New Wood magazine review ranks Saw blades

[LCHIEN]

The December 2007 issue of Wood Magazine ranked 40T GP blades.
They ranked the thin and thick kerf Forrest WWII, along with the thin kerf Ridge Carbide TS21040TK and a Tenyru blade GM-25540 the best of all.

[sweensdv]

If WOOD didn't consult with Dustmight when writing this article then it wasn't as throughly researched as it could have been.

[jziegler]

I saw that too. Looks like a good ranking. Paying more can get you a better blade. So, when is Holbren running a sale on some of those blades?

Jim

[THyman]

I saw that too. Looks like a good ranking. Paying more can get you a better blade. So, when is Holbren running a sale on some of those blades?

Jim

You know that Brian has a Woodnet discount and I think one for BT3Central as well.

[cgallery]

If WOOD didn't consult with Dustmight when writing this article then it wasn't as throughly researched as it could have been.

Yeah, I hope he has a chance to read and comment on the article.

[Knottscott]

If WOOD didn't consult with Dustmight when writing this article then it wasn't as throughly researched as it could have been.

I think they plagerized my top picks!

I actually thought Wood did a reasonable job with this. It's not easy to decipher and categorized things that are essentially knit picks between fairly comparable blades. There are so many opportunities for variability that are tough to control.

Some questions always come up....like why the two premium Hi-ATB double side grind blades (Freud Fusion and Infinity Super General) didn't fare a little better...the Super General did quite well, and the Fusion rated slightly worse, but neither surpassed where I thought they would have...the Fusion rated "B"s on several crosscuts and the SG on some, which is exactly where I'd expect steller performance....several others rated "A"s. (I'm in the middle of trying out the Super General and find it usually leaves a noticeably cleaner edge than any 40T blade I've used). And why did the Ridge Carbide TK do so much better than their own comparable full kerf, which scored a bunch of "B" ratings where their TK got "A"s? Or why did the Delta 35-7657 get mostly "B"s and so few "A"s overall...this is identical to the DW7657 that Wood compared quite favorably to the WWII a couple of years ago, and is a blade that many people have been impressed with, myself included....is it design changes, manufacturing changes, or was it sample or testing variability?

Two Amana blades did quite well from the "economy" list, as did a Freud made Craftsman blade....it appears to be the same as the Avanti TK306, which did slightly better than the LU86 (a surprise), and outpaced their comparable Diablo 1040 by a wider margin. Two Systimatic blades got middle of the pack results...I haven't tried them, but always thought they were considered a premium blade. The CMT entries did pretty well, as did the DW7140PT, a Bosch Pro1040, and a Makita A-94459. The Jesada, Irwin, Hitachi, and Oldham entries fared poorly in comparison to the top performers, and the H.O. Schumacher blade was slightly below par (a bit of a surprise). Too bad they didn't include Tenryu's RS25540 blade....Holbren sells that blade for ~ $27 shipped, and I think it would have done quite well.

Of the 28 blades they tested, there are only about a half dozen that I think would disappoint. There are a few areas I'm puzzled by, but overall I liked their rating categories and thought they made a decent attempt with this.

[Holbren]

I saw that too. Looks like a good ranking. Paying more can get you a better blade. So, when is Holbren running a sale on some of those blades?

Jim

Hang on to your hats. Inbound Amana blade inventory too with deals on all to be had soon.

[Holbren]

deleted, don't need a copy. My issue showed up today

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Hang on to your hats. Inbound Amana blade inventory too with deals on all to be had soon.

There goes this months tool budget!

[Knottscott]

deleted, don't need a copy. My issue showed up today

I suppose you don't need the 4 pages I just scanned!

....I needed the practice anyway!

[Holbren]

I suppose you don't need the 4 pages I just scanned!

....I needed the practice anyway!

Actually, send them over if you don't mind. I keep copies of stuff like that on my Raid drives so I don't have to scramble to find a magazine that I probably gave away.

[JimD]

I read the blade review and agree it contains some useful content but why test only 40 tooth blades? I like a Freud 50 tooth. The article doesn't even say what type of teeth the blades have. Overall I think it isn't really all that useful. Their last test seemed better to me.

I also did not care for the joint test just like I did not care for the last one. I have a lot of trouble translating the joint tests to stress on a real part. For instance, how can a drawer see a stress similar to the shear stress in that test if it has a bottom? If a drawer cannot see that stress and you are testing drawer joints, why do the test? Why define failure as when the joint separates? For the dovetails, the joints were still together, the glue line just failed - looked like they had not been correctly glued with all surfaces covered but who knows. All the other joints were in two pieces and permanently apart. Maybe that's why they thought a nailed rabbet joint was stronger than a dovetail - if you don't glue it right and test the nailed joint to destruction and the dovetail to popping I guess you can reach that sort of conclusion. I'll stick to half blind dovetails regardless of their test results. I'd like to see them try and justify that conclusion to anybody who knows joints.

I think I will not renew my subscription if they don't publish a project I'm interested in pretty soon. The last few issues have not had much of interest for me.

Jim

[Holbren]

Jim,

They did mention they were all ATB blades except for the Ridge and CMT which were ATB+R. They also mentioned something about 50T blades, don't remember why they said there were not included.

The 40T blade is by far the most popular now which is why they tested them I'm sure. Since Forest everybody is chasing the general purpose blade market.

What caught me as strange is both the Freud F410 and Amana Prestige rated poorly on melamine. They are the only HiATB blades amongst the group and theoretically should have tested the best in that category.

I'm also confused why thin kerf blades did so well. They said they tested them on contractor saw and cabinet saw but only see contractor saw in picture.

[Knottscott]

Wood's reasoning for only testing the 40T blades was based on the results of their last test. They said, "In previous tests we found that 40-tooth general purpose blades typically outperformed 50-tooth combination blades, with less scoring and quicker feedrates on rip cuts".

Brian - Infinity's new Super General is also a Hi-ATB with a double side grind much like the Fusion.

They said they used a V27 miter gauge with a backer board. I wonder if they laminated the face with sandpaper to prevent slipping.

[JimD]

I like Wood's tests better than Consumer Reports. I do not think they are deliberately biased. I just think some of their testing is not well designed. They aren't the only ones that like Forest blades, however. Maybe someday I will try one. For now my 50 tooth Freud and DeWalt blades get the job done.

Jim