Table Saw Blades, do you need to spend a fortune?

[Rich Engelhardt]

Next to Tom Walz at Carbide Processors.....

Scott Spencer is the go -to guy for blade info.

Tom wrote several good technical pieces about why some blades cost so much more than others.

Scott did some good head to head research on why some blades cut better than others.

[Ben Zara]

I have a lot of saw blades but in the end you only need two:

Freud premier fusion thin kerf (leaves a glass surface for rips and cross cuts)

Infinity rip blade with a full kerf and a flat top grind for joinery.

Both of these blades are reasonably priced and leave a glue line ready surface.

[Ben Rivel]

Another hobbyist here and use only Forrest blades on my table saw and miter saw. I think they are well worth the cost. Love the cuts I get from them!

[Peter Christensen]

I had a variety of blade brands including industrial and some cheap ones from Busy Bee for suspect woods (dirty or possible metal), then I got my SawStop. I bought a Freud blade because they were supposed to be good. I found it to be smaller than the other brands of 10" blades I had by about a tenth of an inch. Well that meant every time I wanted to switch to another blade I had to spend time adjusting the blade break to get the proper gap. That got old fast. I thought that maybe it was the blade and went back to where I bought it and all the Freud blades were the same so I gave it to a buddy that likes them and bought the Forrest blades. They are full sized and cut good for me. If I'm going to get new blades I take a tape measure with me and it is of no concern to someone that owns other brands of saws but it is something to keep in mind if you have a SawStop.

The Busy Bee blades I mentioned are good value for the money and are branded Blue Tornado. For $30 - $50 Canadian each they are good for someone on a budget.

[Keith Hankins]

I've used a lot, and the forrest has been the best overall I've ever had. yea you pay for them, but you get what you pay for. I will say that sawstop makes a good blade that is a lower cost alternative. I did some sample cuts and test when I got my ICS. I used the standard blade that came with it, and gold version and it was better, and then the forrest. Just no comparrison on quality of cut. Plus the last such a long time between sharpenings. Finally go look real close at the amount of carbide on their blades. It is really impressive.

[David Kumm]

Most Euro blades are metric. 250mm rather than 10". Dave

[Bruce Wrenn]

Can anyone name two commercial shops that use Forest Blades? Forest shoots for the elitest hobbiest blade business. They cost more, so they must be better. One of my Forest WWII's shed four teeth when it hit a SKU tag staple that was hidden below the surface. Sent it back to Forest, and for only a couple bucks less than I paid for it, they replaced four teeth, and charged me for TWO grindings. Forest is a sharpening service, who makes blades to keep a feed stock into sharpening business.

[Earl McLain]

Hobbyist here. Most of my thoughts will only echo earlier comments.
1. Clean the blade, as noted by Mr. Bradley--even if I can't see the resin/sap, a little makes a lot of drag mimicking dull.
2. I like the proper blade for the cut. 20-24 tooth rip (10"), 60 or so to cross cut, plywood and/or melamine blade. (I clean the blade I take off to switch)
3. Tom Walz & Scott Spencer are top-notch. Carbide Processors has a newer line (Popular Tools) that I've used for little blades--nice for the money, haven't tried 10" yet.
4. Watch for new saw purchases. I have what may be a lifetime supply of Amana, Tenryu Gold Medal and Forrest from a member here and one from another site who were moving to 12" saws. Probably 10 or 11 blades total, rip-crosscut-plywood. All quality, all used, and all freshly sharpened when I got them from people I respect online. Think my total was less than what 2 new WW-2's would have cost.

I still own a few combo blades--closest I've been to using one is a WW-2 that I got in one of those deals. I ripped a little with it, cross-cut a fair amount--it was okay but it didn't do either as well as the dedicated blade. I will say that Forrest's "Mr. Sawdust" blade is awesome on my radial arm saw.

Earl

[Lee Schierer]

Most Euro blades are metric. 250mm rather than 10". Dave

Just for curiosity I went out to the shop and measured several of my blades. All five of these blades have not been sharpened.

Freud 250.03 mm and 249.63 mm

20+ year old Craftsman 251.61 mm and 252.41mm

20+ year old Nicholson 254 mm or exactly 10 inches.

All of these blades were sold as "10 inch" blades. So as you can see, some of the US brand blades weren't 10" diameter either. I do not own any Forrest blades so I have no idea what they actually measure. Maybe someone out there with a new Forrest blade can measure it accurately and let us know the diameter.

[Rod Sheridan]

That's not surprising Lee, most of the world is metric so most of the tooling in the world is metric as well.

I guess we never noticed because until Sawstop it didn't matter if your blade was different by a couple of mm...........Rod.

[Rick McQuay]

I've been using mostly Freud blades for 20+ years but my satisfaction level with them keeps dropping. After having to return 2 of their rip blades, a crosscut developing a problem, and being somewhat disappointed in a Fusion, all in the last year; I'm done with them. I'll probably never buy another one and I will no longer recommend them. Not sure what I will buy instead. Might try Forrest, Ridge Carbide, or Tenryu.