Who originated the "Forrest WWll Blade" ?

[Gusty]

For those of you that are not happy with either the quality or the service that Forrest is putting out these days please READ ON! I have been a Forrest user for over 30 years and have no complaints about them. They do make a good blade. However, I have been reading postings recentely about dis-satisfied customers complaining about one thing or another.

About two years ago I needed to go to Fall River, MA to buy a few 10" saw blades for a new table saw in addition to my 16" Tannewitz XJ which I use in the mill for most work but has a 1 1/8" stub arbor and 14" diameter blades. While going through the selection of blades an older gentleman approached me and before you know it I was listening to this man for almost an hour talking about saw blades and his years experience in making them. He was the founder of the store called "Burns Tools" which began in 1934. He is a master saw blade maker who has many years of experience. He was talking to me about hand hammering blades which is an art long gone. I was facinated with Mr. Burns as he is a walking encyclopedia on this subject.

Now here is the best part> This man IS THE INVENTOR of the saw blade that "Forrest" sells as the WoodworkerII. I cannot remember exactly how Marshall's innovative idea got into the hands of the Forrest folks but it did and they have capitalized on his idea for years now. It's a shame. Anyway, he, his sons and grandson run BurnsTools in Fall River, MA. They sell power tools and supplies to the construction trades. In their factory, they also custom make the exact saw blade that Forrest makes in addition to other styles. If you are looking for another source of excellent saw blades I strongly recommend that you check them out on their website or call them @ 508-675-0381. Their store is located at 350 Mariano S Bishop Blvd. in Fall River, MA

02721. Tell them that Charles of Charles & Son sent you. You will not be disappointed. Their service dept. for sharpening is tops and their turn around time is one week. Ask for Marshall Burns, he is a wonderful man and a pleasure to talk with. All of the folks there are super people as well.

Cheers, Gusty

[Never Enough Money]

Sounds like the guy who sold Bill Gates the rights to DOS!

I just want to go on record as being a satisfied cusomer of Forrest blades, contrary to what you suggests in the first paragraph.

[B a r r y]

Where?

Barry

[Swingman]

Likewise ... I own 2 Forrest WWII's, and a Forrest ChopMaster. My older WWII just got back last week from Forrest after its third sharpening, and it cuts like new. My "customer satisfaction" has not diminished one iota.

FWIW, I also own a Freud GlueLine Rip, and a couple of other 10" blades accumulated down through the years, and I still go back to a Forrest as a first choice.

That said, I would love to try one of the Burn's 10" 40 tooth just to make a comparison ... my bet is that it is indeed a good blade. If I win the lottery, I'll let you know.

[arw01]

My first forest WWII was slightly off, promptly replaced at no cost. Second blade is still very wonderful, but needs a pitch bath.

Alan

[Duane Bozarth]

...

Not hardly...

Don't doubt your Mr. Burns is an interesting ol' coot, but he's not absolutely unique...

[David]

However, I have been reading

[Bob in Oregon]

I just bought my first TS and a FWWII blade. It started off flat to within .001. Then, I had a bad kickback episode (before I bought some board buddies) and the blade actually twisted visibly about an inch. Now its .002 off- what am I gonna do!? I cant work with such imprecision!

Cuts like butter. No complaints here. Though I did buy a 6" stiffener and have not noticed any difference other than that my depth of cut is only 1 5/8", and that after chiseling out some of my zero clearance insert to make more vertical room for the stiffener.

[Swingman]

No problem. Forrest will straighten the blade for you for a few extra bucks. Some dummy bent one of my WWII's tilting the blade while forgetting to remove a zero clearance insert ... came back from Forrest like new.

[David]

I also have the stiffener, which I find unnecessary, but most of the time I leave it on (so I don't feel like a fool for spending $25 on it). I don't like the loss in depth either, for the rare time I need close to the full height of the blade. 99% of the time, I'm cutting 3/4" stock, so even on top of my sled, I don't need more than 2" of blade exposed.

When my WWII was brand new it was really, really close to having NO runout. In time, it got tweaked maybe 4-6 thousandths. A minute or two of finding the spot where it had runout and a judicious application of force with my hand got it back to near-perfect. Been fine ever since. The only time that blade comes off is when I need to dado, use the molding cutters, or need a clean edge on melamine. For the melamine I love the Freud double-sided melamine blade. oh, and the SD-508 also leaves a perfect edge on Melamine or ply. Such tools are such a pleasure to use.

Dave

Bob > I just bought my first TS and a FWWII blade. It started off flat to

[J. Clarke]

The total value of the deal, according to "the guy", Tim Paterson, was about $75,000. Bear in mind that Paterson didn't have IBM on the hook and this was very likely a "make or buy" decision. CP/M just wasn't all that complex an OS, in fact it was really just a glorified system monitor that could have been written by any number of college students (something with roughly equivalent functionality is often assigned as a class project at the sophomore or junior level) so if Paterson hadn't dealt Microsoft would probably have just written it in house and he wouldn't have gotten _anything_ out of it.

He doesn't seem to be particularly unhappy about it. One kind of wishes that he'd held out for some residuals, but so it goes. None of the original Star Trek cast gets anything out of Trek, Diana Rigg doesn't get anything out of The Avengers, sad stories abound.

Actually last I heard he was working for Microsoft.

[Greg O]

Did you see the show on Discovery about the Seattle computers/Microsoft/IBM computer deal to? How would you like to be that guy, knowing Gates became a zillionaire off of your program that he bought for, what was it?, $10,000 IIRC?!! And you are still there peddling your computers out of the local mall! Greg

[Ba r r y]

There's lots of folks in similar situations.

The idea is a small part of it, the marketing and execution of the idea is the bigger part. Michael Dell didn't invent mail order computers, Henry Ford didn't invent the car, Ray Kroc (McDonald's) didn't invent fast food. They all came up with better ways to make and/or sell the item.

Heck, the McDonald brothers were happy with one location and Ray Kroc was a milkshake machine salesman who bought the rights to the concept and name.

Barry

[Lee Gordon]

[J. Clarke]

So how do you make a directory in CP/M?

[Joe User]

Yeah, and it was more advanced than DOS. I've used 'em both, and I'd take CP/M every time.

[woodcraftssuch]

Circular blades for sawmills still have to be hammered left or right handed depending on which side of the blade the log carriage is on. Sam

[woodcraftssuch]

Circular blades for sawmills still have to be hammered left or right handed depending on which side of the blade the log carriage is on. Sam

[Greg O]

Last I heard he was still peddling computers, shop name Seattle Computers. Greg

[Greg O]

Could be, but the show I saw had him on a interview and he said it was $10,000. He had licensed Microsoft to sell his DOS program at $1,000 a copy, but did not ever think he would ever sell 10 copies so $10,000 was a great deal! It has been 3-4 years since I saw the show, so my figures may be a bit rusty. Greg