[roundabout22]

I was getting ready to start a project that's going to be a present for someone. I was making sure my small table saw was set up and noticed the blade had some carbide missing from the teeth. The first thing I tought was boy I'm lucky I did get hurt when those suckers flew off. Then I changed the blade to a cheap one I had bought years ago thinking it would make a good reserve. It wasn't. It cuts terrible. In order to get the job done I need to get a new blade.

Now, I've heard that the woodworker II by Forrest is the best blade out there (I've never seen one used or used one before), but I don't have the $100 to buy one.

What would be the best blade to get for a price of about $40-$50?

 

[Karson]

On my chop saw I use a Freud blade that I got from Big Orange. It has a negative angle on the blade and it gives a smooth cut.

The negative angles are for radial arm, chop saws and some metal cutting applications. So don't get a negative angle but I 've found that they are good blades.

At the toy making workshop we have the Forrest II and yes it is a great blade.

 

[roundabout22]

Thanks for the info Karson. Do you have a standard blade or the thin kerf diablo brand.

Also, if anyone knows of another thread where this has already been done, and could point me there that would be great as well.

 

[Nicky]

You may also want to look at the Freud LU83R010. About $45.00. This is an excellent combo blade at a good price. It's a thin kerf blade.

-nick

 

[wooddon]

If you can try thr Forest, You will never regret it.

 

[roundabout22]

Nick, That is the one I have been looking at, but I wanted to see what others thought.

Don, I've heard nothing but good things about the forrest, if I can find one as low as about $65 (including shipping, I saw one at $70 on ebay last night) I'll get one.

 

[Karson]

I've got a 12" one on my chop saw. I don't know the model.

But on my table saw I've got 16" commercial blades. I take whatever I can get. The last three were donated to the toy workshop, by Seally but they don't have any saw that they will fit on so I brought them home. Trade some wood for them. My saw takes 1 1/8" arbor hole and are hard to find at a reasonable price.

I've got about 6 now that I paid about $25.00 a piece for used. Solder on new tips where necessary and sharpen them up and they work great.

 

[DanYo]

Hello Dale
I've always had luck with thin kerf combination blades. Irwin is a good brand. So is Freud.
Regards
DAN

 

[jstewart]

I own the Freud thin kerf combo (LU83R010) blade. I absolutely love it. It gives a good clean edge. It cuts like a warm knife through butter. If you buy one from Amazon, be sure to use the LJ store so the site gets a small commission.

 

[howard]

I am a relative novice but I have in the past few months had an opportunity to compare a standard middle of the pack blade with a premium blade: several months ago I upgraded from the original Ridgid combination blade that came with the TS2424 contractor saw I bought. I installed a Forrest Woodworker II with the Forrest blade stiffener. The difference in smoothness of cut, absence of tear out and even the quietness of the blade when running was dramatic. I was skeptical that there would be all that much difference but seeing is believing. I can't speak from experience about other premium blades like the Freud - they may be as good!? The Forrest is definitely pricey but it is just excellent.

 

[jstewart]

howard, you mention using a blade stiffener. What's the consensus on these? Does everybody think they are worth the extra cost? Do they really improve the cut quality? I see that Forrest sells one that is only $20 on Amazon.com. Maybe I should pick it up.

 

[brunob]

I use a blade stiffener as long as the depth of cut allows it. It makes me feel like I get a better cut but I have no emperical data.

 

[Hawgnutz]

Roundabout, Any stock blade tah comes with a table saw is probably just some blade tha tthe manufacturer put on there to look good. Most know that woodworkers have their own special blades that they use, so they put some generic combo blade on their saws just to fill the arbor.

One of the woodworking magazines i subscribe to did a TS blade comparison, and while the Freud and WW2 by Forrest came out as best, the Ridgid 50-tooth combo blade came out as best value. It cut about as good, with less noise and vibration than the others tested, and all were "good" blades we might use. The cost is about $40.00 at Home Depot. I just bought one, but haven't used it yet. I wil probably use it today when I get back from town, and I will let you know how it fares.

God Bless,
Hawg

 

[Dadoo]

I've had great luck with Freud and Oldham blades but I only use carbide tooth blades anymore. The biggest thing is to keep them clean from pitch. Pitch seems to accumulate mostly behing the teeth and really slows the blade down, as well as getting the burning process going too.

I read an article somewhere awhile back that explained the different rakes and pitch angle of the teeth…I think it was on one of the Freud websites.

 

[USCJeff]

I'll preface and say that the Forrest/Woodworker blades, seem to dominate any thread like this. My brothr in law swears by his WW2. That is until it threw a tooth rcently after findind a very covert nail in the blade path. Yikes. I use a Freud 10" 40T thin kerf combo for most everything. I didn't know how quiet good blades are in comparison to the stock crap that came with it. I've had great results so that makes me want to try one of their glueline blades. My B-I-L uses a stablizer with his thin kerf, but I've yet to see much difference. I do have 2 blank CD's on each side as make shift stabalizers. They don't do much I'm afraid.

 

[GaryK]

I used the Freud 10" 40T thin kerf combo for almost all the projects I posted here.

I bought a Forrest blade, when I bought my Unisaw a year ago, but the blade that came with the Unisaw was so good that I have yet to install it.

 

[TomFran]

Question:

How many blades do you have to have? What I mean is, do you have to change the blade when you do fine cross cutting, and then change it again to a different kind when you cut melamine, and then again when you cut plywood? Or do you just buy a 40T Freud and cut everything with it?

Also, if you are going to do a bunch of ripping, do you install a rip blade, like the Freud glue line blades?

 

[GaryK]

Tom - That's what I did for about 8 years with the same blade. A 40T Freud.

 

[TomFran]

Gary,

I was hoping you would say that - I'll be out to Lowes tomorrow to get mine ;^D

One more question:

How often do you have to get a good quality blade sharpened (carbide)? I realize that how much you use it is a big factor, but how about a ball park guesstimate?

 

[GaryK]

Tom - I suppose when your cut starts to get ragged. Never had one sharpened.

I would think that you would also want to get a close look with a strong magnifying
glass and look for small chips in the carbide and a rounding off of the corners.