Review.... Freud laminate flooring blade.

[John Pollman]

Some of you may have read a post earlier that I made about the trouble I've been having with cutting laminate flooring with a carbide tipped blade. After talking to the flooring manufacturer (DuPont) I was told that they don't recommend using a carbide blade but instead suggest a diamond blade. Well I tried a diamond blade and it didn't work even nearly as well as the carbide one I was using. Actually it was a brand new carbide blade when I started and it worked fairly well but dulled VERY fast. On another members suggestion I looked into the Freud blade that is made specifically for cutting laminate flooring and melamine. It's a 7" 54 tooth triple-chip grind and cost me $75 but so far it's worth every penny. I used it today and was very impressed. It cut that flooring like a hot knife through butter and not a chip in site ! Glass smooth CLEAN cut ! And that was even cutting right side up and not cutting from the back. Most of the time when cutting material like this with a circular saw I cut it from the back side to reduce the chipping but with this blade that is not needed. Sure it cost a lot more than a standard circular saw blade but it really helps to have the correct tool for the job.

Thanks for all of the input folks. I just thought I'd give you a little feedback on my experience with using one of your suggestions.

John

[Jack Clark]

John, is that blade the Freud LU98R007?

[John Pollman]

John, is that blade the Freud LU98R007?

Yes it is.

[Jack Clark]

Okay, cool. Now I have to find one. Where did you find yours? I've got a laminate flooring project too.

Thanks much.

[John Pollman]

Hi Jack,

I bought mine at Butki Saw & Tool. But I did a google search of the product number and came up witn a lot of hits. Unfortunately a bunch of the links came back with "Product not found". But after a few attempts I found one that worked and it's from Freud itself. And it's listed at $61.97. ( I paid $75 for mine) Here's the link....

http://freud-tools.com/freudlu9tefi1.html

I think you're gonna like it !

John

[Jack Clark]

[QUOTE=John Pollman]Hi Jack,

I bought mine at Butki Saw & Tool. But I did a google search of the product number and came up witn a lot of hits. Unfortunately a bunch of the links came back with "Product not found". But after a few attempts I found one that worked and it's from Freud itself. And it's listed at $61.97. ( I paid $75 for mine) Here's the link....

http://freud-tools.com/freudlu9tefi1.html

I think you're gonna like it !

Thanks John. I did the same thing (probably while you were Googling) and found this listing near San Diego. You have to scroll down to find the part #. Free shipping too, but I'll have to pay the sales tax.

http://www.toolmarts.com/page34.html

[Andy London]

At Christmas I put hardwood laminate on my daughters floor and counters in the shop, I have never seen anything kill blades like this stuff I ended up buying the Frued blade also and was very pleased with the results.

[Charles McCracken]

Hi Jack,

I bought mine at Butki Saw & Tool. But I did a google search of the product number and came up witn a lot of hits. Unfortunately a bunch of the links came back with "Product not found". But after a few attempts I found one that worked and it's from Freud itself. And it's listed at $61.97. ( I paid $75 for mine) Here's the link....

http://freud-tools.com/freudlu9tefi1.html

I think you're gonna like it !

John

John,

That is not Freud's website. It is owned by right-tool.com. and they are no longer a Freud dealer. There have been many reports of product not shipping so I recommend that you DO NOT order from them.

Charles M
Freud America, Inc.

[tod evans]

good blades don`t cost in the long run.....02 tod

[Byron Trantham]

good blades don`t cost in the long run.....02 tod

Amen! You guys who are using the Freud blades for flooring can submit them to Forrest for resharpening. They do a good job and the blade's cost justifies the sharpening cost.

[Jack Clark]

Here's another one to consider. A little less expensive perhaps.

Tenryu AC-18560D

Read about it here http://www.tenryu.com/ (choose Alumi-Cut Series). Note that certain Alumi-Cut blades are * as "Also for cutting laminated flooring like Pergo." This includes the 7-1/4" that I'm interested in.

Here's one place to purchase it:

http://www.mytoolstore.com/tenryu/alumic.html

[Charles McCracken]

Freud also offers lower cost alternatives that are designed as non-ferrous blades but do an excellent job on laminate flooring: the Diablo D0756N and the Avanti TK703. These should be available most everywhere.

Charles M
Freud America, Inc.

[John Pollman]

Thanks for the info Charles.

This is turning out to be a very big job. Other than some marble in the dining room and bathrooms and some ceramic in the first floor laundry and half bath I'm doing the entire first and second floors and both stairways in this laminate. All in all it's going to be an over 2K square foot installation. It's well worth dropping $75 on a blade that will cut this stuff cleanly. Which as I said earlier has done quite well to this point.

John

[Jack Clark]

Yes, thank you Charles. Your information makes it a lot easier to figure out exactly which blade to purchase for this task.