Thread: New TS blade. Opteco vs Forrest, Tenryu etc.

I cannot offer any insight and answers, I am literally (having just taken delivery of a new table saw) going through the same exercise in figuring out which manufacturer of blade to go shopping with.

I will add one brand to your mix though, that I am considering - that is CMT. I too am tossing and turning between CMT, Freud, had given a miss on Forrest, as I'd heard some not-so-stellar reports from those, hadn't heard of Opteco, and was about to start looking at Tenryu.

Will be watching this thread with interest!

You won't be ripping very fast at all with a 60-72 tooth count blade.
What happens if folks tend to force these higher tooth count blades when ripping is it just makes them go blunt faster.
It would probably be better to buy a cheap ripping blade and use that to protect the higher toothed count blade

FWIW I have a 24 Tooth CMT for ripping, a 48 Tooth "Torquata" general purpose blade the came with the TS , a 100 tooth triple chip (can remember the brand) for ply and melamine, and a a very cheap ($69) 80 tooth "negative raked" Bosch blade for Al and plastic. The latter does a fair job of cross cutting timber with minimal tear out so it tends to be the one that stays on the saw and the others get used as required.

Yeah, I wouldn't plan to rip too much with the 60+ tooth blade, just some thin sutff in a pinch.
Ideally I'd be getting a dedicated rip blade with a FTG (useful for rebates etc.) down the track.

I recently purchased the Freud glue line rip blade and have been very impressed with the finish it leaves. I paid $99 for it.

McWoody, I am not sure where you live, but I priced out a 12" WWII 40-tooth blade. It was $400 AUD shipped to Australia.

I started a similar thread here: Best table saw blades

In the end I ordered two blades from Leuco, one rip and one crosscut. These together were about $300+.

I think that by the time you get into this price range, there is probably not a lot to choose between the various blades. I've read very good reports about all three of the blades you mentioned, with the order being Freud best and WWII lowest.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Hi Derek,

I'm just out of Melbourne.
Have mainly been looking on Amazon and a few other US retailers that have reasonable international delivery (www.hardwaresales.com is one that comes to mind - about $10 USD for delivery).

Amazon has the Forrest WWII for about $165 USD delivered to AU.
https://www.amazon.com/Forrest-WW240...dp/B000OMQT18/


What's your impression on the Leuco blades? (I've also been looking at them and the Leitz ones and they seem to be reasonably priced - if you can withstand using their website).


Thanks

On their website, the Forrest WWII Modified (which is the 40-tooth combo blade) is $168 USD. That's about $250 AUD. (I was looking at a 30mm arbor for a Hammer, which is another $33 USD or $50 AUD).

Forrest quoted ... "$65.00 ship USPS to Perth,Australia" That's about $100 AUD .... total (for your blade) around $350. If you can get postage for $10 USD, then you have a bargain. I would check the cost.

For less than that price I have two Leuco blades (made in Germany), which are rated very highly, both here by those who have used them, and on the UK forum. The WWII are rated pretty highly in the USA, but are considered over-priced, and also over shadowed by Freud.

I cannot say yet how good the Leuco are as one has just arrived and the other is on its way. I will post my impressions once I have some time on them.

I gave up even considering Leitz as their website is a nightmare. Leuco is a pleasure to deal with.

Regards from Perth

Derek

I have been doing more digging and research this morning, and came across this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgpbUzfjDeQ - it's the first part of the video that covers saw blades.

This leads to the blades themselves: Saw Blades

Can't offer any more thoughts than that at this stage.

Yep, I've definitely come across the Ridge Carbide TS2000 in my research.
Seems like a very well regarded blade.

I was actually in touch with the owner John Ferrie (who answered my "contact us" email).
He was quite helpful and was willing to do postage to AU, but at $65 USD. That would make $190 USD for the 12" TS2000 delivered (add $19 USD for a 30mm bore)

I also feel a big part of the advantage of owning a Ridge Carbide or Forrest in the states is that you can send it back to the manufacturer for sharpening.

without going into direct comparisons as I don't have the experience of your choices, my comments are

be prepared to change blades when switching between ripping and cross cutting. I purchased a 2 blade set from Freud -- 24 tooth rip and 60 tooth cross cut.
If you are organised -- i.e. know where the spanners are -- changing blades should take less than 3 minutes.

general purpose blades are OK ripping softwood, but struggle ripping thick hardwood.

ripping blades work OK when cross cutting thin components

there is no substitute for a sharp blade designed for the task.

Hi Ian,

What you say about dedicated blades for specific tasks makes perfect sense to me.

But then I go and watch a video like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh0XqqkYIlA
It shows the "general purpose" Ridge Cardbide TS2000 ripping through 2 inches of rosewood (13 minute mark if you just want to see that).

I'm more and more confused.
Obviously the attraction of one "super" blade that does it all is appealing, but it seems to go against the common wisdom.

A bit off topic but I have been hit by a piece of timber doing exactly what he does and I couldn't watch him do it again so I fast forwarded it in places. He reached over the still spinning blade and picked up a fairly large piece of timber, I used to do that also until one day I dropped the piece on the blade and it shot back and hit me in the chest and I promise that it is something you never want to happen to you.

I think I am going to order one of these but I am waiting on him to get back with a quote to supply it drilled for brake pins which does not seem to be a standard blade. If anyone is interested we might be able to spread the freight costs if several blades are ordered at the same time. I have had the Forest WW2 sharpened in Oz and it seemed to give the same results as the original blade did so I don't think that is an issue. There was no way I was sending it back to the US just for sharpening.

Hi Chris,

I may well be interested in a group buy, but we may lose any savings on the domestic shipping side (I'm in Melbourne).

Given you have used a similar general purpose blade (Forrest WW2) what's your general take on them?
Did you still find yourself reaching for more task specific blades?

Originally Posted by mcwoody

Hi Chris,

I may well be interested in a group buy, but we may lose any savings on the domestic shipping side (I'm in Melbourne).

Given you have used a similar general purpose blade (Forrest WW2) what's your general take on them?
Did you still find yourself reaching for more task specific blades?

Honestly, I never take the WW2 off but that may be helped by a the power of the saw. I had not considered the domestic freight add on so my idea may not work out. The finish from the WW2 is glue ready for my purposes but others may have a different opinion of course. I did 32 tabletops in pine and glued them straight from the saw and you couldn't see the glue line.