The best 10" table saw blade...

[fivestring]

What is the best 10" table saw blade <font color="blue">for the money? </font color>
Anyone ever used Lee Valley's blades?
Freud supposedly has a blade that cuts so smooth you don't need a jointer. How much is this blade? Anyone ever used one?
I don't have the $140 for a Forrest blade or the $400 for a jointer right now. I'm cheap.... [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[GaryM]

i have the Forrestt Woodworker II and think it's a good blade. That said, I've got a CMT blade that's pretty good too. And I don't recall the price but I think it was considerably cheaper.

[AndyF]

Forrest is real nice. I have one of their blades and it does a great job. I also used to use Black &amp; Decker Piranha blades and thought they did OK for the money. Not as smooth as the Forrest, but they cut OK. I usually got 3-4 sharpenings out of them before I pitched them.

[Boondox]

I've tried em all. Without a doubt the Forrest Woodworker II is tops. Jesada has a very good blade for half that price. Ditto for CMT. Lee Valley was okay -- better than Freud -- but nothing to write home about.

If you don't have the $ for a Forrest, check out the Jesada.

Pete

[fivestring]

"If you don't have the $ for a Forrest, check out the Jesada."

Who carries the Jesada?

Looks like i'm not gonna get a decent "cheaper" blade, huh? Looks like you guys talked me into the Forrest.

I just thought $110.00 + was high for a saw blade. I'll be sawing hard maple, ebony, rosewood, walnut and mahogany (musical instruments).

[Boondox]

Jesada carries the Jesada. Excellent customer service. And they usually have some pretty good deals on their Webpage.

Pete

[fivestring]

Pete, I just tried, and their web page is down.
Are there any retail stores that carry Jesada items?

[GaryM]

With the Forrest balde on a decent saw you'll not have to do any snading of glue joints. And they shouldn't be sanded anyway.

You can make a cut with the Forrest balde, then slide the two pieces back together and you can barely see the cut. Now that assumes the saw is properly setup and all.

[Boondox]

I just tried and got thru just fine. They changed ownership since last time I bought from them. Carlo, the former owner, was a really great guy! With my proofreading past, I once circled all the typos in his catalog for fun and sent it to him. He sent me a 7 piece roundover router bit set in return -- no charge! Not sure who owns the company now. I see their products in a couple of local woodworking stores, and there are usually some on Amazon.com.

Pete

[DocHeb]

I've been very happy with Systematic blades - they have a glue-joint rip 55 tooth carbide blade that has done a great job for me on both oak and walnut. Just don't use a thin-kerf blade and expect a fine finished edge. The thinner blades will vibrate a bit and give a rougher cut (but they do need less saw power). The newer teflon coated blades also resist pitch buildup.