I had been obtaining some pretty lousy cuts with a sharp Freud Diablo think kerf crosscut blade. So bad, in fact, that I thought maybe the arbor had a lot of runout or something. It didn't. I put a new Forrest Chopmaster on there (full kerf) and the cuts were flawless. I'm thrilled. JP
No doubt you are -- Forrest blades are top-notch. It may be, though, that the lesson to take from this experience is not that one should use full kerf blades instead of thin kerf, but perhaps rather that one should use Forrest Chopmasters instead of Freud Diablos. :-) Or perhaps that one should not use a thin kerf blade without a stabilizer.
Yes, and yes. All we can say right now is that a full-kerf Forrest Chopmaster (w/o stabilizer) cuts better than a thin-kerf Freud Diablo (w/o stabilizer).
That said, I think I'll be investing in other Forrest blades. JP
The stabilizer *does* make a difference. It isn't just marketing hype.
Oh, sure -- like I said, they're top-notch. Check out Ridge Carbide, too, though. A few years ago at the Woodworking Show, I was in need of a high-quality dado set, and had the opportunity to compare the Forrest and Ridge sets side-by-side. The Ridge set actually gave a slightly smoother cut with smaller "bat wings" at about 2/3 the price. I haven't used any of their standard blades (yet), but if they're as good as the dado set...
Leave the thin kerf blades to ripping or gang ripping.
In addition to using a decent plate thickness limit the hook angle of your blade selection so that the miter saw, coumpound miter saw or radial arm saw does not overfeed. consider from 5 degrees positive to 5 degrees negative hook to be in the range with very good results near zero.
I find the Diablo one of the worst I've ever had for start-up flexing -- all in all, its only an "ok" blade in my book. I bought a pair for gang use and they're not very satisfactory for that for tenons for that reason. They are the only blade I've ever had that actually had enough initial flex to strike the sides of the throat plate on the PM66 and I've had the same saw w/ factory-supplied plate for over 25 years now and they put the first real whacks in it it ever got...
imo, ymmv, $0.02, etc., etc., ...
Generally a little wobble as a blade comes up to operating speed is normal, the blades being hammered or roll tensioned to be stiff at operating speed. Your description sounds like a bad tensioning job or none at all, the blade is defective -return it.
Thanks for the replies. The Chopmaster has a 5 degree negative hook. I may get a stablizer for kicks and see what it does to the diablo. If I do I'll post back. JP
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