Are Freud blades over-rated?

[Bulkley]

The last couple of saw blades I have bought, including the 60 tooth one I bought a few days ago, do not cut as cleanly as a no-name I bought several years ago. Has Freud lowered its standards?

[MikeMcCoy]

What are some of the symptoms you're seeing? I have several Freud blades and I rate them right at and even over my Forrest blades.

[Knottscott]

Freud has at least 4 separate series of blades. Which do you have? TK/Avanti, Diablo, Industrial, and Premier are all available to us. Most of the Industrial and all of the Premier blades I've used have been excellent, but some models are better than others.

If your saw has any performance issues, it will mask the capabilities of the better blade. A blade's intended function has alot to do with how well it performs. It's also important to compare apples to apples in any blade comparison... as in similar blade type, and similar cuts, in similar wood.

Guess I'd say "no" to your question...

[Bulkley]

The latest is an Industrial model. I always buy combination blades because I don't like changing blades any more than necessary. My favourite is a Dimar blade which I have had resharpened at least four times.

[Knottscott]

The Dimar is supposedly a pretty good blade if that's the no-namer you mentioned. The only Freud Industrial blade I've been disappointed with was the LU82M010 60T. It wasn't bad, it just didn't do anything particularly well. Their LU83 and LU84 combos are pretty good, though not at the level of the WWII, Ridge Carbide TS2000, Infinity Combomax, Tenryu Gold Medal, DW7657, or their LU88 IME. Freud is typically pretty competitive at each price point....especially on sale.

[RodKirby]

What are some of the symptoms you're seeing? I have several Freud blades and I rate them right at and even over my Forrest blades.

Not a chance, IMHO of course

[Bulkley]

The only Freud Industrial blade I've been disappointed with was the LU82M010 60T. It wasn't bad, it just didn't do anything particularly well.

You hit it right on the money. That's the blade and that's how I see it. Not bad, but it doesn't do anything particularly well. I guess I expected better.

[Knottscott]

You hit it right on the money. That's the blade and that's how I see it. Not bad, but it doesn't do anything particularly well. I guess I expected better.

Ha! Too funny...slim odds but that one's got no purpose for me....it should make a good MDF blade now that you've invested in one. If you use any TK's, give the LU88R010 a try. The LU85 and LU80 are stellar crosscut and ply blades.

[LinuxRandal]

Had to laugh at this one. I picked up several blades, for $20 a piece at a local "damaged" frieght store. 85r010 on the miter saw, 83r010 for the radial arm saw, that blade (82R010) and one other. I saw the reviews for it (it was a backup blade for my miter saw) and the neighbor was talking about how his 40 year old blade had gone to @@@@. Well, his old saw used a 3/4" arbor, so he was looking for a cheap blade to try to have a machinist friend of ours bore. I gave him that one as a test blade. Figured it had to be better then a REALLY dull blade, and if it gets screwed up, no biggie.