Shopping for TS blades

[Greg Muller]

I really need to get a few new blades... without spending a mint!

If you had $200.00 total spending allowance (NO GOING OVER!!!) and needed;

plywood blade
crosscut blade
rip blade

No thin kerfs, please, otherwise just assume that the majority of cutting is going to be done on 8/4 walnut and WO... I do use ZCI's...

CLEAN CUTS ARE THE PRIORITY, not volume.

Give me your suggestions, price and store (online or local to KC, MO).

Start shopping!

Greg

[Greg Cole]

Greg,
Overland Tool has a decent assortment locally. There's one just north of the river (something like 16th and Burlington area) or the big one down south. There's also the Heath Tool shop right on Burlington Ave about 3 blocks from Overland. Millions of places online...
I've had decent luck with the Freud Industrial ones as well as the ones with the red teflon coating (Diablo maybe, and I think it's teflon anyway). The industrial ones are identical other than the coating... IIRC the last 24 tooth glue line rip I bought there was like $32.
I've been tempted to pony up for a Forrest or the like but can't seem to kill the blades I have just yet, or maybe it's not wanting to spend over $100 for one?

Greg

[Dave Dye]

I have a Forrest Woodworker I and I couldn't believe the way it cuts compared to other blades I've used. It's like the perverbial "knife through butter" with red oak.

[Greg Muller]

Thanks for the info, Greg, I'll have to get up to Burlington.

What plywood blade would you recommend? I have a lot of cabinets to make in the coming few months and I really want some nice edges.

Greg

[Steve Sawyer]

My experience is that you can't go wrong with the Freud blades - I have several, and I know you can get all three in your list for well under $200. I have their industrial glue-line rip, a 40-tooth combination and an 80-tooth plywood/crosscut blade. The 40 and the 80 are both thin kerfs, but I'm reasonably sure that all of their blades are available in both kerf sizes.

I haven't used any of the fancier/pricier blades like the Forrest blades, and I'm not claiming that you can't find better blades than the Freuds, but they perform extremely well and represent an excellent value.

[Matthew Voss]

Greg MullerWhat plywood blade would you recommend? I have a lot of cabinets to make in the coming few months and I really want some nice edges.


Freud LU80R:

http://www.hartvilletool.com/product/12763

[JayStPeter]

I would buy a 40-tooth Forrest WWII for ply, crosscuts and rips on 3/4" material. Then, pick a rip blade for the thicker stuff as most are less than the leftover $100. I have an Infinity rip blade. I chose to buy that one because I wanted a blade with a raker so I can make flat bottom cuts and use it for thin grooves and dados as well and it was on sale. It's pretty good, but others are probably similar. The next blade I buy wil be a 30-tooth WWII.

[scott spencer]

For your plywood blade I'd look into something with an 80T Hi-ATB grind for the cleanest cut....there's really not a cleaner cutting combination. Frued LU80, Forrest Duraline, Amana MB-10800, Infinity Ultrasmooth (http://www.infinitytools.com/products.asp?dept=1198), Ridge Carbide MC10802 (http://www.holbren.com/product.php?productid=682&cat=51&page=1), etc. ($80-$100)

The Forrest WWII 30T is pretty impressive in 8/4" for efficiency and clean rips...it even crosscuts reasonably well, but won't hang with an upper level dedicated crosscut blade for tearout free cuts. (~ $90)

That doesn't leave a big budget for a crosscut blade, but honestly, your plywood blade will cut as cleanly or cleaner than anything else...an 80T blade may struggle some in 8/4 though. A 60T will have an easier time...I've tried the DeWalt DW7646 with good results, which I believe is now available as a Delta 35-7646. Holbren (http://www.holbren.com/home.php?cat=53)has a bunch of new choices from Amana and Oshlun that all look like good values...haven't tried the Amana's yet, but did give a brief spin to a 40T Oshlun blade that looks really promising for the price....surprisingly well made in that price range (Holbren gives free s/h, plus 10% for "SMC10" code). ...Mike Jackson (http://www.forums.woodnet.net/ubbthreads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=3369298&page=&view=&sb=5&o=&fpart=1&vc=1)still has some German Leitz/Irwin and Leitz/Delta 60T crosscut blades - < $20 to your door. If you want to up the stakes on the crosscutter and maybe spend a bit less on the ripper, the Infinity 010-060 60T (http://www.infinitytools.com/products.asp?dept=1197) has a 30° Hi-ATB grind with a 5° positive hook...I have not tried it but I really like the geometry of it. (~ $60)...free s/h with Infinity for $100 orders.

My picks - Amazon's 25% off Freud puts the LU80 (http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0007WKBEQ/ref=dp_olp_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1202925734&sr=8-1)to your door for $67.50 (nice deal if you choose it directly from Amazon, not a 3rd party seller), they also have the WWII 30T (http://www.amazon.com/Forrest-WW10307125-Woodworker-10-Inch-Circular/dp/B000OMN34E/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1202925113&sr=8-2)(for clean ripping) for $88 shipped, which only leaves you ~ $45 for a crosscut blade...I think I'd go a tad over and grab the Infinity 010-060 as a crosscutter, and shave some off the ripper cost (maybe Ebay's got one). Or....you may even find that the 60T crosscutter handles your plywood needs and that you don't need both fine finish blades (puts you back on budget! :D)

[Dave Falkenstein]

Hmmm. Three blades with a budget of $200 and "CLEAN CUTS ARE THE PRIORITY". Now that's tough.

I'd start with two blades. Get a rip blade - I like Freud's 24 tooth. Add a top of the line GP blade that does well in plywood. The Forrest WW II or the Freud Fusion would be my top two choices.

If you find the crosscuts in plywood are not satisfactory for you, then add a High ATB blade - I have an Amana that gives great results, but not significantly better than a sharp WW II.

If two blades works for you, then you stayed within your budget.

[Joe McCormick]

Greg.
I have a DEWALT DW7640 10-Inch 50T Combination Woodworking Saw Blade that I bought a couple of years ago at the woodworking show in Denver. I also have the Forrest WWII blade. I like the cut quality of the Dewalt over the Forest blade. It stayed sharp longer also. I liked the Dewalt blade so much that I bought another one from Amazon last May for $24.00. It does a great job on Oak plywood for rip and cross cuts. I am using it on a Dewalt DW746 table saw.

[Brent Harding]

I majorly have to agree with the Forrest Woodworker II combination blade. The cuts are fantastic. I also have a frued 40T combo that is a very nice less expensive blade, but until I got the Forrest I didn't know a blade could make such a difference. It also does great with plywood with much less splintering.

[DENNIS BURNS]

Checkout Amazon's 25% off all freud blades. Free shipping

[mark page]

Greg,

Had to go look in the shop for the part numbers. I use a Freud LU74R010 glue-line industrial rip blade. I bought several at the same time for (I dunno) 30-35 bucks or so on Amazon. Still have one new in package. I don't know if they changed part numbers by now, as it has been several years since I purchased these. They work extremely well. Think they are a 24 tooth rip blade. I have several crosscut blades from Amana but do not know the part numbers. They are 60-80 tooth blades. Most of my cross cuts are made on the scms with a Dewalt 80 tooth neg rake blade width permitting.
One hint for plywood: If you aren't running a production shop and no time limits, you can use a good combination blade and make the first cut a scoring cut 1/8 or so deep and then make your final cut to keep splintering down to almost zero. I do this often as I am too danged nit-picky on things. lol.
PS: Sometime we'll have to go have breakfast and grab Lester too. I don't have normal weekends off anymore's so it's hard to get away during a normal person's weekend. I need some preventative maintenance & MVI on the LOML van so I may see him early next week. We haven't met in person so look forward to it.

[Greg Muller]

Wow guys!

Thanks for all the good advice. I guess I should have made a poll here asking about the best plywood blade. There were quite a few Freud fans, several Forrest faithful and a lot of others. I think I may go for the Amazon deal on the Freud. It sounds too good to pass up.

For the others, I think I'll patronize one of the SMC supporters or a local store.

Mark, let me know a day or two in advance, I can go into the office late pretty much any day so we can meet up for b'fast.

Thank you all!

Greg