Nice gloat Valgard, I wish I had your saw troubles
I think they should have chosen #2. A decent mid-quality blade would be great to have around for MDF. The blade that comes with the Delta CMS is good enough for cross-cutting and ripping MDF, for those insane enough to make their own baseboards :smack:
However, after reading this thread, I am rethinking my Freud investments (ripping, combination and fine crosscut) But at the rate I play, it will be about 15 years of use and resharpening before I am ready to replace my Freud blades for something better… Oh well, at least I have a jointer, planer and sandpaper at my disposal
You can certainly make a case for #2, but from a marketing point of view I think #3 is the way to go. If I were the saw manufacturer, I would be afraid that too many people would see the factory installed blade as the “recommended” one, never go beyond it, and therefore never really be that impressed with the saw.
From a marketing POV, you are probably right. Although, I think the type of woodworkers that are shopping in the unisaw market would be somewhat better informed than the average benchsaw purchaser, for instance. (I am not saying that all benchsaw purchasers are uninformed, but I think a lot are, I was when I got my Delta benchtop and then added a Rousseou table/fence to make the saw somewhat useable, in the end I have a $500 POS. I should have waited and bought nice Delta contractor for $700ish . )
I’d go with #2 - the difference in cost between “crap” and “decent, usable” blades is maybe $30 and that’s at full retail.
From this end-user’s standpoint, they were a touch misleading with their ad (it didn’t say “steel blade” which would be the sign that you ought to have something decent onhand). Given that the blade is really worthless why bother including it at all? Either ship something that works or don’t ship anything.
Which is my somewhat distant second choice - option #4, don’t put a blade on and be upfront about it.
Anyhow I lost track of time last night while putting on the extension table. Looked up and golly gee, it’s 2AM. Urk.
But it’s all in one glorious piece now. Getting the extension properly aligned with the rails and the table was a pain in the rear, and of course AFTER I got it all drilled and bolted together I noticed a slight warp in the extension table (about a 2mm dip at the rear of the extension). I’ll see if it makes a noticeable difference, already thinking of just taking that off and building my own extension table. 3/4" birch ply will not sag (like their particle board) or bow (like their somewhat questionable-looking hardwood braces underneath). I’m not a master carpenter but when I build strong & flat it stays that way
Yeah but why isn’t Delta concerned that people will think that about the cheap blade that they DO include? The difference between a good blade and a great blade is far less than the difference between a good blade and a crummy blade.
I should ask my husband if he uses Forrest blades. I know he has some Freud ones. He does some contracting on the side, and he’s rapidly developing a specialty in ipe decks for the yuppie crowd. He loves working with ipe, but it’s murder on the tools. Anybody ever used Forrest blades on ipe?
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