With fifty years of professional and hobby woodworking behind me, I thought I would pass on a few observations about power tool sawblades. Among table saws large and small, 12″ compound miter saws, and hand-held circular saws, I have utilized many brands of blades including Craftsman, DeWalt, Freud and Forrest. While I have achieved successful operations with all of them, there is one manufacturer that I am most pleased with – Ridge Carbide Tool Co. These blades run very true and noticeably quieter than any I have tried. The specs detailed on this webpage – https://ridgecarbidetool.com/pages/compare-us – may answer as to why this is true. The people at RCT are terrific to deal with and stand behind their products. Customer care matters. I wish someone had referred them to me long ago but I have by now outfitted all my relevant power saws with these magnificently tooled blades. What a pleasure it is to obtain such clean, polished cuts! I feel good in knowing that I will eventually pass along these quality tools to those who will one day inherit my shop.
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Replies
Appreciate the input. There are several quality makers that a lot of us garage-shop folks often do not run into. Ridge is certainly one. Carbide Processors is another. The heavier plates, precise selection of kerf widths and so forth yield better results. I use the tablesaw as a joinery machine about half the time. Having a selection of blades at .125" kerf allows me to use jigs and blades interchangeably.
Your input is also appreciated, geedubbee. It may be helpful to younger woodworkers currently outfitting their shops to be more fully aware of the options available to them.
Love my Ridge blades. Also like my Forrest blades.
Worked with nothing but a Forrest WW2 40t combo blade for years after a similar testimony on an old forum page. Great blade. Great CS also. I noticed a missing tooth and called them. Sent me a new one no questions asked even after I told them it was years old. I'll have to give Ridge a try.
I fell into using Freud blades on my SawStop because they're widely available. Curious if anyone feels that Ridge or Forrest actually cut better or last longer. Or is it just personal preference?
I have used Forrest and Freud blades. I find the Forrest blades cut better and last longer. I will not buy any more Freud blades.
The Freud "full kerf" (.126") Premier Fusion blades have done well for me and seem to do a fine job next to my other cutters. They are a little more cost effective but the carbide itself is not as large as things like Ridge but you have to do the math on that. If I can sharpen a Ridge 5 more times than a Freud I make the higher cost of the Ridge pay back more than it costs.
Example; I have a $140 Carbide Processors blade. It costs me $25 to sharpen and now I have a new $140 blade for $25. I can probably do this 8 to 10 times at a quality sharpener and if I do not abuse the blade between sharpening intervals. So effectively for $390 over the life of the blank I have paid about $35 per blade for a $140 cutter.
Geedubbee, thanks for the answer on Freud. I am curious how often you sharpen your carbide blades. I would only sharpen one if I noticed a chipped carbide tooth or that ripping a thick piece was proving difficult, getting a lot of burning. I'll confess: I've never sent one of my carbide blades for sharpening. I change the inserts on my jointer and planer from time to time; I can see lines in the wood when one of the edges is shot. And I visually inspect the cutter heads from time to time on the jointer (the planer is a lot more work to do that).
I'm a hobbyist and while I rarely go for a month without working on something, it's not a production shop where I'm cutting hundreds of pieces a day. Having worked as a metal working machinist, I'm familiar with carbide and know it lasts awhile. In the machine shop, we would mostly change inserts maybe daily or when the finished dimension we were cutting would vary too much -- a carbide failure could scrap an entire part, including all the operations that went before me and the bossman would not be happy. But wood seems mostly a walk in the park for carbide.
" I am curious how often you sharpen your carbide blades."
Whenever they start to perform sub-par. I pretty much have two of each; rip, combo, and crosscut but do have some specialized cutters that are one-offs. I use one set of rip/general/crosscut at a time (I just mark them with a felt pen) and swap to the backup set when it is time for a sharpening.
You will read numerous reviews of how fabulous this or that blade is. Just remember that most reviews are regarding the blade when new. New blades cut well. I know I love the first week or so of use ;-)
I am an enthusiastic hobbyist building out furniture for our "forever home" right now. During the previous 20-odd years leading up to retirement I had made things for others but had a day job at the time so hardly a production environment ;-).
Most of my cutters use Cermet II tips versus traditional carbide. Every hobbyist's use case will vary but I get a couple of years of my "normal" schedule of use out of them before they go in for service.
$20 to $30 bucks (depending on tooth count) every couple of years for a new blade is a pretty good deal.
My 2 cents.
A negative hook angle cuts more slowly, giving you a more controlled cut, less tear-out, and smoother results on brittle materials. Positive hook would do the opposite.
Been using Ridge Carbide for about 10 years. Use them on all my machines. Have about 8 of their blades. (Box, Dado, 80 tooth, mitre, etc.) I use the Diablo for ripping due to the extra thin kerf. Otherwise all R C. They leave the smoothest cuts of any blade I have ever used. The original owner of R C recently sold the business but it seems that everything has remained the same. Hope it stays that way. You now see them being sold in more outlets. As mentioned the blades are accurate, quiet and stay sharp. Buying blades can be an experiment, the initial cost is a hurdle for most of us. It was for me, but after buying my first one it was an easy decision when it came to replacing other blades. This sounds like an ad for the product but the purchase will not disappoint you. Just make sure the blade you get matches the use you intend. Good luck