt 80 tooth blade from their Woodworking series which is supposed to be a decent blade. The second (with the chipped teeth) is a Freud Diablo 80 tooth blade. I'm thinking the second is not worth overhauling due to the cost by the time I ship it, have the teeth replaced, and have it sharpened. I don't remember doing anything that should have chipped the teeth.

I'm looking for a recommendation on a decent "spare" blade preferably from Lowes or Home Depot so I can just run in and pick one up and get things going again.

[Todd Jensen]

I've always liked the Freuds for an economy blade, and run the Forrest Chopmaster as my standard. Around here you can get blades sharpened for about $25 and I think its another $5-7 per tooth replaced. I'll still use a Freud, but once you take the plunge and buy a pair of Chopmasters, you can continually have a new or re-newed superior blade for around $25, a much better deal than spending $50 on a Freud or similar. In the long run I feel it is a much better value.

[Charles McCracken]

Matt,

Freud blades have warranty against defects so as long as it has not been sharpened, altered or abused you should be able to get it replaced. In fact, Home Depot will likely just exchange it for you.

[Matt Meiser]

Cool--I'll print out your message and take the blade in and see if they will do that then!

[Matt Meiser]

Update: I ran down to Home Depot with the blade. Took a new one and the old one up to the service desk where the following conversation ensued:

Me: "This blade has chipped teeth and according to a Freud rep that is a defect covered by the warranty and he said Home Depot should be able to take care of it."

Service Desk Girl: "Do you have your recipt?"

Me: "No"

SDG: "How long have you had it?"

Me: "I don't know, but it has a lifetime warranty (pointing to the logo on the package.)"

SDG: "Is it the same one?"

Me: "Yep."

SDG: "You are all set then, I don't care."

She set the old blade down and went back to talking to the other guy standing up there. No paperwork, not messing with the computer. I half expected to be chased down in the parking lot by loss prevention. I forgot how good the MS cuts with a good blade in it. Apparently the old one was much worse than I thought.

[scott spencer]

Cool! Don't ya just love a happy ending? :)

[glenn bradley]

Excellent the way that worked out. Way to go Charles. If you want to pick up a cost effective spare just to have around, I bought my dad a Bosch 80T from Lowes for about $30. Cuts very nicely adn would surely tied you over during the sharpening cycle.

I wonder if a bunch of us in SoCal got together and sent in a dozen blades or so if we could get a discount . . . . or maybe a local sharpener would give an SMC discount . . . hmmmm, now I'm thinkin'