Is this Forrest Blade new?

[Floyd Cox]

I purchased this Forrest blade off the auction site, advertised as NEW . Just wanting to check if all of the scratches and tooth back grind could be normal.
It was just unpacked from a sealed Forrest box and wiped down after I removed the tooth coating (I have not used it)

blade-2.jpg blade-1.jpg

[Patrick McCarthy]

Floyd, the approx. 6 new blades I have gotten from Forrest over the years looked new, such that a question never arose in my mind. The fact that it came in a sealed box (vs a resealed box) from Forrest would lead me to GUESS -and it is only a guess - that it may have been newly re-tipped or newly sharpened. Mine have serial numbers scratched into the back side, but I have no idea if Forrest tracks sale dates or sharpening dates by serial number.
I will have to look when I get home tonight, but I don't recall mine having the dark shadow or tracings behind the teeth like shown in your photos . . . . . but I don't have any thin kerf blades, so I have no idea if that is a characteristic of thin kerfed blades . . . . . either before or after use.
I will state that my re-sharpened blades from Forrest cut the same as new . . . for whatever that might be worth.

[glenn bradley]

If it spins true its a non issue. Could be that someone has arranged to get seconds that would not pass the cosmetic QA for "first quality" at Forrest? Here's another maker's blade I have used for a couple of years that has even been shipped interstate for sharpening and back.

CP 80T.jpg

Even so, with the marks your picture shows I would not be concerned as long as the plate ran true.

[Phil Thien]

My disposition would depend on what was paid for the blade.

[Martin Wasner]

My disposition would depend on what was paid for the blade.

Me too, but I wouldn't be too worried. There's a mile of carbide left on it, so even if it has been sharpened a couple of times, it's get a ton of life left in it.

[Wade Lippman]

I wouldn't care about the scratches, but the dark marks behind the teeth are strange. I would send the 2nd picture to Forrest and ask them if they have any insight into it.
Whether it works or not, you thought you were buying a new blade, and deserve a new blade.

[eugene thomas]

Kind of wondering why some carbide edges are black and some not
.. maybe it needs some wood to buzz through????..

[Kent A Bathurst]

Ain't new. Got no idea what the black marks are all about. None of my Forest blades have never needed new tip[s], but that don't look right either.

If it was a killer deal, you may have your answer right there.

[Tom M King]

Looks like residue from the plastic dip put on after sharpening.

[Mike Heidrick]

Did you buy a 20 tooth rip blade on purpose I hope?

[Matt Day]

Doesn't look new to me. Resharpened maybe.

[Jim Becker]

Every Forrest blade has a serial number on it. Forrest can look it up and should be able to tell you when it was originally produced, etc.

Scratches wouldn't bother me. If the teeth are sharp...easy to determine by making your finger bleed... ...and it runs true, have at it. You can also get these blades resharpened many times. One of mine has been in service since about 2000.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Did you buy a 20 tooth rip blade on purpose I hope?

I've got a Forrest 20t rip [and a 30t rip]. Not thin kerf, though.

You wanna go through 8/4 QSWO like butter...........that right there is the real deal. My all-purpose 40t WW II could not hope to get through that with the same ease...........

[Peter Quinn]

The blade was sold as new...in plain english, ain't no way that Forrest blade is new from the manufacturer. I've bought or opened half a dozen forrest blades at work, every one was shiny and perfect out of the package. Its not to say its not a serviceable blade, or that it doesn't have plenty of life left in it, but if you paid for a "new: an item that has never been used" blade, and you got somebody's beat old reworked rusty skupper, that doesn't seem fair. IME Flea Bay is full of honest people making decent trade, and full of ignorant people making assumptions like the blade they found in grandpa's shop after he passed is in a manufacturers package...looked it up on line...wow these things sell for over $100, this one must be new, its still in the box! And then there are just plain old crooks. Not sure which you've made contact with, just saying, that is not new, and if you paid close to the new price, it might be time to file a complaint.

Just for giggle's call Forrest and ask them if they send out new blades loaded with scratches that look like road rash and with blackened teeth and gullets that look like they've been dipped in tar. Bet they say no.

[Tom M King]

I bought a bandsaw at auction once (not online) that had been used to cut rolls of tar paper in small sections. The whole inside of it looked like that. I got it for next to nothing, and carburetor cleaner made it look like a new one.