Forrest WWII Saw Blades on Sale

[Frank Hagan]

The Forrest Woodworker II table saw blades are on sale right now ... the thin kerf is $63.94, and the regular 1/8" kerf is $76.54 ... see both in our  Amazon.com Store here on messing-about.

The "chop saw" blade, the Chopmaster, is also on sale at just $75.15.  The Forrest blades are very good, and I grudgingly pay the higher price for them (I paid $120 for my standard kerf WWII, but haven't brought myself to buy the thin kerf at the new prices of $156).  At these prices, though, I think the blades are definately worth it.

[Frank Hagan]

Just found this too ...

Through June 26, use promotional code JUNESAVTENPT at checkout to save 10% on your total purchase of power and pneumatic tools. Save on power saws, drills, sanders, routers, nailers, staplers, compressors, and more. Shop all eligible items. Some restrictions apply.

Don't know if it applies to the sale on the Forrest WWII blades, but thought I would pass it along.

[Greg Luckett]

When I first glanced at this I thought the WWII meant World War II vintage blades.....

[Frank Hagan]

Heh, that would be a treat!  The blades back then were just steel, so you have to resharpen them pretty often.  My dad have some old blades on his table saw from time to time.  Sharpening actually wasn't too bad; a quick pass with a mill file on each tooth did the trick.  

The Forrest blades have an excellent reputation, but I don't think the standard kerf blade is any better than a high quality $70 Freud blade. With this sale, it puts them at parity with the Freud blades.  The thin kerf version is very, very good, and I haven't found anything better than it.  I don't have one of the Chopmaster blades for my chop saw; I've head they really make a difference too.

[capt jake]

Anybody have feeling about the thin kerf over the standard in regards to cutting thick stock? I have always had good luck with Marathon, but I am going to be ripping (or re-sawing) a lot of Honduran at about 2-3" thick (in strips 1/4").  I like the thought of having very minimal re-surfacing of the strips.

Standard would give be better results (I am thinking) but the thin would save me a bunch of lumber.

Thoughts?

[Leo Hill]

OK - Just ordered 2 blades - thin kerf and cutoff plus a book.  The promotion code doesn't work.  

But for $123 including shipping - WHAT A DEAL!  {Edit: Oops, somehow it missed the cutoff blade.  It'll be a tad bit more than the $123...}

Only drawback is that the blades are a month out - at least that's the estimated ship date.

[Leo Hill]

Anybody have feeling about the thin kerf over the standard in regards to cutting thick stock? I have always had good luck with Marathon, but I am going to be ripping (or re-sawing) a lot of Honduran at about 2-3" thick (in strips 1/4").  I like the thought of having very minimal re-surfacing of the strips.

Standard would give be better results (I am thinking) but the thin would save me a bunch of lumber.

Thoughts?

I also ordered the Dampener Discs that will help stabilized the blade.  I recognize that they also limit somewhat the depth of cut, but I've used dampeners before on blades and if the cut was too deep I just flipped the piece end for end and made a second cut.  Never has been a big deal for me and I like the "stiffness" that the discs provide on other cuts.

[Frank Hagan]

Anybody have feeling about the thin kerf over the standard in regards to cutting thick stock? I have always had good luck with Marathon, but I am going to be ripping (or re-sawing) a lot of Honduran at about 2-3" thick (in strips 1/4").  I like the thought of having very minimal re-surfacing of the strips.

Standard would give be better results (I am thinking) but the thin would save me a bunch of lumber.

Thoughts?

The thin kerf works great for thin strips up to 8/4 stock.  At least in red oak, which is what I was feeding.  I have a Jet 10" contractor's saw with the standard 1 1/2 hp motor, and if I fed it at the right rate, I didn't have a problem.  I had less burning than with a standard blade.  With a standard blade, even the standard WWII blade, I tend to trip the breaker sawing 8/4 stock.  I'm not sure about 12/4 stock; I think that might be too much for my saw even with a thin kerf blade.

The thin kerf does save a lot of stock, and its a lot easier to feed.  If you have a beefier saw than mine, I think it might work on the 3" stock.  That's pretty thick and I'd probably do it in two or three passes.

[capt jake]

Dang, should have bought it the other day.  Now they are over $80.

I noticed the 60 tooth blade as well.  I wonder if it would perform better than the 40 tooth??

[Frank Hagan]

Dang, should have bought it the other day.  Now they are over $80.

I noticed the 60 tooth blade as well.  I wonder if it would perform better than the 40 tooth??

Jake, click on the "Store" link in the blue menu bar, and you should go to the "Home Page" of the store, where they are still, as of this writing, at $63.94 for the thin kerf, $75.15 for the "chopmaster" and $76.54 for the regular, 1/8" kerf.

If you already have a good combo blade that is regular kerf, like the Freud LU series, then only the thin kerf 3/32" blade will impress you.  It really is a step above any blade I've used.  The regular kerf is a good blade, but I have a hard time telling the difference between it and the higher quality Freud blades that are around $60 list.

[capt jake]

It shows 82.36 now.  The other day it showed the lower price, but when you added it to the cart the price was 82.36.

[Frank Hagan]

Yeah, I noticed that.  I think they have "floating prices" that creep up as more people buy.  

Last night, I saw a reconditioned Porter Cable 3 1/2" clipped head framing nailer for $109.00 ... but I can't find it today.  I suspect they only had one they would sell for that price.  Now the cheapest framing nailer I can find is $160, and I'll wait until I have a project at that price!

[capt jake]

I bought a digital level from Amazon a few months back.  I only paid about $50; shortly thereafter it was almost $100.  That is also a very neat tool!!

[Frank Hagan]

Their prices fluctuate quite a bit; I'm trying to see if I can automatically capture the tools that are on "special" or "clearance" and display them.  

I noticed this morning the Freud Glue Line Rip blade is on sale for $35.99 with free shipping; that's a pretty good price.  You can see it if you Click Here! and I tried to put it on the "Home Page" of our store as well.  The problem with doing it on the home page is that they stay there even after the price rises and they are not as good a deal.  

I'm trying two new search methods to find "Tool Specials" and "Tool Clearance" items, and so far it seems to be working OK.  You can click on the tabs to with those names to see the items the search returns.  Every now and then I get something like ladies lingerie returned along with the power tools in the searches.  Very strange!