Are these blades worth sharpening?

I have some Craftsman Kromedge carbide 10" saw blades from the early 1980's that used to belong to my dad. They are in great shape, but are due for a sharpening if they are to be used for other than utility work. Trouble is, I don't know whether these are good enough to be worth the cost of sharpening. I am about to send my WWII to Forrest and was considering adding these Kromedge, but with shipping (both ways) they will cost about $25 each ( more for the 80 tooth plywood blade). If once sharpened they will be approximately as good as a $40 Frued it should be worthwhile. Otherwise I guess I would be better off buying new. What do you folks think - did Craftsman put out a quality blade in the early 80's or has the technology advanced to where fairly cheap current blades are better?

Dave Hall

Reply to
David Hall
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Reply to
Dan Parrell

I sent two 'low end' carbide tooth blades to Forrest to be sharpened. I had a $10 coupon left from when I bought a Forrest dado. FWIW here is a comparison I made

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is one thing you should watch out for and I encountered it with one of the blades I had sharpened. The arbor hole may be a little loose and cause some vibration.

Larry

Reply to
Lawrence L'Hote

I have a pretty good collection, and yes they can be resharpened (and often if you use them much). As good as they were, they can't hold a candle to almost any carbide tipped blade for durability, especially when cutting the sheet goods we use so much of. The resins in MDF and the like will dull a chrome edge in one cut. DAMHIKT. Also, almost any carbide tipped blade will give at least as good a cut as the old hollow ground planer or ply blade if it has 40 or more teeth and is in good shape. I used to spend a lot of time changing blades, but now with carbide tipped blades, I keep a 60 tooth Freud on the RAS and a 40 tooth on the TS and resharpening and splintering is almost a thing of the past.

Reply to
Doug Winterburn

You need to find a more cost effective sharpening service. I get excellent service locally for about $15 for 10 inch 50 tooth Freud blade. I swear it was a better blade after the first sharpening than what came from the factory.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Davis

These are carbide blades - Kromedge is just Craftsman's brand name. They are a

30 tooth rip, a 80 tooth plywood and a cut-off blade (I don't remember the tooth count). They are from the 1980's. I have some steel blades and I sharpen them myself for rough utility work.

Dave Hall

Reply to
David Hall

I can see keeping 100 year old tools and even somewhat newer speciality tools (like old planes, etc.) that have some attachment, but 20 year old saw blades? Naw, I will either get them sharpened, use them for utility work or lose 'em. I've got other junk filling the nooks & crannys as it is ;)

Thanks.

Dave Hall

Reply to
David Hall

I've heard that Forrest can sometimes make a cheaper blade perform better than new. I don't know if these worked well new though. They seem to run with no more vibration than my WWII so I thnk they are half decent blades. I do know that the industry has advanced in the last 20 years though with laser cut blades, better relief cuts and I assume some improvement in carbide. Oh well, I'll give a little thought and decide in the next few days before I send out the WWII.

Thanks for your thoughts and the informative page.

Dave Hall

Reply to
David Hall

I have some 20 year old steel craftsman and hanson 10" saw blades I use all the time and get sharpened regularly,,,,but i don't pay that much to sharpen them I have a local guy tht only charges around 6.00-12.00,,you"ll have to decide if it's worth it for you and will you get your money back from using them

Reply to
woodcrafter

Take up smithing. Saw blades are useful steel (L6 for many, but I don't know about Craftsman)

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Use them for electrolysis sacrificial steel. They're good qua;ity steel and that wide surface gives good coverage to the tool being de-rusted.

Dave in Fairfax

Reply to
dave

The Kromedge blades are chrome-nickel-molybdenum steel. they are not carbide.

-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

Reply to
Nova

So that's why the tips look like carbide and the baldes say that they are carbide tipped and the packaging (which is still with them) says that they are carbide tipped. Like I said, I have some steel blades and I do know the difference. In fact, I just went to the garage and looked and my steel dado set is a Kromedge - I wish it was carbide tipped ;)

David Hall

Reply to
David Hall

I have over 15 different Craftsman "Kromedge" blades, with the silk screened logo still intact, stored in the original packaging. None have carbide tips and the packaging states "Made of the highest quality chrome-nickel-molybdenum steel". Nowhere is there any mention of carbide.

-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

Reply to
Nova

I had one carbide-tipped Craftsman Kromedge blade that I got back around 1980. The packaging said it was carbide tipped too. I tossed it a couple of months ago because I got a new Freud as a present.

I also had a couple of non-carbide Kromedge blades (plywood, combination blade) bought around the same time as the carbide blade.

Reply to
Mike Iglesias

From the from of the Craftsman "Kromedge" blade package:

"Alloy steel blade surface impregnated with WEAR AND RUST RESISTANT HARD CHROME greatly increasing life of the cutting edge."

Chrome/edge, hence the name.

The steel makes decent knife blades and scrapers.

By the way the 10" x 80 tooth cut-off blade has the original price sticker of $3.98.

-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA (Remove "SPAM" from email address to reply)

Reply to
Nova

Oh how I wish I could! I really want to learn how to make swords, but I'm fearful. So much to get wrong, and so much whacking with a heavy hammer. I fear it would do my carpal tunnel no good at all.

Plus you don't exactly go to Lowe's and buy a forge. :(

Reply to
Silvan

Silvan wrote in :

Just saw a Sears Forge recently, that you could have gotten in the 1930's (?) mailorder :)

Jerry

Reply to
Jerry McCaffrey

need a hand cranked or power blower? hand 'used' to be made in upper NY state. try Cumberland General Store, or Lehmans

--Shiva--

Reply to
--Shiva--

Nah, it's not the indidual components so much as the motivation required to put everything together. Some kind of thing for a fire pot, some kind of thing for heat, some kind of blower, some kind of fuel source...

Brake drums I got in spades (bigass heavy truck sized brake drums), but then it gets complicated. Hafta pay a fortune for coal, or else rig up a nozzle and pay a fortune for propane. Hafta rig up the blower, or make a bellows...

Then once I have a forge, there's learning what the various temperatures look like, learning how to work the steel, learning how to harden and temper it.

I'd need a real anvil. I'd need some place to *put* all of this stuff other than inside a wooden shed filled with wood. Oops, I dropped a white hot sword blank. Where's the fire extinguisher? Oh. Nevermind. Where's my insurance policy? What, it doesn't cover my smithy? Oops.

On top of it all, working the metal involves beating the hell out of it repeatedly with a big hammer. Cathartic, mayhap, but my wrists ain't what they used to be. I fear getting into whacking things for extended periods of time would surely put me in line for that surgery I'm trying to avoid. I prefer to keep the ligament holding my wrists together in one piece if at all possible.

All in all, when everything's said and done, one of these days I should buy some real swords from some place that sells quality weapons and be done with it. $400 for a sword is pretty cheap considering what I have to get through before I can make one myself.

Reply to
Silvan

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