Tablesaw Blade Choice

[mstens]

I have a few different blades for my saw; I have a Forrest WWII standard kerf blade, a 50T freud crosscut and 24T Freud glue line rip. They all are excellent blades. The WWII is on the saw most of the time.

I also wouldn't recommend a thin kerf. For me they are not stiff enough for thick or dense woods like African blackwood.

Add some Amana blades (I really like the 20 tooth rip for ripping 12/4 stock) to this, and it's pretty much the same for me. The Forrest is pretty much the default blade, and has been for.. wow, I bought that thing almost 20 years ago now

[ajkoontz]

Time to buy a new tablesaw blade for my 3 HP cabinet saw. Looking for general purpose for both ripping and crosscutting. I know that Forest Woodworker is probably top-of-the-heap but I'm not sure I want to spend that much. Just read a couple of reviews on the Freud Diablo which were positive. It's a combo blade, thin kerf. Haven't used a thin kerf blade in quite a while.

Recommendations from personal experience would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Doug

I bought a WW II many years ago for my Sears contractor table saw. At the time, it made a huge improvement to a marginal saw. It now lives in my Unisaw and it is still a great blade. Like you, I was hesitant to buy it because of the cost but have never regretted it.

[Tapper]

Thanks so much for all of you that responded with experiences and recommendations. I decided to give the Freud LU84R011 combo blade that Gary suggested a try. Was also able to cash in some Amazon points to ease the pain!

Doug

[Mike 55]

Time to buy a new tablesaw blade for my 3 HP cabinet saw. Looking for general purpose for both ripping and crosscutting. I know that Forest Woodworker is probably top-of-the-heap but I'm not sure I want to spend that much. Just read a couple of reviews on the Freud Diablo which were positive. It's a combo blade, thin kerf. Haven't used a thin kerf blade in quite a while.

Recommendations from personal experience would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Doug

I went with the Forrest blade as I had it on my cabinet saw and now on my new Grizzly. I shopped around and got it for $119 at Silver Mill with free shipping. Model WW10407125. I just checked and it's still $119.35.

https://www.sliversmill.com/

[Rich_Dixon]

I've been using a Systimatic combo blade for 12+ years. I need to get it freshened up.

I looked and don't see them for sale anywhere anymore. I wonder what happened. It's a great blade, so good that I used to have a Forrest WWII and decided to sell it because I felt the Systimatic was just a touch better.

In my experience, all blades/bits perform much better after a sharpener has had them.

[gMike]

Slightly off topic but, I got a 12" Forrest Chopmaster for my miter saw for Christmas.  Took it out of the cardboard envelope only to find a broken tooth (80 tooth blade now down to 79 teeth).  Looked in the envelope and found the tooth and a small piece of the rubber coating together.  Must have been hit from the side to cause that damage so back it goes to Amazon.  One of the dangers of buying using the Internet rather being able to place hands on the item at a bricks and mortar store.

[®smpr_fi_mac®]

Okay, so I have a bunch of blades that I've acquired over the years that came *with* tools I purchased, and they've served me well since they are carbide tipped and I send them out for sharpening, but I think it's time I actually *buy* a new blade. And since I've never bought a blade for my TS before, I think I'll splurge and get the WWII that I keep hearing you guys raving about.

But, before I screw up and order the wrong blade, can you guys tell me if this is the one I need? I'm running a 3hp PM66 and *do* want a full kerf blade for the stiffness allowed in the thicker steel. Lots of ripping and crosscuts, as I mainly build small boxes. Might get a dedicated cross cut blade later if I find that I want the finer cut, but I want to see if this combination does what it says it will, AND most articles I've read say that today's combo blades really do a great job at both ripping and cross cutting for *most* applications.

https://www.sliversmill.com/product_15_1...__150.html

[Lumber Yard®]

I have so many blades that were priced 10 cents on the dollar from when Mike Jackson was around selling off old inventory from Leitz, Onsrud dumped inventory on Ebay and Cripe Distributing rebranded Delta blades. I guess the good news is I stocked up on just about every blade available and will never get through most of them. I remember $100+ blades priced at $10... those prices also made it cheaper to just buy them rather than ever have them sharpened. LOL Man, I sure do miss the days.

Back on subject...
I have 10 tooth rippers all the way up to 120 tooth cross cut blades and everything in between. Combo blades at 30-50 tooth count are OK for breaking down material but once you settle in on getting a finished product I always end up doing blade swaps for ripping and cross cutting. In reality, my RAS will get a lot of the cross cut work because I'm too lazy to swap the ripper out on the TS. LOL

Also, I'll add that Forrest has a great rep and I've used various Forrest blades over the years but IMO any of the premium brands will perform great on a well tuned saw.

[packerguy®]

I use 4 types of blades all full kerf (IMHO they hold an edge longer)

Freud Glue Line Rip (for ripping)
Freud Fusion (for crosscutting)
Freud Ultimate Plywood and Melamine (for plywood)
Forrest WWII (for flushing....I have a jig I made to essentially flush routing with a saw blade)

Not a fan of combo blades. The WWII is the closest I ever would use as a "combo" blade. Again, IMHO a single purpose blade performs much better over time.

[Tapper]

Thanks again, all. The Freud combo blade arrived today but I've not had a chance to try it yet. Will probably do some tablesaw work tomorrow and will report back.

Happy New Year!

Doug