Looking for best blades for fine woodworking on DWE7491RS

[Anthony PaulO]

Hello everyone,

I've just recent purchased a DWE7491RS table-saw and looking to purchase some quality saw-blades for doing some fine woodworking (furniture mostly) on both softwoods such as douglas pine and hardwoods such as hard maple. I've been looking at the reviews and so far the freud and forrest brands seem to stand out, though the forrest seems to have less negative reviews than the freuds in respect to quality. When looking at the forrest selection on their website, however, I notice that they are mostly general purpose. I am looking for dedicated blades for ripping and crosscutting since I was led to believe that dedicated blades are better. I am a novice in this field as woodworking is a new hobby for me so I would appreciate input from you fine gentlemen who have experience with these blades as well as suggestions as to which ones I should purchase in order to cover most if not all of what one would normally expect to do. Price is not a problem so please feel free to suggest away.

Many thanks in advance,

Anthony

[Mike Circo]

With such a general question, be prepared to receive a lot of information, most of it will conflict each other, and many of it will assume you have more skills, money and space than someone just starting out has.

The good news is that, yes, Forest and Freud are excellent blades, I have both for various purposes and enjoy them. The Forest "General Purpose" blade works just fine for most crosscuts and ripping. However, your saw is only a "jobsite" saw and is very light weight and lightly powered for "fine woodworking" as compared to it's cast iron brethren. You may be disappointed at its performance when trying to work with hardwoods. The table is small, the fence not really that rugged or long for handling plywoods safely. No matter what blade, for that saw, I would suggest going with a thin-kerf blade so the saw's motor can handle it without bogging.

Good luck in your endeavors no matter what the situation, there is a lot of help available here.

[Nick Decker]

I'll echo what Mike said, but add that I'm in somewhat the same situation as you - fairly new to this and trying to do it with a jobsite saw. I've used both the Freud and Forrest combination-type blades and much prefer the Forrest Woodworker II.

[Anthony PaulO]

Hey Mike,

Thanks for the advice! Unfortunately I don't have much space in my basement so after reading a lot of reviews on the Dewalt (particularly those reviews stating that they were able to rip hard-maple without a problem) I figured that I can wheel it outside whenever I need to do some cuts and so long as I have some good blades I should be fine. That being said, even if the Dewalt turns out to be underpowered for a particular job, I am mostly a hand-tool user so I'll be sure to finish it up with hand planes. Regarding the thin kerf you have a point; I will probably have to go thin to avoid burn but for stability purposes I'll try to go full and see if I can get away with it.

Regards,

Anthony

[andy bessette]

Freud has disappointed. My best blades have come from Meyers (sp?), Allied and Wisconsin Knife Works. These are all carbide and 72 or 80 tooth (IIRC), either alternating bevel or triple chip grind. I cut mostly teak, mahogany and fir, plus plywood, laminate, acrylic, and aluminum.

[glenn bradley]

Good advice so far. Answers will be better focused now knowing that you are mostly a hand tool guy. That saw should be fine for basic material breakdown with something like the Forrest WWII or comparable blade from Ridge Carbide, Carbide Processors and others that play at that level. That being said I would think that a decent Freud thin kerf general purpose blade from the "industrial" family would do as well. When the tablesaw is the tool for final or near-final dimensioning is when the higher end blades come into play for me. The exception is final or near-final crosscutting; I want a blade that will leave a knife-edge on cross grain cuts. This is generally a 60 or 80 tooth cutter for me.

[Peter Kuhlman]

I own the same table saw along with my cabinet saw and a track saw. The Dewalt has really impressed me and has got me thinking of selling the cabinet saw and using my Festool track saw for sheet goods and the Dewalt for ripping duties primarily. I own many different blades and have tried several out on the Dewalt. The thin kerf blades do cut easier and I am not noticing any real downside. My favorite is the Freud Fusion thin kerf. I really can't complain about most of the Freud blades from HD that I have tried as they are in the $40-50 range but the Fusion is definitely a top line blade. My Forrest blades cost more than the Fusion but I find no real improved results for my usage. There are many good blade manufacturers now so you have lots of choices.

[George Makra]

I have 2 Forrest two blades blades and their dado set.
And yes they don't have many teeth but they are a joy to use and the finish cut is spectacular.
My opinion is it beats anything hands down.

[scott spencer]

General purpose blades can be fine, but are a compromise by design compared to separates. There's little question that good crosscut and rip blades blades will each be better in their respective cutting ranges if the overall quality of the blade remains high.....a crosscut blade will leave smoother edges with less tearout, and a rip blade will be more efficient and easier on your saw's motor. For a portable saw like that, I'd definitely stick with decent 3/32" thin kerf blades....a full kerf blade would be 33% wider, and would add more strain than is necessary. Tips for picking saw blades

Stick with blades like Infinity, Ridge Carbide, Forrest, Tenyru, Freud, CMT Industrial, Amana, or even the Irwin Marples line (great value). I'd be leaning toward something like a 60T Hi-ATB for crosscuts, plywood, and clean rips in materials 1" or less. The Infinity 010-060 is one of my favorites, and is reasonably priced...the Forrest WWI is similar, but a lot more expensive, and the Freud LU88 would also be a really good choice. Then would grab a 24T rip blade for heavier rip cuts....Infinity 010-124, Freud LU87, CMT 202.024.10, etc. You could even add a 40T Irwin Marples or Freud Diablo 40T for ~ $35 for general use to your collection for applications where you don't need the cut quality of a top crosscut blade....you'll be surprised that these humble blades will perform admirably compared to the far more expensive top shelf choices. Keep in mind that blades are consumables and will eventually dull. All of the brands mentioned here are good quality and can be resharpened to like new or better. Keeping your blades clean will extend their edge life.

[Lee Schierer]

I have been a Freud blade user for about 20 years. Their blades have always performed well for me. I get nearly tear out free cuts with my craftsman 1-1/2Hp saw using a zero clearance insert and a backer board with a extremely smooth cut surface finish. I use their dedicated cabinet makers blade and their dedicated glue line rip blades. All my blades are full kerf blades. Some of my blades have been resharpened several times. You do need to have a well tuned saw for any blades to get high quality cuts.

I had an incident with one Freud blade that was my fault. I had the blade tilted at 45 degrees in a throat plate with a wide opening and trimmed the end of a board I wanted mitered. When the cut off edge of wood cut loose from the piece it fell down into the space between the rotating blade and the throat plate opening. The teeth caught the piece and jammed it down into the slot, forcing the other side of the blade to contact the steel throat plate. One tooth support broke completely off and one addition carbide tooth shattered. When I wrote to Freud to see if the blade could be repaired, they asked me to return the damaged blade and they replaced it free of charge.

[Brad Barnhart]

I used woodworker blades for years until I read the reviews on the freud blades. Most of my woodworking is fine woodworking, as you call it. Scroll work, furniture rebuilds, cedar chests, etc. and I nothing but rough cut lumber. I switched to the thin kerf freud blade on my table saw. I get cleaner, smoother cuts, and the freuds last longer. just my .02.