WWII?

[Silvan]

I screwed up today, and cut a piece of wood with an embedded nail. I presume that it's no longer safe to use this blade, because one tooth is pretty well broken, and many more have shiny flat spots.

I'm coming to appreciate only crying once, and so I'm thinking I should probably suck it up and buy a WWII as a replacement.

My saw is a POS, and some have said it would be best if I turned it into a boat anchor. I intend to replace it as soon as practicable, but I'm stuck with it in the meantime.

Seems to me that since I have to buy a blade anyway, I might as well buy the WWII, put it on the crappy saw, and then put it on the new saw when I get one, eventually. Is this a bad plan for some reason?

[Gfretwell]

This brings up the question, what do you do with it? If you into fine woodworking get a premium blade but if 90% of your work is just "carpentry" and you occasionally cut nasty stuff (PVC pipe, aluminum and boards with nails in them) just get a pretty good blade at the Borg. If you have a pretty good blade a nail probably won't kill it, only the chance to make "fine" cuts.

[ChairMan]

hey, the boat anchor was just a suggestion

[Preston Andreas]

The only thing I semi-regret is that I got thin-kerf (3/32") Forrest blades for my contractor's saw. When I got the Unisaw, I wanted the 1/8" blades, but I was already stuck with 3 of the thin-kerf.

[Swingman]

I'd go for it. Get the WWII 40 tooth regular kerf, you can use it on both saws and you'll have a blade that will last you a while ... you'll obviously have to quit cutting nails.

[CW]

[DarylRos]

I think the WWII is overblown. I use a Freud 50 T ATBR for general work, but for specific ripping, prefer the Amana 20T Euro rip blade. You need a great crosscutter, the WWII will be great, but the Amana 60 or even 80T ATB wil lbe even better,. So will a Freud.

The best thing to do is tune up teh saw, make sure everythign is square and get agood blade. Why get a great blade on a saw that can't make use of it?

[Rob]

Go for it!

I love my WWII!

Rob

[Bay Area Dave]

Mike,

that is not a bad plan at all! I bought my WWII while still in possession of my POS Crapsman TS, because the opportunity to get the WWII presented itself at the Sacramento WW show. I hadn't yet decided on which new TS to get, so the WWII sat in a drawer for a few months 'til the Uni was delivered. Had the new saw not been on the horizon, I probably wudda slapped it on the Crappy arbor and tried it out right away. I'm sure I would have made a silk purse from a cows ear by doing so.

dave

Rob wrote: snip

[Ramsey]

[Rico]

Dave, are you my reverse image twin? I live in the Sacramento area and bought my WWII blade at the San Mateo WW show and have an old Crapsman

I just started using my WWII blade on my 52 year old Crapsman TS that I inherited from my Dad. It does make a difference. The saw wasn't having anything to do with some 1

3/4 thick maple with my well used Brog blade, but the WWII does a real slick job. It's still about at the limit of the 3/4 horse moter though.

I believe I have also convinced myself that it's easy enough to change blades that I will continue to use a Borg store blade for most work. I have good intentions...

Rico

[Bay Area Dave]

could be, Rico. The first WW show I went to was the San Mateo one last fall. I went crazy there. I forgot how many trips SWMBO and I made to our van with goodies. Fein vac, PC557, DC, Kreg Jig, etc. I went to the Sac show and picked up some CMT router bits. I sold my Crapsman to my neighbor for $225, so I'm happy! It had a hard time cutting thru much of anything thick. That little motor and slack belts just doesn't cut it. Pun intended.

dave

Rico wrote:

snip

[Ramsey]

Steve , I have small EXTREMELY figured pieces of walnut. They are

[Rico]

[Silvan]

Well, FWIW, since I had to put brakes on SWMBO's car, and since I didn't want to be sawless any longer, I did exactly that. I can't remember whether I decided to post the long ramble where I talked about tuning up my saw or not, but if I didn't, the essence is that I gave it as good of a tuneup as possible and put a Freud TK960 on it, and the improvement has been astonishing. Still not a good saw, but it doesn't behave like the saw I had a couple days ago at all, and I can use it without an unreasonable-under-the-circumstances amount of post-processing.

I'll not be using it as a boat anchor just yet.

I would have preferred a WWII because rarely is there any product that is so unanimously agreed to be the very best, but I don't feel like I made a bad choice under the circumstances. I doubt I would be getting much better results with a WWII on this saw, so it comes down to the question of having wasted money on a blade I will no longer need when I do get a real saw and a WWII. In the long run, I've definitely spent more money for things that were less useful and useful for a shorter period of time than what I expect to get out of this, so today is a good day.

[Kim Whitmyre]

First off, let me say that I have never used a WWII, but on my "souped- up" '86 Grizzly contractor saw w/cast iron wings on a shop-built cabinet, the $35 Freud thin-kerf ripping blade cuts as well as all the full-kerf $95 assortment of blades I have used. CMT, FSTool, etc.

My saw is in "tune," with an aftermarket fence (Mule Accusquare of Canada), and the cuts are great. Most solid wood stuff goes thru the jointer anyway, and I put a triple-chip, negative hook 60 tooth blade on for sheet goods.

YMMV,

Kim

[Charlie Self]

As an incidental aside, that's a great fence for a great price. It is simply but strongly made, easy to set, durable and, IIRC, the price is under $200 US. Whoops. $209 US.

Charlie Self

"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject." Sir Winston Churchill

[Brett A. Thomas]

Should we think about a Bay-Area rec.woodworking meetup at or around the show?

-BAT

[Rico]

That's a good idea. So far I don't plan on going to the San Mateo show this year, but it's a long time until the Sacramento show, so I may break down and go to the San Mateo one.

[Rich]

Silvan wrote, wondering if this is really what he meant?

Yeah it is if your going to be cutting nails with it! If I heard you correctly in other posts you mentioned you recycle lots of wood from your employer. Why not invest in a metal finder, think you can get one for about $20 bucks. Think Wizard makes a couple of different models.

Rich