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Thread: Please help with my TS blade sharpening nightmare!

  1. #1

    Please help with my TS blade sharpening nightmare!

    I recently helped a fired do a project, and because no good deed goes unpunished, I nipped the head of a brad nail with my WWII ( despite my friend's claim that the wood was clean.) I inspected the blade and the carbide looked fine, but it was dull. I couldn't even cut a pine 2x4.

    I usually send my blades to Forrest, but the last time I sent it in, it took over 1.5 months to get it back. I heard good things about a local cnc sharpening place, so I decided to send it to them. I asked them to inspect the blad. They called and said there was no damage, so I had them resharpen it. I had the blade back in less than a week.

    I did a test rip cut with some 6/4 maple. The results were terrible.
    IMG_4103.jpg

    I did the same cut with my $20 back up blade ( also full kerf 40T) and the results were much better.
    IMG_4104.jpg

    I called the company and they said they would "make it right." I just recieved it back today with a note saying that they inspected the blade, found nothing wrong with it, and resharpened it again just in case. They also said they made some test cuts and it worked fine. They send me a 2"x3/4" piece of oak they cross-cust as proof. I did another test with the same piece of maple. The quality is better, but not near as good as what I've grown to expect from the WWII.

    I plan on contacting the company again later this week, but I'm wondering if any of you may have any insight on what may be causing this issue. I checked the alignment of my fence and it was right. I also checked how true the blade was when moved by hand on the arbor. It was 0.0045" out of true. Could this be the issue? What is a reasonable number? I checked my other blade and it was 0.003"

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
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    So Cal
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    I've also learned that no one sharpens a Forrest blade like Forrest.
    I do remember one service near me that made my woodworker 2 cut very fast but the surface was not great.
    Aj

  3. #3
    my bandsaw cuts smoother then that.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
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    LA & SC neither one is Cali
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    There are plenty of saw shops that can sharpen Forrest or any blade just as well as Forrest, I discovered several over the years as Forrest's turn around got longer and their prices went up. There are also a TON of shops that are just plain poor.

    Some great ones:

    Snook's Saw Service in OR, Cook Industrial Tool in TX, Ridge Carbide in NJ and Dynamic Saw in NY there are more but these offer reasonable turn around (~1 week) excellent work and good pricing. If you need a blade quick then it pays to give several a call to see what their current standard turn around is since it varies, some offer expedited service.
    Of all the laws Brandolini's may be the most universally true.

    Deep thought for the day:

    Your bandsaw weighs more when you leave the spring compressed instead of relieving the tension.

  5. #5
    Join Date
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    Between No Where & No Place ,WA
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    "...no one sharpens a Forrest blade like Forrest"

    --Andrew Hughes

    Agreed!

  6. #6
    It is possible that you have a bent tooth. .003" is paper thickness but is fairly easy to see in a saw cut. Forrest Woodworkers have a different grind geometry than most industrial blades. It may have been serviced with the typical side grind and not a "Forrest" grind.

    Van Husky... Thanks for the shout-out.
    I make dirt out of woodworking tools.

  7. #7
    Find another sharpening service that knows what they are doing. The people you are using ahve shown themselves to be mildly incompetent.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    May 2009
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    black river falls wisconsin
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    You only can sharpen sawblade so many times . You keep sending blade back to the hacks you will have a big paper weight. Find new sharpening service.

  9. #9
    Join Date
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    If you add your general area of the country or a city to your profile so it shows up in your posts, other members near by can probably lead you to a good sharpening service near you.
    Lee Schierer
    USNA '71
    Go Navy!

    My advice, comments and suggestions are free, but it costs money to run the site. If you found something of value here please give a little something back by becoming a contributor! Please Contribute

  10. #10
    Join Date
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    I use Forrest to re-sharpen the blades they made. I've never regretted it.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
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    WNY
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    Van is right, there are several excellent sharpening services. I know first hand that Dynamic Saw sharpens blades extremely well; I swear the blades I have taken there cut better than when new when I got them back.

    The comment that you might have one or more bent teeth could be the cause. Normally, glades only get sharpened on the face of the tooth. They only sharpen the sides when a tooth gets replaced or there's some obvious need to do so.

    For what it's worth, 0.0045" runout seems like a lot to me. I measured less than 0.002" on a Freud rip blade, not a high end Forrest blade. But the runout you measure is the sum of the blade, the arbor flange, any dust you got trapped in between the blade, flange, and nut, and probably some other things. I found I could cut the runout down quite a bit by making sure all mating surfaces were perfectly clean, checking the runout, then rotating the blade a few degrees and checking it again until I found the least runout. I don't do that routinely, but it was interesting to see how you can minimize (or maximize) runout.

    John

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by lowell holmes View Post
    I use Forrest to re-sharpen the blades they made. I've never regretted it.
    Remember that Forest is a sharpening service that sells blades to create more sharpening business at an inflated price. My WWII lost a couple teeth when it hit a hidden SKU staple in the end of a board. When Forest finished raping me, it cost almost as mush as a new WWII. Sent a friend's 100 tooth melamine blade to Dynamic with a few more teeth damaged, and cost was less than half of what I paid Forest. I think Forest's products are over - over priced and over rated. They business model is to sell to snob hobby wood workers. I have yet to visit a local cabinet shop and see a Forest blade. Mostly Freuds, with some Amanas.
    Last edited by Bruce Wrenn; 03-22-2017 at 9:25 PM.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
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    LA & SC neither one is Cali
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bruce Wrenn View Post
    They business model is to sell to snob hobby wood workers. I have yet to visit a local cabinet shop and see a Forest blade.
    We do live in somewhat of a hobbyist bubble. In industry you will basically never see a Forrest saw you see true industrial saws from companies like Royce Ayr, Leitz, FS Tool, Leuco, Everlast, maybe a Popular or two and possibly one of the Cermet tipped Carbide Processors blades.
    Of all the laws Brandolini's may be the most universally true.

    Deep thought for the day:

    Your bandsaw weighs more when you leave the spring compressed instead of relieving the tension.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Bruce Wrenn View Post
    Remember that Forest is a sharpening service that sells blades to create more sharpening business at an inflated price. My WWII lost a couple teeth when it hit a hidden SKU staple in the end of a board. When Forest finished raping me, it cost almost as mush as a new WWII. Sent a friend's 100 tooth melamine blade to Dynamic with a few more teeth damaged, and cost was less than half of what I paid Forest. I think Forest's products are over - over priced and over rated. They business model is to sell to snob hobby wood workers. I have yet to visit a local cabinet shop and see a Forest blade. Mostly Freuds, with some Amanas.
    I actually like the way Freud cuts better. Call me strange...I do not use Amana blades. Agree Forrest is over rated. I took a blade into my local sharpening service with two missing teeth and it was still under twenty dollars.

  15. #15
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    Unfortunately a shop near me does similar work. I send my cutters to a place in the next state. Its an extra few bucks in shipping but, everything comes back perfect so far.
    "A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".


    – Samuel Butler

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