Unfortunately for me, the results are not surprising in a good way :no:
First, a little background. I have a Dewalt 7640, which is a 50t combination blade that was compared favorably with the WWII a few years back (2005?) - not better than the WWII, as I recall, but in the same league. I paid about $50 for it and could not be happier with the price/performance. It leaves a very smooth finish on the common hardwoods I work with (oak, walnut, cherry). I need to do very little scraping/sanding to prepare the cut surfaces for finishing. It gets light use in my workshop - only because my time in the workshop is scarce. I noticed it's been requiring a little more effort to cut recently, and there is visible buildup on the teeth. I considered cleaning it, but decided this would be a good time to send it in for sharpening. Since I would need something to use while it was out, I picked up Delta 7657 (40t combination blade) in the group buy from Cripe. I got out the Delta and made some test cuts with it and my Dewalt on a chunk of walnut for comparison and then labeled them so I could compare with the results of the sharpening.
I recall reading an interview with someone from Forrest a few years back in which he revealed that while their blades are better manufactured than the competition, their sharpening is also far superior. I've heard many Forrest owners say that when Forrest sharpens their blades, they come back just like new. So I figured these guys are the best, I'll send my Dewalt there for sharpening and it'll be just like new, too!
As a side note, I ended up with an extra Delta 7657 in the group buy, so I sent one of those in for sharpening as well, hoping it would come back cutting even better, since the out-of-the-box performance was less than I had hoped for. I new this was a gamble and did not expect visible improvement, but I was feeling brave.
I got the blades back today, mounted them up and grabbed my chunk of walnut for some additional test cuts. Boy was I disappointed!!!
On the Delta, I hadn't really expected it to come back cutting any better...but thought it was worth a shot. I did not think for a second that a nearly new blade would come back cutting much worse!
But the real disappointment was the Dewalt. It is now leaving tooth swirls across the entire cut - whereas before they were barely noticeable in just a few places. In essence, they turned my wonderful $50 blade into a $20 blade:cry_smile
I've tried to capture the differences in pictures. Note that as you all know, the differences can be hard to see with the naked eye without the right light. Photographing it is challenging, so go easy on me :eusa_pray
Here is the side-by-side results on the Dewalt 7640. I think the picture is a fair representation of the actual difference.
Here is the side-by-side of the Delta 7657. On this one, I think the picture exaggerates the difference a bit. There is most definitely a difference, but not quite as much as the picture depicts.
I get no joy from writing this review. I expected half of my expenditure on sharpening (the nearly-new Delta) to be a crap-shoot. But I am dismayed that not only did my Dewalt not improve, but it got a LOT worse. I paid $60 to have Forrest make two of my blades worse! I'm gonna cry.
So I write this to bring a little reality to those of you who might have expectations as high as mine were. Don't send a non-Forrest blade to Forrest for sharpening and expect to come back good as new. It may not even come back better than it was when you sent it.
:nah:
Chris
First, a little background. I have a Dewalt 7640, which is a 50t combination blade that was compared favorably with the WWII a few years back (2005?) - not better than the WWII, as I recall, but in the same league. I paid about $50 for it and could not be happier with the price/performance. It leaves a very smooth finish on the common hardwoods I work with (oak, walnut, cherry). I need to do very little scraping/sanding to prepare the cut surfaces for finishing. It gets light use in my workshop - only because my time in the workshop is scarce. I noticed it's been requiring a little more effort to cut recently, and there is visible buildup on the teeth. I considered cleaning it, but decided this would be a good time to send it in for sharpening. Since I would need something to use while it was out, I picked up Delta 7657 (40t combination blade) in the group buy from Cripe. I got out the Delta and made some test cuts with it and my Dewalt on a chunk of walnut for comparison and then labeled them so I could compare with the results of the sharpening.
I recall reading an interview with someone from Forrest a few years back in which he revealed that while their blades are better manufactured than the competition, their sharpening is also far superior. I've heard many Forrest owners say that when Forrest sharpens their blades, they come back just like new. So I figured these guys are the best, I'll send my Dewalt there for sharpening and it'll be just like new, too!
As a side note, I ended up with an extra Delta 7657 in the group buy, so I sent one of those in for sharpening as well, hoping it would come back cutting even better, since the out-of-the-box performance was less than I had hoped for. I new this was a gamble and did not expect visible improvement, but I was feeling brave.
I got the blades back today, mounted them up and grabbed my chunk of walnut for some additional test cuts. Boy was I disappointed!!!
On the Delta, I hadn't really expected it to come back cutting any better...but thought it was worth a shot. I did not think for a second that a nearly new blade would come back cutting much worse!
But the real disappointment was the Dewalt. It is now leaving tooth swirls across the entire cut - whereas before they were barely noticeable in just a few places. In essence, they turned my wonderful $50 blade into a $20 blade:cry_smile
I've tried to capture the differences in pictures. Note that as you all know, the differences can be hard to see with the naked eye without the right light. Photographing it is challenging, so go easy on me :eusa_pray
Here is the side-by-side results on the Dewalt 7640. I think the picture is a fair representation of the actual difference.
Here is the side-by-side of the Delta 7657. On this one, I think the picture exaggerates the difference a bit. There is most definitely a difference, but not quite as much as the picture depicts.
I get no joy from writing this review. I expected half of my expenditure on sharpening (the nearly-new Delta) to be a crap-shoot. But I am dismayed that not only did my Dewalt not improve, but it got a LOT worse. I paid $60 to have Forrest make two of my blades worse! I'm gonna cry.
So I write this to bring a little reality to those of you who might have expectations as high as mine were. Don't send a non-Forrest blade to Forrest for sharpening and expect to come back good as new. It may not even come back better than it was when you sent it.
:nah:
Chris