Irwin blades, Mibro dado worth sharpening?

[Tim Quigley]

I've been woodworking long enough to think about getting some of my stuff sharpened. Over time I have upgraded to Freud sawblades and I have one I want to send out for sharpening. Sharpening a nice Freud carbide tipped blade seems like a no-brainer. $15 to get the $75-100 blade as good or perhaps better than new. What I am debating is the value of getting my cheaper blades sharpened.

I have teo Irwin Marathon blades (80 tooth and 40 tooth), a Dewalt 12" Construction miter saw blade (60 tooth) and a Mibro stacked dado set.

It will cost me $50- to 55 to get the dado sharpened...and I can probably buy the same set again for about $75. The other blades will cost 15 or so for sharpening and can be replaced for maybe 2-3 times that in the case of the Irwin's and 3-4 times that in the case of the Dewalt.

I plan to send the blades to Ridge Carbide in NJ, so my guess is they will come back better than new from what I've read about them here...so I guess that means I get a sharper blade for less cost than new. On the other hand, these are relativly cheap blades and maybe they should be used and tossed.

So my question...is it worth it to sharpen any or all of these blades or do I just toss them and look to buy new and/or upgrade over time?

Thoughts?
Thanks,
Tim

[Steven Triggs]

Personally, I can't imagine paying to have an Irwin or Dewalt construction blade sharpened. Blades like those can be bought often for $20 or so when you find a sale, or a specially priced "2-pack".

You might consider buying replacements by Freud on Amazon. A quick search just now revealed several 10" Freud blades for $30 - $40, and some Freud 12" blades for under $50.

Just my two cents...

[glenn bradley]

I have an Irwin that is actually a Lietz. Cuts very nice and I ot it for $11 through a deal here on the Creek. Since it was so cheap, I might have it sharpened. A regular Irwin, probably not.

The DeWalt 60T I have came on my miter saw. I use it as a beater when I need to chop stuff up. I can't see having it sharpened. There was hardly and carbide on it when it was new.

Bosch is trying to push their blade line and an 80T 10" at Lowes is about $30 right now. My dad got one and it is a great blade for the price. I can't speak to the dado. I just recently got my first real one as I always used a router for this. I just had a project that exceeded what I was willing to do with the router so here I am with a Freud SD508.

P.s. I love all my Freud blades although I have a WW II, four Lietz and a couple 'something else' I can't seem to think of right now.

[scott spencer]

It's a matter of opinion Tim, but I wouldn't pay good money to sharpen those cheaper blades. They'd likely be better than new, but they still have the same lower grade of carbide that'll dull faster, and the same body and runout. That money would be better spent on a better grade replacement IMHO. You can get a good 40T Freud LU86 for ~ $35 shipped, or an excellent LU88 for ~ $45 shipped. Holbren has the Tenryu RS25540 40T blade for ~ $27 shipped. You can get a really nice Delta or DeWalt 7670 dado, or a Freud SD208 for ~ $90.

[Tim Quigley]

Thanks for the thoughts on this. Figured they wouldn't be worth much sharpening...will just keep working towards upgrades. And, I just scored a 25% off on the Rockler scratch and save sale, so maybe I can just upgrade the dado blade now!

Best,
Tim