Is there a preferred saw blade brand between these two manufacturers?
The application will be primarily plastic (acrylic, Delrin, PVC, LDPE, etc) sawing, so I'm considering that type of blade.
Mike
Blades for Hammond Glider - Forrest vs Tenryu?
Moderator: crzypete
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Mike Henry
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Wed May 25, 2005 2:14 am
- Location: Chicago area
Mike,
I have no experience with Tenryu.
Forest makes excellent products with the highest quality materials. They service their products via the mail which means that getting the blade sharpened is like starting over with a new one. If you send a sample blade to Forrest they will drill and countersink the mounting holes for you.
I hope this helps a bit
Nico
I have no experience with Tenryu.
Forest makes excellent products with the highest quality materials. They service their products via the mail which means that getting the blade sharpened is like starting over with a new one. If you send a sample blade to Forrest they will drill and countersink the mounting holes for you.
I hope this helps a bit
Nico
Hi Mike, I am a big fan of Forrest blades as well. One of the great things about Forrest is you can buy them straight from the manufacturer, so you can call them and ask questions directly to people wo actually know. I would definitely reccommend giving them a call and talking to someone who can tell you about forrest performance in those materials. I have litle experience.
As to Tenryu, I have heard they are excellent blades, but I have no experience with them, so I am unable to comment.
pete
PS if you do order a Forrest- ask for the woodshop news price- they used to run good specials.....
As to Tenryu, I have heard they are excellent blades, but I have no experience with them, so I am unable to comment.
pete
PS if you do order a Forrest- ask for the woodshop news price- they used to run good specials.....
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Mike Henry
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Wed May 25, 2005 2:14 am
- Location: Chicago area
Hi Nico & Pete,
I'm in contact with Forrest. It seems that orders are handled by a 3rd party so you aren't actually talking to Forrest when you call sales.
I did get the name of an actual Forrest person who seemed friendly and helpful. I'll be sending him a scan of the old blade (American Printing Supply Co) I have now and will see what he has to say next week. I guess he wants to verify the hole patterns and sizes.
It seems like it should be possible to drill and bore the holes in a new blade, assuming the proper tools. Has anybody done this?
Forrest told me that their blades are hardened to Rockwell 42, I think. Would it be possible to drill and bore the blade with carbide?
I will probably contact Tenryu after I hear back from Forrest. The Tenryu web site doesn't have prices but browsing the web reveals that they are probably cheaper than Forrest.
Mike
I'm in contact with Forrest. It seems that orders are handled by a 3rd party so you aren't actually talking to Forrest when you call sales.
I did get the name of an actual Forrest person who seemed friendly and helpful. I'll be sending him a scan of the old blade (American Printing Supply Co) I have now and will see what he has to say next week. I guess he wants to verify the hole patterns and sizes.
It seems like it should be possible to drill and bore the holes in a new blade, assuming the proper tools. Has anybody done this?
Forrest told me that their blades are hardened to Rockwell 42, I think. Would it be possible to drill and bore the blade with carbide?
I will probably contact Tenryu after I hear back from Forrest. The Tenryu web site doesn't have prices but browsing the web reveals that they are probably cheaper than Forrest.
Mike
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Mike Henry
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Wed May 25, 2005 2:14 am
- Location: Chicago area
Just an update on the quest for a 7-1/4" plastic cutting saw blade. I've been going back and forth with Forrest on buying a blade from them that is modified to fit the Hammond G4B. They wanted a scan of the blade to check dimensions, as apparently there were three different mounting configurations for Hammond saws. That proved inconclusive, so they asked me to send them the original blade that came with the saw. I did that early this week, but they still haven't gotten around to checking it out, at least as of Friday. They did tell me that their standard No Melt plastic blade could not be modified to fit the Hammond as it has a knockout that intersects the central hole that woould have to be bored out to fit the sawhead. They were getting in some new stock soon without the knockout so they should eventually be able to sell me a blade with the right hole configuration.
Tenryu was a bit easier to deal with and recommended their Pro Series non ferrous blade for plastic as their standard Plastic Cutter blade also has that same type knockout. The Pro Series doesn't have it.
Tenryu doesn't sell direct, so I ordered their blade from MyToolStore.com after talking to a salesman. The blade will be drop shipped to me, direct from Tenryu.
I also ordered some carbide tooling from McMaster-Carr to drill and countersink the holes for the three screws that attach the blade to the saw head. I already have carbide boring tooling for the central locating hole.
Mike
Tenryu was a bit easier to deal with and recommended their Pro Series non ferrous blade for plastic as their standard Plastic Cutter blade also has that same type knockout. The Pro Series doesn't have it.
Tenryu doesn't sell direct, so I ordered their blade from MyToolStore.com after talking to a salesman. The blade will be drop shipped to me, direct from Tenryu.
I also ordered some carbide tooling from McMaster-Carr to drill and countersink the holes for the three screws that attach the blade to the saw head. I already have carbide boring tooling for the central locating hole.
Mike
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Mike Henry
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Wed May 25, 2005 2:14 am
- Location: Chicago area
On the Tenryu:
According to the box the blade came in the carbide blade is "special" - seriously, that's all it says about the grade! The tips are a triple-chip grind, the plate is "super flat" with patented resin-filled expansion slots. I've no idea if that is a Goood Thing or not. The PDF copy of the catalog page for this blade from their web site adds that the tips are top quality, fine grained, premium quality carbide and honed to 600 grit on all surfaces. This is their Pro-Series, non-ferrous metal cutting blade (P/N PRA-18560D), which the Tenryu guy told me would work well for plastic. We'll see.
Forrest got back to me and gave me the price for their "No-melt" plastic cutting blade and I ordered one. They make them up in 7" diameter, whereas the Tenryu is 7-1/4", so the Forrest blade will fit the saw as manufactured but the table will have to be notched out a bit for the Tenryu blade. Delivery will take 3 weeks or so and they'll be returning my old blade with the new one. Forrest will get me a price on a wodd cutting blade next week.
I'll probably be boring out and drill mounting holes in the Tenryu on Friday - no time until then.
I know officially have more money tied up in these two blades than I do in the saw itself, excluding repair parts and transportation. The forrest blade is $192 ($157 + $35 setup charge) plus shipping and the Tenryu blade was right around $100, shipping included.
It will be interesting to see if the Forrest blade is twice the value of the Tenryu blade.
Mike
According to the box the blade came in the carbide blade is "special" - seriously, that's all it says about the grade! The tips are a triple-chip grind, the plate is "super flat" with patented resin-filled expansion slots. I've no idea if that is a Goood Thing or not. The PDF copy of the catalog page for this blade from their web site adds that the tips are top quality, fine grained, premium quality carbide and honed to 600 grit on all surfaces. This is their Pro-Series, non-ferrous metal cutting blade (P/N PRA-18560D), which the Tenryu guy told me would work well for plastic. We'll see.
Forrest got back to me and gave me the price for their "No-melt" plastic cutting blade and I ordered one. They make them up in 7" diameter, whereas the Tenryu is 7-1/4", so the Forrest blade will fit the saw as manufactured but the table will have to be notched out a bit for the Tenryu blade. Delivery will take 3 weeks or so and they'll be returning my old blade with the new one. Forrest will get me a price on a wodd cutting blade next week.
I'll probably be boring out and drill mounting holes in the Tenryu on Friday - no time until then.
I know officially have more money tied up in these two blades than I do in the saw itself, excluding repair parts and transportation. The forrest blade is $192 ($157 + $35 setup charge) plus shipping and the Tenryu blade was right around $100, shipping included.
It will be interesting to see if the Forrest blade is twice the value of the Tenryu blade.
Mike
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Mike Henry
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Wed May 25, 2005 2:14 am
- Location: Chicago area
Well, I've tried out a new Milwaukee carbide-tipped blade in the Hammond G4B now and it makes a pretty decent cut in 1/8" acrylic and 3/8" PVC. I tried that first as it was on hand and it seemed best to test drilling/boring techniques with the Milwaukee before tackling the $100 Tenryu blade.
Don't know about the Tenryu, but the Milwaukee blade plate didn't seem to be hardened as it was easy to debur the bored arbor hole and countersunk screw holes with a standard Vargus HSS deburring blade.
The Hammond works very well and I think it will be a pleasure to use.
Mike
Don't know about the Tenryu, but the Milwaukee blade plate didn't seem to be hardened as it was easy to debur the bored arbor hole and countersunk screw holes with a standard Vargus HSS deburring blade.
The Hammond works very well and I think it will be a pleasure to use.
Mike
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Mike Henry
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Wed May 25, 2005 2:14 am
- Location: Chicago area
Hi Pete,
The Forrest No-Melt probably won't show up for a couple of weeks, but I should be able to bore out and drill the Tenryu this weekend. I'll post results on each as the tests get done and maybe link to some pictures.
I work in a large government R&D lab and we do a fair amount of lab-scale testing for membrane-based separation processes. We periodically need to make small system components in plastic and sometimes aluminum. Lately I've need to work on flat plastic stock that is just a bit too big to cut with my 4x6 bandsaw. I've been cutting that free-hand but generally half to over cut by 1/8 to 3/8" or so, which makes for a lot of mill work squaring up the edges. I went looking for radial arm saw recommendations on the Yahoo OWWM group and it was suggestion that something like the Hammond Glider would be a better solution. That certainly looks to be the case.
BTW, I almost bought the Hammond Mercury that's been listed on Ebay for the past several weeks but your post on Practical Machinist warned me off in time. Thanks for the that advice!
Mike
The Forrest No-Melt probably won't show up for a couple of weeks, but I should be able to bore out and drill the Tenryu this weekend. I'll post results on each as the tests get done and maybe link to some pictures.
I work in a large government R&D lab and we do a fair amount of lab-scale testing for membrane-based separation processes. We periodically need to make small system components in plastic and sometimes aluminum. Lately I've need to work on flat plastic stock that is just a bit too big to cut with my 4x6 bandsaw. I've been cutting that free-hand but generally half to over cut by 1/8 to 3/8" or so, which makes for a lot of mill work squaring up the edges. I went looking for radial arm saw recommendations on the Yahoo OWWM group and it was suggestion that something like the Hammond Glider would be a better solution. That certainly looks to be the case.
BTW, I almost bought the Hammond Mercury that's been listed on Ebay for the past several weeks but your post on Practical Machinist warned me off in time. Thanks for the that advice!
Mike
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Mike Henry
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Wed May 25, 2005 2:14 am
- Location: Chicago area
For those interested I've otained and modified as necessary 3 types of saw blades for my Hammond G4B and plastic cutting applications.
I've just finished updating my web site with some of the details for those interested:
http://member.newsguy.com/~mphenry/hamm ... blades.htm
Of the three ($25 Milwaukee Endurance, $100 Tenryu non-ferrous, and $200 Forrest No-Melt), I think that the Tenryu will give me the most bang for the buck.
Modifying the Endurance and Tenryu blades was pretty easy; the Forrest was modified to fit by the factory for $35 and partially explains the relatively high cost of that blade.
One of these days I'll have to do the same thing for the ATF saw trimmer, which has different hole specs, naturally.
Mike
I've just finished updating my web site with some of the details for those interested:
http://member.newsguy.com/~mphenry/hamm ... blades.htm
Of the three ($25 Milwaukee Endurance, $100 Tenryu non-ferrous, and $200 Forrest No-Melt), I think that the Tenryu will give me the most bang for the buck.
Modifying the Endurance and Tenryu blades was pretty easy; the Forrest was modified to fit by the factory for $35 and partially explains the relatively high cost of that blade.
One of these days I'll have to do the same thing for the ATF saw trimmer, which has different hole specs, naturally.
Mike
Hi Mike, Nice job, and I love the testing. It will be interesting to see how the blades hold up over time as well, I have found that the forrest will maintain it's level of cut for a long time thanks to the c4 carbide.
I guess you are up and running now, and all that is left is to get so deeply addicted that you need to find a second one.......
pete
I guess you are up and running now, and all that is left is to get so deeply addicted that you need to find a second one.......
pete
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Mike Henry
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Wed May 25, 2005 2:14 am
- Location: Chicago area
Pete,
Any of these blades will probably last me a life time as they will probably only get used a few times a month. It's a bit odd to think that two of the blades cost more together than the saw itself!
I still need to mount the control and drum switch for the DC motor, which is just loose at present. Here in the midwest we are getting temps of 100+ today with high humidity, so working in the garage is not too appealing.
Mike
Any of these blades will probably last me a life time as they will probably only get used a few times a month. It's a bit odd to think that two of the blades cost more together than the saw itself!
I still need to mount the control and drum switch for the DC motor, which is just loose at present. Here in the midwest we are getting temps of 100+ today with high humidity, so working in the garage is not too appealing.
Mike