I’m surprised that no one has commented on the fact that the Oldham saw blade line has been discontinued as a result of the Pentair takeover. I’ve been using their blades for years now and I’m sad to see them dissappear..
Discussion Forum
Get It All!
UNLIMITED Membership is like taking a master class in woodworking for less than $10 a month.
Start Your Free TrialCategories
Discussion Forum
Digital Plans Library
Member exclusive! – Plans for everyone – from beginners to experts – right at your fingertips.
Highlights
-
Shape Your Skills
when you sign up for our emails
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. -
Shop Talk Live Podcast -
Our favorite articles and videos -
E-Learning Courses from Fine Woodworking
-
-
Replies
Dear woodknot,
Their website is still there: http://www.oldham-usa.com
They have there this statement:
----------
In October 2002, Oldham was acquired by Pentair, Inc., the parent of
Porter-Cable, Delta, and DeVilbiss tools. Oldham now operates as the
accessories arm of Pentair. We continue to offer our great products and
look for new, innovative products to add to our line.
-----------
-mbl-
I know but check out this website http://www.justsawblades.com/oldham/
They posted the following statement:
Important notice:On February 11, 2005 I was notified that due to another mega merger, Oldham will be shutting down completely and phasing out product as it is sold out. In other words, they will sell what they have in the warehouse but are no longer going to be manufacturing blades. Some are already out of stock and I will try to keep up-to-date on what is and what isn't available. In some cases, though, I won't know until someone orders. If it's not available you'll be notified and if possible, I will suggest a substitution from SystiMatic; they don't make anything smaller than 8".
Woodknot,
Sad to hear, Grizzly still has the full range in their catalogue, does this mean they won't stock them any longer?
I purchased a 10" x 40 T Signature carbide Oldham when I got my 3hp table saw and have sent countless BF of lumber through this blade. It still needs no sharpening and I can do glue-ups directly from the blade. Goes through 3" of hard Maple like butter.
I have watched everyone here rave about Forrest/Freud and others and spent a lot of money to get the best rip and cross-cut blades from both, only to find out that there is no noticeable difference compared to the $50 Oldham.
This is probably one of those areas where "Marketing" failed miserably.
Fwiw ................... http://www.mountaintimes.com/mtweekly/2004/1028/oldham.php3
I have been around the business world for a long time and never seen many of these mergers turn out successfully. At the end of the day, it's all about people.
Seems as if you will still be able to purchase Oldham blades, either manufactured in Kentucky, or China.....
I've always thought of them as a contractor-type vendor, rather than woodworker-type.
I love their Nail Cutting Commercial Carbide blades. They've been real useful when doing demolition work when I've done some remodelling on my house.
We used to live in Lockport, NY just south of Burt where Oldham had an operation. Back in ~1998 they closed that operation to enhance their NC operation, chasing lower production costs. IMHO, too many US manufacturers have been focusing down lower costs where they should be maintaining QC and selling/advertising that attribute. Oldham was beginning to establish "shelf space" at the locally owned hardware stores here in central NH.
I don't have nearly the experience working w/ products from various vendors as others do here, but have found that Everlast saw blades & Freud router bits (foreign I know) have performed much better than other cheaper products.
BTW, my Chevy truck & Delta equipment work just fine.
Wow! I read that article and I guess it's true! The post that stated that Oldham seemed to be more of a "contractor" type blade is somewhat true - that is unless you're tried their "Signature" series.
I bought a set of these blades at a woodworking show and I was blown away by the quality of the cut and the reasonable price. I bought these three years ago and I'm still using them to this day - without any sharpening.
This is very sad news..
Woodknot,
This is a good example of how important perceptions are. Their good blades are amongst the best, even better, yet people believe they are contractor grade. The only thing Oldham did not do well, is advertising and making friends with the right publishers, to promote their excellent blades.
Personally, I have never purchased by brand or label, when it comes to anything, but rather by my own experience of quality and performance.
My Signature Oldham blades are the best that I have ever used. First tried them after being frustrated with cut quality of various manufacturor's blades, including Freud who I feel puts a great deal of their budget towards marketing and coming up with a gazillion different blades and not enough towards production.
I still have a free sharpening certificate left, I guess that is probably useless now.
I have sent them an email as below. Will be interesting to see if anything comes back.
"A lot of woodworkers believe the latest developments are the end of the Oldham brand name.
If you wish to continue with some of your excellent products, even if they are manufactured in other locations, it may be a good idea to look at what customers are saying and post a reply.
Follow the posted link:
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-knots/messages?msg=22852.1
Best regards,
Willie J. Martins"
Couldn't hurt
I would be interested in your specific issues with the Freud blades you have used. Could you tell me the blades you used, the application and the specific complaints?
Thanks,Charles M
Freud America, Inc.
Charles,
You did not ask me the question, but since you are here, which blade do you recommend for cutting tenon cheeks and shoulders on a table saw?
10" x 5/8"
Cross grain cuts for the shoulders really need an ATB grind to prevent splintering and flat grind rip blades would be best for cheek cuts. So the very best option is to use the LU85 for the shoulders and the LM72 for the cheeks. Another option is to use a 4+1 combo blade (LU84 or LU83 series). The ATB tips are slightly taller than the flat rakers and will make good shoulder cuts with only a very slight extra bevel past the cheek and if the blade is raised to slightly below the shoulder for the chhek cuts the bevels won't affect the cheeks.
HTHCharles M
Freud America, Inc.
Charles,
Thanks for your advice and taking the time to reply.
Willem J. Martins
I don't know the blade models because I gave them away (here again, trying to sort through the inflated number of different models your company has to try to determine exactly what I had would require too much effort), but I can tell you that one was a teflon-coated, thin-kerf combination blade. It would flex far too easily when cutting 8/4 and thinner stock, even with blade stiffeners. Flexing of the blade was obvious by the blade cut pattern left on the wood, burn patterns, and severe binding. When I went to clean the blade with oven cleaner, guess what comes off, the teflon that I paid for. I realize that your company probably pooh poohs the use of oven cleaner, but I like it because it's as effective as very expensive blade cleaners and I've never detected any degradation of the carbide since I spray it and wipe it as soon as it goes on and then neutralize the alkaline ASAP. I'm not about to futz with a blade that is not able to withstand oven cleaner. The other Freud blade I had was a full-kerf (I'd guess approxiamtely 1/8") rip blade. It wasn't the newish blade your company calls the glue-line rip blade, that's all I remember about it. I could not get rips from this blade that did not have excessive chipping and tearout.
You asked! This was a number of years ago, and perhaps your blade quality has improved, I don't know. I'm not trying to denigrate your employer, I was only illustrating that, in my experience anyway, the Oldham blades I own are superior in performance to anything else I have owned. Fact is, I don't ususally put too much stock in what posters have to say about the performance of their tools because you never know what their true level of experience/skill is and under what conditions they are puting their tools under. I've got quite a few board feet being pushed through a tablesaw under my belt (30 -40 hrs/week for several years in the shop) and I'm self-admittedly hard on tools and blades.
I'll tell you what, I just blew the carbide on my crosscut Oldham blade (Forgot to move my clamp out of the way on my MS - flying carbide is scary) so send me a full-kerf Freud crosscut blade for product review and I'll post my honest opinions on the quality of its cut, if it's in a class with the Oldham blade, you'll hear nothing but positive recommendations from me. ;)
I'd guess Charles is home for the weekend, don't know if he'll post before Monday or not. I have to chuckle at your grumpiness over the number of models Freud provides. Heaven forbid we get the right blade for the job, and look at the specs before we use it. I have 3 blades in my stable at the moment: a 50-tooth combo blade, a 24-tooth rip blade and an 80-tooth Ultimate Crosscut blade (which I'll put up against your Oldham any day, any time: The surface left comes as close to a mirror as a piece of wood can). These blades do a great job when used appropriately. I don't cut alot of stock that's over 1.5" (e.g., your 8/4 lumber), but if I did I'd get a combo blade that was designed for the thicker lumber.
You're right, I think, about Freud improving the coating -- IIRC, they made some improvements there.
"I'm not about to futz with a blade that is not able to withstand oven cleaner." I suspect that if you asked Oldham, they'd not recommend lye either. It's not the carbide it might affect, but the binder. If you clean your blades before they get really gunky with solidified junk, you need only use a household cleaner such as Simple Green. Woud save you some time, maybe, not having to neutralize it.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)Another proud member of the "I Rocked With ToolDoc Club" .... :>)
Hey Charles, this thread was discussuing "Oldham" blades, not "Freud" blades.. Please don't hijack this thread to perform customer satisfaction research..
Why shouldn't he? I'm glad a vendor is interested in user feedback.
"Please don't hijack this thread to perform customer satisfaction research"Somebody critcized his blades! And all he did was ask which blades and how they failed to perform, in a nice way. The rest was other peole asking HIM for info, and him answering politely.The opportunity to give a company feedback this way is invaluable! I don't hear from any other manufacturers of circular blades here, but Charles is always right there with info and ready to hear feedback on his products. This in part, has earned my loyalty to Freud. I support his interest.CharlieI tell you, we are here to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different. --K Vonnegut
I've had two of their 60 tooth carbide finish blades for several years and think they're great. I guess I'll have to take even better care of them than before. - lol
woodknot,
Not only the saw blades. The Oldham Viper router bits are also now a thing of the past. Too bad -- they ranked among my favorite three brands of router bits.
I don't quite understand why corporations cease production of a quality product that people like and buy. It seems that too many companies now hire marketing people to make decisons, and these people know little, or nothing, about the products and the people who buy the products.
Edited 4/3/2005 1:44 pm ET by Matthew Schenker
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled