A buddy of mine specializes in historic restoration and asked if I would help install a full house trim package (doors, windows, 3 piece base, crown, etc). He fabricated of all the trim in his shop and is pre-finishing everything. Everything as far as I know is all oak.
I have an older 12" double bevel Ridgid (non-slider) that is my job site saw and a DeWalt 12" slide miter (DW708) in my shop. The Ridgid is currently on another job, but I'm thinking about bringing the DW708 from the shop to that job and using the Ridgid for the trim job, so it's for the Ridgid I'm in need of a new blade for. (FWIW the Ridgid has a 1" arbor and the DeWalt is 5/8")
Now, despite my not having been thrilled in the past with the Forrest Chopmaster, I'm giving serious consideration to their Signature Line Chopmaster, but before I do drop some cash for another overpriced Forrest blade I'd love to hear what you have to say about the Signature Line Chopmaster.... Or what other blade you would use to cut pre-finished oak trim.
One blade I've recently heard great things about - believe it or not - is the 90 tooth Hitachi 726101. Given that it's currently $39.99 on Amazon I may pick one up anyway, but I'd love to know if anybody has any first hand experience. I wish I could remember who here on SMC mentioned it in a previous thread (I searched for but couldn't locate it).
There is is one other blade recommendation I'm considering - Irwin Woodworking Series (80 tooth, ATB, Full Kerf) made by Leitz. My local lumberyard has a handful NOS left that they are keeping for in house use, but will sell me one (my rep at the yard swears by this blade).
The Ridgid was in need of a couple new blades anyway, so over the weekend I picked up a Leitz made Irwin Woodworking Series 100 tooth "Miter Finishing" blade. I got a wee bit excited about this blade thinking it would be a good blade for the historic trim job (and at $30 a significant savings over the Forrest), but it wasn't until I got it home that I noticed it was a thin kerf (definitely want a full kerf for cutting pre-finished oak crown). I have no doubt this Leitz/Irwin is a good blade and will be an acceptable replacement for the Freud TK407 that is currently on the Ridgid but in dire need of sharpening.
And since we're talking blades.... I had been using the crappy stock blade that came with the Ridgid (and similarly with/on the DeWalt) for rough cutting, so was happy to also find last weekend a couple cheap DML Golden Eagle 44 tooth blades as replacements. I haven't used, or even seen, a DML blade in a number of years; had forgotten how big the carbide teeth are on those suckers. They were a good score at $25 each.
Also picked up a German made Delta (35-646) 60 tooth (I read this one may have been made by Leitz as well). This blade is for a 5/8" arbor so it'll have to go on the DeWalt, but with a -6 degree hook angle and TC&F tooth configuration I'm hoping it might be a suitable stand in for when the DeWalt DW7649 - that is currently on the saw - needs to go in for sharpening (IMHO you couldn't ask for a better miter/crosscut blade than the DeWalt DW7649 - it replaced a Chopmaster on this saw). If I knew where to purchase another DW7649 I likely wouldn't even be asking about the Signature Series Chopmaster or contenders.
So... coming full circle back to Forrest - who has the best price on the 12" Signature Line Chopmaster?
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