lots of talk about there is not enough actual woodworking talk here, too much chat. so lets make some content. tell us about your choice in saw blades. that can include tablesaw, bandsaw, jig saw ,miter saw, recip, scroll saw, you tell us what you like and the ones you dont. for me being the the hardware business ive gotten to try many out for free, but the ones i like and will pay for have been forrest, tenryu and freud for table and miter saws. for jig, and recip blades i like lenox and diablo. my table and radial-miter blades are kept in a drawer under the RAS. jig, scroll and recip are in a drawer on my miter saw station.
working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
Great topic Pottzy! I am a Diablo guy. I have 6 that I use for the Saw Stop. All different tooth count and sizes, from 6 1/2 to 12. I have diamond blades for the tile saw, and 4 1/2(?)for the small cordless Ryobi. I do not sharpen them any more....I throw them and get new. Sharpening around here, does not pay. I have Bosch hollow ground blades for my hand jig saw and Lennox for my recip saw....except I do have some Dialbo recip blades for for tree limbs or destructing. It is super aggressive.
Recip saw the Torch blades seem to last the longest. The Lenox don't seem to last as long as they used to. Table saw blades I have an assortment of Freud blades. I leave a Diablo thin kerf in there most of the time and it does a pretty good job. Jigsaw blades I have Bosch blades.
I do mostly fine work so I use blades that give me a good and smooth cut.
The original "combo" (rip/crosscut) blade that came with my Unisaw is relegated to construction cuts, but for a factory blade it is quite good
My goto blade is my Forrest WWII, 40 tooth. Great smooth crosscuts and rips on thinner (<1") hardwoods. I bought it back when they were <$100, I'd be hard pressed to buy one at todays price, but I'm guessing all blades have risen proportionally. I bought a Forrest WWII 48 tooth when there was a good sale. It gets used in place of the 40T depending on which one has been put aside for cleaning (tooth brush after a short submersion in ammonia).
After I bought the original WWII, I bought a 3-set of Freud (rip+combo+80T plywood) so I wouldn't be using the Forrest for everything.
The Freud rip has a flat tooth grind (FTG) which I use all the time for making 1/8"+ grooves for panels. I do pop it on when I need some smooth rips as well. It is about due for replacement as the teeth are showing lots of chips. Never abused it so maybe the carbide is wanting?
The Freud combo actually has never been used.
The plywood blade does great crosscuts and is excellent for the thin plywoods I use, but the 48T WWII does just as well. Still a nice blade to have handy. Recently bought a Freud thin-kerf rip for thin grooves but it also rips like butta.
Speciality blades: Freud "Super Dado" 8" set. Minimal "bat-ears" and very easy set up since a stack of a few 1/8" choppers plus the outside blades will give the nominal dado width whitin a few thousandths. Great because I hate the cycle of shimming, test cut, then shim some more.
Probably my favorite specialty blade is the Freud box joint set. A pair of blades that depending on how they are stacked can produce a dead-on 1/4" or 3/8" cut. Same operation as a dado blade but quick and easy to slap in and start cutting. This set was bought on a whim when I first saw them advertised. Found them for $60/free ship on a home furnishing web sight when everyone else had them for $80. These blades have HUGE chunks of carbide with flat tops and square sides. Amazingly they leave virtually no chip out on exit sides of cuts. For this reason I sometimes leave them on when I need to skim cut a board as they leave a glass smooth edge and cross cuts. Due to the cutting action I also use them for hogging out tenons. Perfect "bat ear-less" grooves for when this matters.
FWIW, I haven't tried other high-end blades so my experience is really only with the Forrest and Freud. The Forrest's cuts better than the Freud's, but they are also much more expensive. Ok, my throat is sore now 😳
I've had the same 40 tooth Marples combo saw blade on my cheapo Delta 36-726 table saw for about 6 year I think. Only time I took it off was when I used a dado stack. I have done everything with it including resawing hardwoods and it has never let me down. It still gives me glue ready edges. I have no doubt that a good rip blade would work better for long rip cuts but I hate changing blades and this one just seems to work.
--Nathan, TX. Hire the lazy man. He may not do as much work but that's because he will find a better way.
For my saber saw (Milwaukee) I also went with the Bosch assortment. Truly some fine blades and the assortment gives you a selection for various needs. Haven't worn out a single one yet,
ok see we can talk about woodworking related things. hey were old farts but still actually do woodworking ! so you young kids lurking in the shadows get your asses on here and we'll teach or mentor you with whatever you need. there is no better forum with more talent and knowledge than right here at craftisians, and where all willing to share it. 😎
working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
For the table saw, I use Diablo 24T and 50T for ripping and crosscut, they’re both ATB, and work great for disposable blades. It’s an underpowered saw, so all my blades are thin kerf…
I’ve got a Freud Industrial 24T FTG for small, one-off dados (using the Stumpy Nubs model) and box joints, and have a DeWalt dado stack for repeated cuts. It actually does a halfway good job, but the Freud blade is certainly better.
For plywood or melamine, I’ve got an old Disston 108T extra thin kerf (7/64”) that I was gifted in a stack of old blades.
I also broke down and bought a beautiful Ridge Carbide 7° left tilt dovetail blade. I don’t use it a ton, since I usually hand-cut my dovetails but, if I’ve got to do a bunch, I’ll start the tails with the TS just because it’s so fast to get them all started.
For the 10” bandsaw I use sawblades.com blades. They’re inexpensive and work well for me. On the 16” saw, since it’s almost always used for resawing, I’ve got a 112” x 1/2” Woodslicer blade on it. Wonderful blade!
The little scroll saw has Olson 5” pin-end blades….if those count for this study…
I’ve got a mishmash of jigsaw blades, and usually use the Milwaukee Torch blades on the recip saw.
On the other side of the shop (metal), on the Evolution slow-speed (chop) saw I use their carbide tipped house blades. They work great and can be sharpened at least once which makes their price more attractive since they don’t last forever. I’ve still got a guy who sharpens carbide, so it works out. The carbide tipped metal cutting blades are just awesome…when they’re sharp. Great cuts, minimal sparking, quick and clean. But that doesn’t last long on steel so it’s nice to be able to resharpen them.
On the metal bandsaw, I’ve got 64” Olson bi-metal blades that seem to go forever…or maybe I need to replace it. I should probably check on that 🤔
I think covers most all of them!
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
From a minimalist point of view, referring to my lack of motorized tools - no table saw or chop saw, only two saws I use with electricity are my bandsaw and my circular saw, both only for roughing out components. The circular saw, a DeWalt, use the blade that came with it. The bandsaw, different story. I wanted the bandsaw for mainly one function, resawing. Still use it for rips and crosscut, but the only blade I use in this machine is the Highland Woodworking Wood Slicer Resaw Blade. Never change it out until it becomes really dull, which isn't very often due to my hobby woodworking versus production shop. The Wood Slicer can be purchased at any custom length, my saw uses a 92" blade, because it's a 12" Hitachi saw with a 6" riser block adapted from a Shop Fox part. Cost to me, in the $30 to $35 range. Won't bother to try any others.
On the table saw, I have a couple of Forrest WWIIs. I bought the second one to cover while the first went out for sharpening. It’s a decent setup. The thing with table saw blades is that there are many excellent options. I’m sure they’ll be mentioned here.
Of course, for my Festool TSC 55, I use Festool blades. Most of the time, it’s the universal, but going through 8/4 stock I put the Panther rip blade on.
Now, band saw blades. There’s where it gets dicey. There are so many options, and one blade might be good quality, but totally wrong for the task at hand.
Half of what we read or hear about finishing is right. We just don’t know which half! — Bob Flexner
Great topic pottzy, but all I hear is what people have.
I went down to the workshop and went apeshit with my camera to post my collection... but then I had a change of heart. I can see no reason why telling people I have a Freud will make them buy it unless they think the sun shines out of my arse... which I don't think even I believe. Either say why it's good or bad.... which is now leading into reviews... quoting stats (brands/sizes) does bugger all.
So far, the main thing I've amassed from this blog is potzzy's organisation of jigsaw blades and saw blade stacking... though kissing jigsaw blades are no better than a box of loose drill bits.
I can see this blog expanding into another 1K+ entries that no newbie (veteran or novice) will consider reading unless they were there from the start.
I've heard people comment the "we're not here to teach woodworking"... what are you here for? Apprentices don't learn from the internet... they learn from their tradie boss's examples... not what they did but how they do it. It's the way you do it that can be of assistance to others. They may not do the same but can carry the concept to other projects. I will probably never turn a bowl, but when someone bothers to explain what they did, I have used that concept in just plain spindle turning.
I've found that spruiking brands (Fe$tool) gained me nothing more than derision. I started doing it as a joke (Rotex vs Bosch) but far too many people take this ridiculous duck speak seriously..
Like someone else said... I feel I'm just wasting my time posting to the few that actually bother/care.
If your first cut is too short... Take the second cut from the longer end... LBD
yeah duckie why the negative post !!!! this is about the members sharing what they like and dont like with what theve used ! you constantly bitch about members dont do detailed videos or commentary about their projects yet you come on and deride us for commenting on the blades we like or dont like. i think these kinds of treads are beneficial to new woodworkers ! rather than just promoting festool which few can even afford ! so back off my friend with your high and mighty view points !!!! and i just showed my way of organizing my blades ok !!!! still not as insane as your over obsessive tool collection that you'll never use !!!! peace the f@#k out !!!!
working with my hands is a joy,it gives me a sense of fulfillment,somthing so many seek and so few find.-SAM MALOOF.
