Forrest Woodworker blades - worth the money?

[Rob Luter]

I'm sure Forrest makes a fine blade, but I'm cheap. I live in an area that's full of commercial wood shops that support the RV and Manufactured Housing industry. I was at one of the local sharpening shops having a hand saw retoothed and noticed they sold used blades. I picked up a pair of freshly sharpened commercial grade blades, one CC and one RIP, for about $40/ea. The carbide teeth were about three times the size of the ones on the Rigid OEM blade that came with my saw. The balance was perfect. They still go through oak like a hot knife through butter, and it's been 8 years. I'm a hobbyist and my table saw doesn't see daily use, but they've still cut a whole bunch of lumber and retained their edge.

[Earl McLain]

I'm sure Forrest makes a fine blade, but I'm cheap. I live in an area that's full of commercial wood shops that support the RV and Manufactured Housing industry. I was at one of the local sharpening shops having a hand saw retoothed and noticed they sold used blades. I picked up a pair of freshly sharpened commercial grade blades, one CC and one RIP, for about $40/ea. The carbide teeth were about three times the size of the ones on the Rigid OEM blade that came with my saw. The balance was perfect. They still go through oak like a hot knife through butter, and it's been 8 years. I'm a hobbyist and my table saw doesn't see daily use, but they've still cut a whole bunch of lumber and retained their edge.

I'd agree with the "buy a rip blade" comments, from Forrest or otherwise.

@Rob Luter...are you talking about the place in Elkhart, on Nappanee St? I've wondered about that one., figured they must do good sharpening as they've been there since i was in high school (decades ago!!) Don't get over that way as often as i used to, but only a 45 minute drive and still family to visit there.
earl

[Curt Harms]

The Woodworker II with 30 teeth is listed as a ripping blade, not a combo blade - are they overexaggerating its ripping ability? The ability to resharpen is part of why I'm looking at something other than Freud. I hadn't heard of Ridge Carbide, thanks for that. There seems to be a supply issue, though, and I'm in a bit of a time crunch.

??? I've had Freud blades resharpened. I've also learned that sometimes a blade that feels dull really just needs to be cleaned with a suitable solvent.

[Scott Bernstein]

Not a pro, but tried lots of blades over the past couple years . On a budget, the Infinity Cutting Tools blades are really quite good. Best blade I have used are Ridge Carbide - any of them - combo, cross cutting, ripping, dado stack, etc.... They are expensive, but in my direct comparison to Forrest WWII, the Ridge Carbide blades are superior.

[Carroll Courtney]

Don't the Forrest blades have the better carbide teeth, thinking C4 or something like that? Due to C4 carbide not all sharpening shops can sharpen Forrest blades. Which is why sending them back to Forrest to get them sharpen when needed if you ever need to. Thinking out loud here, not knowing 100% sure of my statement

[roger wiegand]

I've never actually worn out a blade, some of mine have been with me for pushing 40 years now. At that point the difference between $50 and $150 spent originally becomes pretty trivial on a cost per year of use basis. I have, I think, five blades that I use routinely, plus a dado set. The more recent ones are Forrest, the older ones a industrial blade company since gone out of business. The Forrest blades work very well, provide a nice clean cut, and have enough carbide to provide a near lifetime of use in a hobby shop. Over the years I discarded some blades branded Sears and Delta, as I recall, that never gave smooth cuts, despite resharpening at a good saw shop. I had one that lost teeth on a regular basis, it too went to the bin.

Are the Forrest blades magical? No, I suspect most other high end and many cheaper blades are just fine. Do they let you get on with your work without experimenting and worrying about (or even thinking about) your blade? Yes.

I'm also a big fan of dedicated rip blades.

[Jon Endres]

I use a Freud LM74R010, which is their coated 30-tooth glue line rip blade, on a 3-hp Unisaw. It does produce glass-smooth cuts and it has some serious carbide teeth, big enough for a bunch of resharpenings. Lot cheaper than a Forrest. I do have a Ridge Carbide TS2000 which I picked up at a woodworking show, it's a general purpose blade and honestly I don't like it. I much prefer my Freud Industrial blades.

[Rob Luter]

I'd agree with the "buy a rip blade" comments, from Forrest or otherwise.

@Rob Luter...are you talking about the place in Elkhart, on Nappanee St? I've wondered about that one., figured they must do good sharpening as they've been there since i was in high school (decades ago!!) Don't get over that way as often as i used to, but only a 45 minute drive and still family to visit there.
earl

Yup. The red building. It's been a while since I was there.

[Julie Moriarty]

If I were doing nothing but ripping like you say, I would be buying a Freud Glue Line Rip blade for about $65.

Agree 100%. I own two WWII blades and both the thin and standard kerf Freud GLP blades. The latter works just as well as or better than the WWII. I've found using blades specifically designed for the task (rip, crosscut, plywood, laminate, etc) always produce better results than multi-tasking blades.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Forrest has never let me down, so I keep buying them. My company uses lots of blades, we've tried most, and I still keep Forrest in my personal saw. Freuds have taken over pretty much everything else, with a mix of several other brands.

One thing I do disagree with is "get two blades, one rip and one crosscut". I think that's hooey in most real world work. If I stopped and switched blades on my slider for example, every time I switched cuts, it would add hours of just blade changes. Nonsense, if your blade won't do both perfectly fine, you have the wrong blade. Forrest does make several combo blades that will cross and rip just fine. In my opinion a dedicated rip blade is half a grind, and I have never seen one preform better than a good Forrest WW2 combo. Now if you enjoy changing blades, go for it, but I prefer to just make stuff.

[Jim Reffner]

Check out the Ridge Carbide Tool Company. Great service and I've also used them for sharpening. I have 2 blades - the rip and combo.

[Jim Becker]

Worth the money is a very subjective thing. But many competitors are similarly priced, too. I pretty much only use Forrest blades...I'm happy with the performance, the cut quality the long life because of many sharpenings and the consistent kerf width that matches my scoring blade. I buy from Silver's Mill which has about the best prices going for Forrest. That said, there are many quality blades to choose from.

To your specific question, I have a Woodworker II 20T 10" ripping blade. It's a beast and cuts nasty stuff like butter. I rarely use it because the 12" WW-II 48T blades perform well for most of the ripping I do, but do pull out the "beast" if conditions dictate.

[Patrick Kane]

I struggle with this one, because i recently had a similar thread 2ish years ago. I ended up buying a 12" ridge carbide ripping blade for $175+. That blade looked fantastic, and just felt like quality in my hands. However, it still left slight scallops and tooth marks on the edge of my rips. I dont think ive ever experienced a perfect "glue line" rip in my life. Ive glued stuff off my saw with minimally visible glue joint, but nothing is as good as a jointer. With that in mind, think about how you currently handle work flow in your shop. In my shop, i rip to a certain width, and then i either plane that edge to final size--rails, stiles, table legs etc--or that edge is profiled on the shaper, or that edge is jointed at the jointer and glued in a panel. Its very unusual for a ripped edge to be a final step for a work piece. Because of my work flow, i looked at that ridge carbide blade as a waste for a year of owning it. I dont know that i would spend big money on a premium blade, especially for ripping. Moving forward, i try to buy used premium blades and resharpen them. They arent crazy common, but i own all Felder and Forrest blades of various bores and diameters that were all purchased used. If i needed a ripping blade right this second, i would buy a freud industrial.

[Julie Moriarty]

Worth the money is a very subjective thing. But many competitors are similarly priced, too. I pretty much only use Forrest blades...I'm happy with the performance, the cut quality the long life because of many sharpenings and the consistent kerf width that matches my scoring blade.

Jim, I recently bought a Makita 12" SCMS. With it I bought a 12" Forrest Chopmaster. I have two of 10" from my old SCMS and was always impressed how they cut silky smooth, with no chipout at the end of the cut. But right out of the box, the 12" Chopmaster was leaving substantial chipout at the end of the cut.

The other day I had to cut some wood that's hard on the cutters so I switched to the Makita blade that came with the saw. I was very surprised to see it cut smoother than the Chopmaster and with almost no chipout. I'm still scratching my head on that one.

[Richard Coers]

They aren't exaggerating as a lot of times the Woodworker II is great for ripping. But absolutely not for 8/4 hard maple and 8/4 white oak, 8/4 hickory. 8/4 osage. The WW II doesn't have a lot of set in the teeth to give a smooth cut. You don't want the extra friction on the side for thick stock!