Forrest woodworker 2

[mike9]

I am looking at the Forrest woodworker 2 in a 10" 40t thin kerf. I also saw they have a 48t. Looking to see if anyone can give me a comparison between them.

 

[Alanbach]

The 48 tooth gives a little cleaner cut for cross cuts in hardwood and for cuts in plywood. The 40 tooth is not the greatest rip blade but much better for rips than the 48.

 

[mike9]

I was going more towards the 40t because I have a plywood blade. Only reason I was thinking about the 48t was when I had the ply blade on I made a couple rips and the cut was very smooth.

 

[ProCarpenterRVA]

Not to muddy the waters here, but I thought I should mention that Forrest makes an 80T blade for the Kapex which is outstanding. I get almost a year between sharpening with almost daily use for molding work.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

 

[Alanbach]

[member=65857]ProCarpenterRVA[/member] - I am guessing that is their Chopmaster? Great blade! I have one on my SCMS.

 

[Alanbach]

[member=34797]mike9[/member] - How many teeth does your plywood blade have? Usually those blades are 80ish teeth and don’t do well on rips. Most dedicated rip blades have between 20 and 30 teeth. If you have a plywood blade it is probably also well suited for cross cuts in hardwood. Therefore I would lean towards the 40 tooth model as a companion to your plywood blade that could do better at the things that it can’t do as well. Based on the information available I can’t speculate on why you got good results on a rip with a plywood blade. If it was a softer wood and not very thick than I would get that but if it were 2” thick maple I would be surprised. But then I do get surprised from time to time.

 

[Alanbach]

[member=34797]mike9[/member] - Also just curious but what saw do you have and what HP motor does it have?

 

[Birdhunter]

I use the Woodworker II 40 tooth blade in a 3HP SawStop Industrial saw (massively built). I cut a lot of very dense woods often with interesting grain patterns

I want a blade that won’t deflect when cutting through difficult wood either crosscutting or ripping.

The. Forrest blade performs well.

It also breezes through 3/4” Baltic birch plywood.

 

[rmhinden]

I use the Woodworker II 40 tooth blade in a 3HP SawStop Industrial saw (massively built). I cut a lot of very dense woods often with interesting grain patterns

I have the same blade on the 3HP SawStop PCS.  Works very well.

I also have the Forrest Woodworker II Saw Blade - 20 Teeth - Fast feed that I use for ripping hardwood.

Bob

 

[Scott in San Diego]

Here' a comparison video of Forrest table saw blades from Woodcraft.  It is all about Forrest products, but can generally be applied to other manufacturer's table saw blades.

Blade choice is not only about tooth count. Tooth profile and tooth rake angle need to be considered for the cutting purpose intended. 

Miter saws, Sliding Miter saws, Radial Arm saws and Track saws all have their own and different tooth count, tooth profile and rake angle requirements. 

 

[mike9]

[member=66185]Alanbach[/member] , I have the freud industrial  80 tooth 10" ply wood blade. My saw is a grizzly 1023 3 hp. I bought a trend 40 tooth combination blade a while ago and recently tried it, but the cut was terrible. I was surprised how much saw marks it left, pretty disappointing as its brand new. I was cutting 3/4" poplar with the ply blade.

 

[JayStPeter]

The woodworker 2 40T is a great general purpose blade.  Good clean cuts in pretty much everything.  Really, the time I find it limiting is when dealing with thicker hardwoods.  Over 1" thick Cherry for example will burn if I don't get out a dedicated ripping blade.  I would think that would be worse with a higher tooth count.  I do have a high quality 80T fine crosscut blade, but I don't really use it very often.  Personally, I'd stick with the 40T.

 

[Alanbach]

So based on everything you have stated here I would highly recommend the WW2 40 tooth. I am curious as to why you want a thin kerf blade when you have a 3hp saw? As Birdhunter and others have stated the greatest blade in the world is no good to you if it deflects or vibrates. If you had a 1.75hp saw I would understand the thin kerf choice but not sure with a 3hp saw. Either way the 40 tooth WW2 will serve you very well, enjoy it.

 

[rvieceli]

I would also suggest the full kerf WW2. I have one on my PM66 and have been pleased with it. I believe that you will find that the thin kerf flexes a bit and will leave more saw marks.

Ron

 

[Cheese]

I use the thin kerf 48 tooth WWII with a 5" Forrest stabilizer on a Bosch contractor saw. It works well with the limited power. However, if I owned a "real" table saw (3 hp or more) I'd use the thicker kerf blade.

It's interesting in that video how high he runs the 48 tooth blade when ripping solid wood. He says the carbide teeth will run 300º to 500º cooler.

 

[Bob D.]

500°F cooler? I didn't think they would be much hotter than that to begin with, but I've never measured the temperature of a blade after a long rip in hardwood.

 

[Michael Kellough]

I use a Dewalt blade stiffener with a thin kerf blade. It does reduce the maximum thickness of cut but I getter better results cutting from both sides of thick pieces (that have square profiles) than trying to cut all the way through in one go.

 

[Getmaverick]

Not a fan of thin kerf on the table saw. I use the WW2 40 tooth full kerf on my 5hp TS.
I recently changed out my 12" miter saw blade with Tenryu. After I have sharpened my 2 WW2 blades to where I'm ready to replace them,  I may switch to Tenryu for my TS also.

 

[Cheese]

500°F cooler? I didn't think they would be much hotter than that to begin with, but I've never measured the temperature of a blade after a long rip in hardwood.

I’m with you Bob...I was gob smacked with that statement. I’m not saying the statement is right or wrong...I was simply stunned.

 

[mike9]

I didnt know they would deflect on my saw. I actually had ordered the thin kerf but was able to change my order to the full kerf. Thank you guys for all of your suggestions.