What brand - type of blade(s) should I purchase for my new Grizzly 1023SL?

[Daniel Hillmer]

Dumb questions...

OK my new 3 HP cabinet saw will arrive hopefully sometime next week. For the next several weeks, I will be cutting only ¾ inch hard maple and either ½” or 3/4 “ B-2 cabinet grade plywood, some of it pre finished but most of it un finished. I will be building mainly drawer boxes and raised panel cabinet doors, and a small spice pantry.

What blade(s) should I purchase for the saw for my first use? I’m not worried about the cost of the blades because I want as good and as splinter free cuts as I can possibly get.

Can I get one that will do the whole job, or should I be buying one blade for the plywood and one for hardwood?

What about a zero clearance insert? Is that hand made or should I purchase one?

[Julian Wong]

Daniel,
Ideally you would be able to get 2 blades for the job. But Me, like a lot of ther lazy people even with 2 blades, are too lazy to change them each time you needto make a different cut. Therefore I have resorted to an all-round (multi-purpose) blade. Although you may be able to get mrginally better cuts with purpoe dedicated blades, this all rounder is a compromise which will get fairly good cuts on both hardwood and plywood.

I would recomend Freud's premier fusion blade P410, or like what I have, the Forrest Woodworker II Both run about $100. You may be able to get good deals on fleabay with the cashback program.

HTH

[Alfred Clem]

On my Grizzly 1023SL I installed a Forrest Woodworker II blade the day it was delivered and have been perfectly satisfied ever since.

I made a zero clearance insert later on. No problem.

The splitter that came with the saw stinks. Piece of tin. The guard is junk plastic. I'm thinking of upgrading those parts of the saw, but so far have procrastinated doing so. The blade, however, is flawless -- very smooth cuts with no problems.

[Daniel Hillmer]

On my Grizzly 1023SL I installed a Forrest Woodworker II blade the day it was delivered and have been perfectly satisfied ever since.

I made a zero clearance insert later on. No problem.

The splitter that came with the saw stinks. Piece of tin. The guard is junk plastic. I'm thinking of upgrading those parts of the saw, but so far have procrastinated doing so. The blade, however, is flawless -- very smooth cuts with no problems.

Thanks Alfred.

Did you buy the H4231 Zero Clearance Table Saw Inserts from Grizzly?

[Daniel Hillmer]

Daniel,
Ideally you would be able to get 2 blades for the job. But Me, like a lot of ther lazy people even with 2 blades, are too lazy to change them each time you needto make a different cut. Therefore I have resorted to an all-round (multi-purpose) blade. Although you may be able to get mrginally better cuts with purpoe dedicated blades, this all rounder is a compromise which will get fairly good cuts on both hardwood and plywood.

I would recomend Freud's premier fusion blade P410, or like what I have, the Forrest Woodworker II Both run about $100. You may be able to get good deals on fleabay with the cashback program.

HTH

How many teeth should be on blade if I get the WWII?

I was reading in another post somewhere that the wwII blade - there was a problem with veneer chipping off and plywood, and I should get more than 40 teeth - is that the case?

[Brian Kent]

I have had the 1023SL with Woodworker II regular and fine kerf for a little over 2 years. I am still amazed at the job it does and the fact that every time I check and re-check the alignment, it is still spot-on without adjustment.

[Rod Sheridan]

Many people are perfecly happy with a general purpose combination blade.

A combination blade however doesn't anything as well as a dedicated purpose blade.

Rip blades have few teeth, ground flat across the top, with deep gullets to hold the long stringy chips produced. As their name implies, they rip thick solid wood like a knife through butter. Their crosscut performance however looks like a chain saw.

Crosscut blades have many teeth 60 to 100? ground in alternating profile and they cleanly sever the fibres in wood to produce an outstanding cut. Their rip performance is characterised as really laboured, and sometimes smokey.

Melamine and plywood blades have special tooth geometry to produce superior cuts in those materials. They excel at this one task only.

So, you either buy one blade that does nothing exceedingly well, and accept that trade off for the convenience of not changing blades, or you buy different blades for when need a great job done.

I have a 24 T rip, an 80T crosscut, an 80T melamine, a dado and a general purpose combination blade for when the kid across the street comes over with his prized piece of plywood he rescued from a ditch.

regards, Rod.

[Daniel Hillmer]

Many people are perfecly happy with a general purpose combination blade.

A combination blade however doesn't anything as well as a dedicated purpose blade.

Rip blades have few teeth, ground flat across the top, with deep gullets to hold the long stringy chips produced. As their name implies, they rip thick solid wood like a knife through butter. Their crosscut performance however looks like a chain saw.

Crosscut blades have many teeth 60 to 100? ground in alternating profile and they cleanly sever the fibres in wood to produce an outstanding cut. Their rip performance is characterised as really laboured, and sometimes smokey.

Melamine and plywood blades have special tooth geometry to produce superior cuts in those materials. They excel at this one task only.

So, you either buy one blade that does nothing exceedingly well, and accept that trade off for the convenience of not changing blades, or you buy different blades for when need a great job done.

I have a 24 T rip, an 80T crosscut, an 80T melamine, a dado and a general purpose combination blade for when the kid across the street comes over with his prized piece of plywood he rescued from a ditch.

regards, Rod.

On the Forrest web site, they claim the woodworker II can:

With this Forrest Woodworker 2 all purpose blade you can RIP & CROSSCUT 1" to 2" hardwood and softwood resulting in a smooth as sanded surface. Ply-veneers of oak and birch will crosscut with NO BOTTOM SPLINTER at moderate feed rates.

* Ends blade changing (one blade does
rip, combo, and crosscut).

* Ends scratchy saw cuts.

* Ends second-step finishing (jointing
and sanding not required).

* Ends cutting 1/16" oversize to allow
for RESURFACING.

* Buy and sharpen ONE blade instead
of 3, (24T Rip, 50T Combination,
80T Crosscut).

Do you or anyone who has used it find this statement to be accurate?

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, I do not own a Forrest blade so I cannot comment on it.

I do own a high quality combination blade and it does not work as well as the specialised blades I own.

As to the sheet goods, most high end saws incorporate a second small blade called a scoring blade to put a shallow cut on the bottom surface of sheet goods to eliminate bottom chip out.

If we could have found a single blade that worked well enough, we wouldn't have used scoring saws when I worked in industry. Industry often has special grinds made to order that aren't available to the hobbiest, since saw blade companies normally have an engineer on staff to help solve cutting issues. I've never seen the "magic" blade that out performed specialised blades.

I've read many positive comments about the Forrest product, however I have no experience with their product.

Regards, Rod.

[glenn bradley]

So many answers available to this one but IMHO, at least:

- 80T crosscut
- 24T rip

In addition you may find:

- 30 to 40T general slam-it-out blade
- special high tooth count blade for laminates
- slightly higher tooth count rip blade for "glue line rip" operations although a 24T on a well aligned tool should be fine.

Don't forget your dado stack and ZCI's for each blade. Have extras ready and you'll be glad you did ;-)

As to brands, again there are as many answers as there are members. I have had no problems with higher end Freud or Lietz blades. WWII is OK as well. and Scott Spencer did a great review here on a number of blades. Try a search on him.

[Alfred Clem]

No, I made mine myself out of Baltic birch plywood.

[glenn bradley]

On the Forrest web site, they claim the woodworker II can:

With this Forrest Woodworker 2 all purpose blade you can RIP & CROSSCUT 1" to 2" hardwood and softwood resulting in a smooth as sanded surface. Ply-veneers of oak and birch will crosscut with NO BOTTOM SPLINTER at moderate feed rates.

* Ends blade changing (one blade does
rip, combo, and crosscut).

* Ends scratchy saw cuts.

* Ends second-step finishing (jointing
and sanding not required).

* Ends cutting 1/16" oversize to allow
for RESURFACING.

* Buy and sharpen ONE blade instead
of 3, (24T Rip, 50T Combination,
80T Crosscut).

Do you or anyone who has used it find this statement to be accurate?

I have not found it to be accurate (YMMV) although the demo's at the WWing shows sure are convincing. My WWII is reserved for general work. It is definitely better than most general purpose blades except my Lietz. Task specific blades will elevate the quality of your cuts in the 60 seconds it takes to swap. I spend more time than it takes to swap blades going to the machine for a second cup of coffee. Try it, you'll like it.

[Jim Becker]

I'm pretty much "standardized" on Forrest blades and have two 40t WW-II general purpose blades (one to go, one to sharpen), a 20t WW-II ripping format blade and the Dado King. There have been a few folks who have had some issues from time to time, but my experience has been good. (I have the ChopMaster on my CMS, too) When I eventually upgrade to 12" blades for my slider (when the 10" blades can no longer be sharpened) I'll likely go with the 12" version of the same.

That said, Freud offers some very nice blades and they are also worthy of consideration.

[Dave Falkenstein]

I am a Forrest WWII fan as well. I have used their blades on my cabinet saw and SCMS for a long time. I also have an Amana Hi-ATB blade, similar to the Forrest Duraline (but less expensive), that I use for plywood, melamine and laminates when I am cutting a lot of it. For ripping hardwoods over an inch I change to a Freud 24 tooth rip blade. The 40 tooth WWII with a ZCI works very well for me for the vast majority of cuts.

[scott spencer]

... I’m not worried about the cost of the blades because I want as good and as splinter free cuts as I can possibly get....

Hi Daniel - Getting the most splinter free cut will require a specialty plywood/veneer/laminate blade. They're usually a high tooth count, Hi-ATB grind. Blades like the Infinity Ultrasmooth 010-080, Freud LU80R010, or Forrest Duraline fit the bill. It'll be super in plywood and will also crosscut extremely well.

A blade like the Forrest WWII 30T would be a nice compliment to a good 80T Hi-ATB blade, and will easily give glue ready cuts in fairly thick material and acceptable crosscuts when needed.

If you'd still like to try with one blade, the new Infinity Super General 010-044 and Freud P410 Fusion both offer a unique Hi-ATB grind in a 40T general purpose blade. These won't offer the best performance in any particular area, but will do most things surprisingly well, and will outperform other general purpose/combo types in plywoods due to their Hi-ATB grind.

You can cut a ZCI from a phenolic blank to fit your saw.