Review on 🪚 Freud 160mm x 28T Thin Kerf General Purpose Blade - Efficient Cutting Power (LU86R006M20) by Andargie Marquez

This is a great blade but definitely doesn't match the Festool OEM blade. I used two Freud blades, another brand compatible blade and now I use my second OEM blade on my TS55. The first observation is that Festool blades stay sharp much longer than Freud's. I would venture to say that a Festool blade easily lasts 2-3 times longer than a Freud blade, which negates almost any cost advantage. The second observation is that when cutting through thick wood, Freud's blade tends to deflect much more. Recently I had to cut a thick maple board (still in the TS55 gauge range) very close to the edge to eliminate the curve. Freud's almost new blade did not cope with this task, it seems that it could not bite into this edge area and kept slipping off it (which is most likely due to the smaller thickness of this blade, it is even called "thin"). "). I replaced the blade with a Festool and all the problems are gone, the Festool blade is stiff and strong. I appreciate the lower cost and the competition from Festool, but I think I'm done with cheaper substitutes. They turns out to be no real cost savings in the long run and they can't always get the job right The most valuable use of a cheaper blade I can think of is when you need to cut wood with nails driven in and you know you're enjoying it will quickly kill the blade .In this case the price is too, for things like plywood it works fine but the cut quality is not as good as Festool blades.