WoodWorker II - Very loud

[tjmac44]

I just put a Forrest WoodWorker II in, it is probably 2 to 4 times louder when free spinning then the original china made ryobi blade. Is this common? Cuts well.

[RayintheUK]

Mostly, noise reduction comes from the patterned cuts in the plate of the blade - these reduce resonant vibrations, I think. I looked on Forrest's site for that blade and found that they recommend a damper/stiffener for a quieter cut!

Ray.

[rjwaldren]

I had the same experience with a Tenryu GM 40-tooth. Seems that the better designs for blades up the need for good hearing protection.

[Gator95]

I didn't notice any change in volume when I put my WWII 30T TK in over the Ridgid 40T blade.

[Knottscott]

I've never noticed much difference between either of my WWII's vs other blades...not necessarily the quietest, but not noticeably louder either. Has anything else changed....like a new ZCI?

[dkerfoot]

When I installed a 30 tooth WWII 1/8" kerf, I also noticed it was much louder than the standard Ryobi blade, my low-end Tenryu and my Freud TK.

I thought it might be because all the the other blades are thinner than 1/8"

[Knottscott]

That makes sense...the additional 33% kerf width would definitely add some noise. I noticed that when I recently swapped saws and changed several blades from TK to full kerf....all my FK's are louder than the TK's were.

[tjmac44]

I am going to try the damper Ray metioned. This is on a PM2000. Had to use the ryobi blade until the WWII was delivered. Sold the Bt3100 a few days ago, so that blade is now gone. I compare it against a Oshlun 24 TK ripping blade now. WWII is much louder then both those blades on the exact same setup on the PM2000.

[RodKirby]

I am going to try the damper Ray metioned...

Keep in mind the damper will reduce your depth of cut - and you'll still need ear protection with/without the damper.

[SawDog]

Keep in mind the damper will reduce your depth of cut - and you'll still need ear protection with/without the damper.

FWIW, I caught a "demo" (OK...A sales pitch ) at Woodcraft last Friday. We were discussing the 10" WWII TK (5/8 arbor).

I asked if the damper would reduce the depth of cut (as it certainly seemed like it would), and was told (by a Forrest sales rep) "No...Since the WWII is only recommended for a 2" depth of cut, the damper isn't an issue'.

OK, I guess. If Forest only claims 2" of cut, then the damper won't matter. I mentioned that my Freud blade had no such issues, and would cut the full 3 9/16" (I think...) and was told "You can't have one blade do everything".

True enough... But we weren't talking about rip vs. crosscut vs. oak vs. melamine (you get the idea).

Again, this was what *I* was told, by a Forrest sales guy. YMMV, etc, etc.

Hal

[LarryG]

I am going to try the damper Ray metioned. This is on a PM2000. Had to use the ryobi blade until the WWII was delivered. Sold the Bt3100 a few days ago, so that blade is now gone. I compare it against a Oshlun 24 TK ripping blade now. WWII is much louder then both those blades on the exact same setup on the PM2000.

This is interesting. I started to reply yesterday, but didn't because I have a PM2000 and thought you were talking about a BT. Given the difference between cast iron and aluminum, I wasn't sure my experience would mean anything.

I've used a variety of blades in my saw, including a WWII and the stock BT31x00 blade, but have never noticed any marked difference in the respective volumes of any of them. The only blade I've tried that was noticably different is the 7-1/4" circular saw finishing blade I fit when I need to cut a lot of MDF. It is different in that is extremely quiet -- so much so that it's almost like the saw isn't even running.

Now you've got me curious. I'll try some different blades over the weekend, see if there's a difference there I didn't pick up on before.

[LCHIEN]

i don't recall having noticably more noise with either of my thin or full kerf WWIIs than with the Ryobi stock italian Freud made blade.

the universal experience I have noted here on years of BT3 threads is that no one has reported a positive experience with those blade dampers on BT3's at least. Not me for sure. With the downside (limited cut depth) vs. no improvement in noise or smoothness of cut, I would not recommend those mini-metal frisbees to anyone. I sure can't imagine needing one on a $1000 cabinet saw.

[Knottscott]

I view the stiffeners as "profit pucks" in most circumstances. They benefit the seller more than the buyer in the majority of situations. Most blades don't have inherent vibration or balance issues and tend to run true unless there's an inherent problem from the saw causing the problem, which you've proven isn't the case. In this case you'd be treating a symptom that shouldn't exist with either the blade or the saw. How's the runout of the blade? Is the blade new enough to have Forrest look at it under warranty?

[tjmac44]

I view the stiffeners as "profit pucks" in most circumstances. They benefit the seller more than the buyer in the majority of situations. Most blades don't have inherent vibration or balance issues and tend to run true unless there's an inherent problem from the saw causing the problem, which you've proven isn't the case. In this case you'd be treating a symptom that shouldn't exist with either the blade or the saw. How's the runout of the blade? Is the blade new enough to have Forrest look at it under warranty?

I will check runout. The more I read, the more I dont think a stiffner is the cure. Maybe I just need to get someone elses ears to take a listen to it, second opinion.

Thanks for all the replies.

Todd

[drumpriest]

I guess I never really noticed, I run a PM2000 w/ a WWII all of the time. Occasionally I'll throw on a 24T Freud ripper, I guess I just never registered the sound difference. If I get motivated I could take the db meter out and see what the difference is. They are all loud, of course, as is the DC sitting there, so maybe I don't notice because I'm always ear plugged up?