The brand names of saw blades comes up pretty regularly and I was curious about some of the favorite brands people have as well as ones you won't touch? Also, do you tend to stick with combination blades most of the time or have you gone to special purpose blades for ripping and cross cuts? I've stuck with combination blades so far and have had good success with Freud and Shopsmith blades, but not so much with DeWalt and Marples/Irwin. I've never tried Klingspoor's line of blades, but when I looked at them prior to this covid stuff they looked like they were good quality - but ultimately it will be in the cut.
I bring this up as I've always heard great things about the Forrest Woodworker II thin kerf blades but have not gotten one as it's easily twice the price of what I've been buying. Everything I'd heard about them was really great. Rockler had them on sale a while back, so I ordered the combination blade and it's been quite disappointing. I've been cutting some Jatoba for a table I'm building and it burned first cut on a rip and did the same on a crosscut of a 1" x 2-1/4 section. The WW II cut is on the left in the picture below. I swapped back to my old blade and made a cut, which is the piece on the right. I'm going to return the Forrest to Rockler.
I bring this up as I've always heard great things about the Forrest Woodworker II thin kerf blades but have not gotten one as it's easily twice the price of what I've been buying. Everything I'd heard about them was really great. Rockler had them on sale a while back, so I ordered the combination blade and it's been quite disappointing. I've been cutting some Jatoba for a table I'm building and it burned first cut on a rip and did the same on a crosscut of a 1" x 2-1/4 section. The WW II cut is on the left in the picture below. I swapped back to my old blade and made a cut, which is the piece on the right. I'm going to return the Forrest to Rockler.