Diablo blades at the Borg vs. 'real' freud blades....

[Michael Donahue]

How do the 'diablo' or 'avanti' blades compare to comparable, regular Freud blades? I know that they're cheaper, but are they close in quality or are you sacrificing alot buying the borg blades?

Thanks!

[Dewey Torres]

They are the lower end of the Freud line as most companies have. That being said they are not bad blades especially if you are buying them for specailty such as the Avanti melamine blade.

If you really want a great high quality Freud this baby can't be beat IMO:

http://www.amazon.com/Freud-P410-Premier-10-Inch-PermaShield/dp/B000JNTG76

[Alan Schwabacher]

I think the main difference is that the carbide is thicker on the standard series blades, so they support more resharpenings. The Diablo blades are fine until they dull, though they are not available in as many different tooth configurations.

[glenn bradley]

I run an Avanti 80T on my CMS. Better cut than the WWII which is not really fair as it has twice the teeth. I have had no trouble with it and picked up another on sale to alternate when sharpening. They also do well on the TS. I've run Diablos on my Circ saws for ply with better than expected results as well.

[Derek Stevens]

I run diablo on my CS, and have a few for my TS. 7 days a week, 12-14 hours a day. no complaints. Also run a POS Ridgid 80t from the borg that cuts like a planer with almost no waste and thin kerf. Not that anyone here is, but I tend not to be a tool snob, rather falling back on my yankee roots of making the best of what you can have, rather than dropping bank on something a little better. Sharpening up the old rather than buying new, that sort of thing. I have a matsushita 80 for my TS, but I wont run it, as the harmonics of the blade, frankly suck toe jam. even with ear protection, that one cuts through it.
My point about blades is this, I don't cut without dressing the cut. ever, so why sweat the blade, when more work is going to occur....

[scott spencer]

According to Charles M from Freud, the Diablo and Avanti lines are made of the same materials on the same machines as the Industrial line. All are thin kerf blades and tend to be marketed to a different niche than the Industrial blades. The Industrial line offers thicker carbide and a much wider selection that includes both full and thin kerf blades for a wide variety of specialty applications as well as general purpose use. Based strictly on observation, it appears that there are some differences in the anti-vibration/anti-noise slot patterns, but it gets difficult to make comparisons without knowing if each blade is the latest example of a particular model number, as they do get updated periodically. AFAIK, their Premier line currently only includes the full kerf 40 tooth Hi-ATB general purpose Fusion blade right now.

Derek, I believe your Ridgid blade is made by Freud also.

[David Keller NC]

What I'd wonder about is whether the Diablos are balanced to the same specifications as the Premier Fusion line. This is one case where one of those crappy magazine tool reviews would actually be useful, as most of us aren't going to buy 10 of each and do a consistency evaluation.