Forrest Woodworker blades - worth the money?

[Jim Becker]

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.

Strange...my ChopMaster...which is probably 20 years old, never been sharpened and even pressed into cutting aluminum doesn't chip out at all. Perhaps you have a defective tooth?

[Tyler Bancroft]

Strange...my ChopMaster...which is probably 20 years old, never been sharpened and even pressed into cutting aluminum doesn't chip out at all. Perhaps you have a defective tooth?

Makita blades are surprisingly good, though. I like them for circular saws – the 24-tooth framing blade leaves a surprisingly smooth cut, and the 40-tooth is nice as well. They're not top of the line, but they're a cut (ha!) above the competition.

[Jim Becker]

I don't disagree, Tyler. There are many good blades. I was responding to Julie's concern about cut quality...with the Chopmaster, the finishi is normally glass-smooth, even after it's been in use for awhile. Something was amiss with her blade.

[Phil Gaudio]

For the $$ is hard to beat Freud blades.

[Erik Loza]

No expert on blades here, but since this has sorted of turned into a "what type of blade do I need"-thread, I can share the following observations:

-Pretty much any of the premium brands (Forrest/Amana/Tenryu/etc.) will all give the finish you want. In other words, I've never seen a case where Brand-A gives some awesomely superior cut to Brand-B, assuming we are talking about the same grind.
-90% of cut quality complaints are from either using a dull blade or using the wrong grind for the job. i.e, trying to rip solid stock with that 60T TCT blade.
-I never cease to be shocked at how long someone either holds onto a dull blade or refuses to purchase new/correct ones. I walked into a shop last week while they were running the table saw and it sounded like someone dragging a tin can full of coins down the highway. Yeah, no wonder you have chip-out problem.

Erik

[Bruce Wrenn]

Not a fan of Forrest blades. I think they are over, as in over rated.and over priced. In all my working years, never saw one in a commercial production shop. If ripping is all you are doing, and the height will allow it, try a Diablo 7 1/4 24 tooth blade from HD. Cripe Distributing still has the Delta 7657's. Cuts amazingly well for the price. Just checked, and they are $20 each, plus shipping. Order two to cut down on shipping cost per blade. I own several, along with a couple of WWII"'s. The 7657's go on the saw, while the WWII's rest in the box they came in.

[ChrisA Edwards]

Bruce, send them to me, I'll pay shipping. Glad to take them off your hands.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Bruce, send them to me, I'll pay shipping. Glad to take them off your hands.

Just like Ebay, shipping is $120 per blade. How many did you say you wanted?

[Steve Rozmiarek]

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.

Julie, some Makita crosscut blades are fantastic. They even go on sale for $30 or so occasionally. I do not own a chopmaster because the Makita crosscuts are so good.

[Dwayne Watt]

I have been riding the Forrest train for a long while and believe it was money well spent (WWII). I have several used in rotation with a couple needing sharpening again. I also have a Ridge Carbide specialty blade (flat top grind) that cuts very very well so by extension I suspect their ATB combo blades would not disappoint.
All that said, these sort of threads tend to be much the same line of thought as oil brand / oil change topics on automotive forums. Nobody's right and everybody's wrong (gee, that sounds like a 1960's song).

[Julie Moriarty]

Strange...my ChopMaster...which is probably 20 years old, never been sharpened and even pressed into cutting aluminum doesn't chip out at all. Perhaps you have a defective tooth?

Same experience I had with the two 10" I bought 10-15 years ago. But maybe there's something faulty with the new 12". I'll have to look into it.

[Rob Luter]

I have been riding the Forrest train for a long while and believe it was money well spent (WWII). I have several used in rotation with a couple needing sharpening again. I also have a Ridge Carbide specialty blade (flat top grind) that cuts very very well so by extension I suspect their ATB combo blades would not disappoint.
All that said, these sort of threads tend to be much the same line of thought as oil brand / oil change topics on automotive forums. Nobody's right and everybody's wrong (gee, that sounds like a 1960's song).

I think in this case everyone is right. Needs are subjective. We are all looking for something a little different. A hobbyist like myself doesn't have the same needs as a guy running a production operation. As long as you're getting the results you want at an expense level you're happy with, it's a win.

[Jim Becker]

Same experience I had with the two 10" I bought 10-15 years ago. But maybe there's something faulty with the new 12". I'll have to look into it.

There have been a few reports over the years where someone had a blade that just didn't cut to expectations. If memory serves it was often a bad tooth or something like that. As I mentioned, I've beat the you-know-what out of my Chopmaster over nearly 20 years and it's never been sharpened. (I don't use my miter saw much, but I have done things with it like cut aluminum, also as mentioned) I do hope you can get it figured out because it's generally a really nice blade to have in a miter saw.

[Joe Hendershott]

My dad used Forrest blades for years and so I did as well. I have had good results with them and cannot complain, although they do seem to dull quickly.

With my cabinet saw I always swapped blades out when ripping and then cross cutting. As stated though, if all you do is rip then get a blade made for that job.

Now with my slider, which takes a little more effort, I hardly ever change blades. After another member here suggested Tenryu blades I tried one and have been very impressed. Made in Japan. I think if the blades are sharp you have cut just about anything. It's how long they keep an edge that matters. I've ripped hundreds of feet of 8/4 cherry with that 60 tooth Tenryu and then went right to cutting up 20 sheets of cherry ply and it's all perfect. I do use the scoring blade on sheet material which helps but that blade has held up well.

[Randy Heinemann]

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.

Seems like the implication from your comment is that Freud blades can't be resharpened. Freud blades certainly can be resharpened just like Forrest or any other premium blade. As for number of resharpenings I don't know that number but I'm sure it's multiple times for the Freud blade. Freud blades are economical (compared to Forrest) and they work well. I have used the Sawstop blade that cam with my Sawstop saw for years and even replaced it with a new Sawstop when I tripped the brake because it was even less expensive than a Freud blade and I get about the same quality cut.