Amana blade quality?

paulrussell · Post by **paulrussell** » Sat Apr 17, 2010 4:38 pm

Last week I ordered the SS safety kit & received a 20% coupon code good till monday with my receipt. Since I'm still in need of decent saw blades, I thought that might be a worthwhile purchase, and I could make use of my 1 1/4 arbor.

Can anyone comment on how the currently offered SS Amana blades compare to similarly priced Freuds? Thanks!

charlese · Post by **charlese** » Sat Apr 17, 2010 5:14 pm

Don't think you can really tell the difference between the two, especially when cost is compared.

nuhobby · Post by **nuhobby** » Sat Apr 17, 2010 6:01 pm

I have the late-model SS Amana Thin Kerf Carbide Rip blade, and also the late-model SS Amana Carbide Prestige general-purpose (standard kerf) blade. By using these 2 different blades for the appropriate types of cuts, I'm much happier than I was when using my original combination thin-kerf blade used for everything. These are high-quality blades. (Of course they aren't free, either.)

paulrussell · Post by **paulrussell** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 11:29 am

I'm VERY tempted by the Shopsmith 3-blade deal. But by doing so I'm investing rather heavily in Shopsmith 1 1/4 arbors, and locking myself a little bit into Shopsmith blades.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 11:50 am

paulrussell wrote:I'm VERY tempted by the Shopsmith 3-blade deal. But by doing so I'm investing rather heavily in Shopsmith 1 1/4 arbors, and locking myself a little bit into Shopsmith blades.

You are really "locking yourself in" only financially. You can get any blade re-drilled to accept the 1 1/4" arbor.

I use both. The only problem when switching back and forth is that the riving knife may now be aligned. No problem as long as you pay attention. Get in a hurry and you could introduce a serious safety issue.

If you make it a habit of using ZCI, the system sorta alerts you automatically.

paulrussell · Post by **paulrussell** » Sun Apr 18, 2010 11:53 am

Where do you get a blade redrilled, and how much does it typically cost?

paulrussell · Post by **paulrussell** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 2:15 pm

Thanks to everyone for your feedback. This morning I ordered the 3-blade 3-arbor set from Shopsmith. I figured it can't hurt to throw my business in the direction of the mothership. (or would that be mothershop?)

I had hoped they would allow me to substitute a 5/8 arbor for one of the 1 1/4, but no. Sigh.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 3:22 pm

paulrussell wrote:I'm VERY tempted by the Shopsmith 3-blade deal. But by doing so I'm investing rather heavily in Shopsmith 1 1/4 arbors, and locking myself a little bit into Shopsmith blades.

Although more convenient to have one for each blade, only ONE arbor is required if you are tolerant of changing the blade by using a single arbor.

paulrussell · Post by **paulrussell** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 4:15 pm

JPG40504 wrote:Although more convenient to have one for each blade, only ONE arbor is required if you are tolerant of changing the blade by using a single arbor.

I probably neglected to mention how profoundly lazy I am. Actually, I have an autoimmune disorder called "scleroderma/dermatomyosits overlap syndrome" which causes me to fatigue quickly at times, so every timesaver I can muster helps. So multiple arbors it is. Apologies if I've entered into TMI territory.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Mon Apr 19, 2010 4:33 pm

paulrussell wrote:I probably neglected to mention how profoundly lazy I am. Actually, I have an autoimmune disorder called "scleroderma/dermatomyosits overlap syndrome" which causes me to fatigue quickly at times, so every timesaver I can muster helps. So multiple arbors it is. Apologies if I've entered into TMI territory.

NO APOLOGY needed.

Do you have the lift assist installed on your machine. If not, I would definitely recommend it. It reduces the effort required to go in and out of drill press mode to almost nothing.