Has anyone tried Ridge Carbide blades?

sreilly said:

Good replies but how about compared to Forest blades?

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Forest blades are an excellent choice as well. Its apples to apples IMHO. Both mfg's as well as several others (Freud, Infinity ect. ) make top shelf blades with varying price points, which in many cases in the only distinguishable difference by most wood workers. While Ridge has a very limited line-up, Forest/Freud and others offer a complete line-up with blade configurations specifically targeted at specific tasks. Rip/Cross-cut/glue-line etc....

I would think that if you're a blade changer (which I am not) having an assortment of configurations and geometries would be the way to go. Having the correct blade configuration for a specific task is ideal. If your not a blade changer then having a really good one stop shop blade makes sense to me. I'm somewhere in the middle there. The only problem is when I put in my Ridge or Freud I tend to leave them in the saw, they work that well.

No doubt others will have had different experiences and opinions on the matter

Most of the time I have a utility rip blade on. It works for most jobs. Usually a thin rim one to save wood. I have a glue line Freud thick rip on now. I just finished making some trim molding and I didn't want to joint them or sand very much. It was pricier than most of my other blades and it wastes a lot of wood so it's time to take it back off. I do and will always switch over to melamine blades and fine finish crosscuts when the situation requires it.

Having one that does both good rips and pretty good crosscuts would save me time when working in solid woods so switching to that blade when I need to replace the ones I have now seems worth trying and I have been hearing good things about both Ridge and Tenryu but wanted to hear from people I know are actual users. Seeing Woodpecker selling the Ridge stimulated my curiosity to ask. Woodpeckers tools are good quality, albeit over pricey, so I couldn't see them recommending a blade that didn't match those standards.