Want the Better Grade Freud Saw Blades? Look in the US

[Markw]

After going to the Working with Wood Show here in Sydney, I thought I might buy some of the Freud brand saw blades. I briefly asked one of the staff on the Major Woodworking Equipment stand about the blades and was assured that they were the Australian distributor. Great, when I got home I down loaded the catalogue (not an easy task) and looked for the blades which best met my needs - 3 of them (rip, cross and melamine). Wrote down the numbers and rang Major and now the problem starts - out of nearly forty different blades types out of the US website, Major stock only 15 and of those the majority are the lower quality Ice Silver Coating rather than the red Non-Stick Perma Shield coating.

Over the phone Major didn't really want help and told me to look at their website. So I try and see what they have but their website gives virtually no detail other than the number of teeth, kerf and a few very basic details. Major tells me that they buy their blades direct from Italy and checking the Italian website there doesn't seem to be the great range as seen in the US site nor the detail about what works best with what.

Where this is all ending is, having no support from Major Woodworking other than just check out our website, I went to Rockler in the US and purchased the best quality blades including shipping for about the same price as the lower quality blades are being sold for in Australia.

I know I have ranted over this before, but if local suppliers aren't willing to bring in the better quality gear and only offer up the cheaper end, then they loose my business. We are in a world market now when importing better quality is easier than going down to the local Bunnings and quite possibly the same price or maybe cheaper and all from the comfort of the loungeroom. Support the local industry - Yes but only if they support me.

[Mr Brush]

Sorry - I stopped trying to deal with Major Woodworking years ago. Thankfully I no longer have to go through them for JET parts....

[Nanigai]

Some people forget that the one advantage you can have over any competitor in any business these days is "SERVICE"
Forget that and you are in peril of losing your business. Right now that is more important than ever as the economy is in pretty poor shape. Most people are looking for more value for their dollars.
I spent 5 weeks overseas last Christmas and found we have a lot to learn about providing service in this country.
Some of the forum sponsors are pretty good at this, Timberbits is one I put at the top of the list and any time I can I support David's business because I prefer to buy locally and support local businesses. But I don't hesitate to go overseas for stuff now and usually find they run rings around most Aussie suppliers in the service area.

Cheers, Ian

[Evanism]

I had the same problem with Freud.

Went to Majors site and they didn't have the thin kerf fusions. So off to the US, ask customer service via email about it and within an hour they refer me back to Major. Email Major.... THREE DAYS later they deign to respond.

Answer? Look at our website.

Not terribly informative considering I asked about a specific blade. Oh well....

Off I trundle to Rockler and presto. Delivered 4 days later and cheaper too-boot (plus some extra sock fillers).

Australia is doomed.

Btw, I love to support the smaller guys. They deserve our business and work hard to get it right. The big guys are lumbering dinosaurs waiting for a meteorite. (Big Aussie woodwork supply companies, you know who you are...)

Btw, loooooooove my Freud fusion thin kerf. WOW.

[rrich]

Mates,

I don't know if the Marples brand is available there. Yes, it was Marples brand chisels until acquired by Irwin. Now the chisels are branded Irwin. I was given a couple of Marples branded 250MM saw blades. They are very impressive in their quality of cut. The only drawback is that they are thin kerf blades.

So that none of you would think that I'm just a shill for Irwin.... The 250MM blades were so impressive that when I needed a 305MM blade for the SCMS, I went an purchased an Irwin blade.

In all three blades I used a bit of Scotch Brite (Plastic sanding / dish scouring pad) to remove the blue non stick coating in the area of the arbor to make blade changing easier. (One wrench or spanner)

BTW - I am not of he metric persuasion, so I hope that my conversions for 10 and 12 inches blade sizes are close enough.

[Markw]

Hi Rich,
What you get under the Irwin brand in the US might be a bit different to here in Aus. Here I would place Irwin as a low grade disposable tradie brand - the use on the job but when the job such as an extension or house, is finished then discard the blade. I haven't seen a fine finish table saw blade from Irwin as the majority of their blades are targeted for SCMSs and out of Bunnings as is the majority of their tools.

Marples used to be a lot better than Irwin of course until Irwin took them over.

[Markw]

Yeahah
Rockler just sent an email offering to drop the shipping price by almost $80 USD by switching to USPS - just add a few extra days. That makes these blades well under what I would pay in Aus for a lesser blade.

Nice things do happen.

[Benjovi]

The reason that a lot of suppliers do not stock the range of blades and products that you can get in the US is because the market is small over here.
For the blades you wanted from Major woodworking, they might have had to buy a minimum order of 20 of each blade.
You buy 1 blade of them and then they are siting on 19 of the rest, waiting for some one to hopefully buy the rest of them.
Unfortunately the Australian market can't compeat with the US and the problem is that if everyone buys overseas then people like Major etc. go out of business, then it's even harder to get blades and machines etc. over here.
I'm sure I you told Major what you were cutting they would find you a set of blades that would do the job.
Freud are good blades, the only other blade that I would consider is Flai or Cmt.
Buy in Australia it's better for all of us.

[Markw]

The reason that a lot of suppliers do not stock the range of blades and products that you can get in the US is because the market is small over here.
For the blades you wanted from Major woodworking, they might have had to buy a minimum order of 20 of each blade.
You buy 1 blade of them and then they are siting on 19 of the rest, waiting for some one to hopefully buy the rest of them.
Unfortunately the Australian market can't compeat with the US and the problem is that if everyone buys overseas then people like Major etc. go out of business, then it's even harder to get blades and machines etc. over here.
I'm sure I you told Major what you were cutting they would find you a set of blades that would do the job.
Freud are good blades, the only other blade that I would consider is Flai or Cmt.
Buy in Australia it's better for all of us.

So because of living in a small market I should just put up with what's available and I'm the only one in Sydney, let alone Australia who wants these blades? Who are you trying to kid, I buy tools and equipment for State Gov. for a living. There's no market because they don't stock it, want to make maximum profit from the smallest investment irrespective of what the end user wants and like others in this thread after being told to "look at the website" for customer service were sufficiently annoyed to buy elsewhere.

Major's couldn't be bothered telling me anything, I had to make my own decision from the website, and I don't want a blade that just does the job, I can get that from CTM, I want one that gives a fine finish with virtually no sanding after cutting, especially in a rip cut.

I've been using CTM for years and whilst they are a good blade in crosscut they do not make an excellent blade for double side melamine or rip cuts.

Buying in Australia is not better if it encourages poor materials or service.

[wolften]

want to make maximum profit from the smallest investment irrespective of what the end user wants

My sentiments exacery, and they have no courtesy or willingness to be helpful.
Will not answer emails, if they do, it's 3-5 days later.
I emailed the Muscle chuck inventor in the US yesterday about an inquiry, there was a reply in my inbox this morning.
Yesterday at 8.00am I emailed an Ozzie so called retailer and still no answer, and I guarantee I won't get a reply either, hey Graeme

[Evanism]

Wolften and markw, I absolutely agree.

It irritates me to no end the lack of even a pretence of effort. Contact us! ... It says on the site. So one dutifully fills in the form or writes and explicit email.... No answer.... Follow up, THREE business days later you get a terse 4 word email... "look at the website".

They have blown it. They are doing this to themselves. If the quality of employees is so low, then this is a problem (Australia is going to #####, e.g. $2500 for a garage wiring job, 2 days work, bugger being an executive!) but things are going down hill, fast.

I know what it's like to run a business that sells things online. It takes a vast amount of effort and the profit sometimes isn't there. Costs of managing a biz, employees and taxes are out of hand....but when I did run my own biz, my number one focus was always customers. Answers via email within an hour, or at least a response saying we'd get back to them, or even a call.

I will say, however, being on the other end, that there are so many deadhead knuckle dragging Bogan princesses out there it's unreal. The number of times I dealt with people who were grossly substandard was simply unreal... Still, I took their cash with a smile. )

[wolften]

deadhead knuckle dragging Bogan princesses

...I like that. Can I use it sometime soon.
I know of at least 5 of them I would like to send that line to their Boss.

[Redgy]

I have recently bought some Freud blades off Amazon and been extremely happy with their service. I gave up on trying to get them in Aus very early in my search as I would have to have them posted anyway and the price difference was ridiculous. I had 1 blade (80 tooth cross cut) that had a broken tooth when it turned up. This I think was Freud QC issue. Anyway to Amazon's absolute credit I sent an email and within 24hrs my cost and postage had been refunded and a new one was on the way free.

When it arrived I sent the other one back which cost $42 AUD postage !!!! Amazon originally stated they would pay up to $15 for the return. Again I sent them an email and 24hrs later $42 refund AND about $4 goodwill refund on top....didn't even copy the receipt from the post office, they accepted what I told them no questions. I was very very impressed and got me thinking about buying stuff here whether I would get that kind of service....answer, unfortunately, no I don't think so.

Total cost of this blade to me....nothing. I would've happily just accepted a no cost exchange. Will I buy from them and rave on here about how good the experience was...absolutely

Redgy

[wolften]

...hmmmmm...will have to look at the Freud blades, I'm due for some new ones soon.

[Trav]

I've bought Freud blades from amazon in the past with great success (except when I got my arbor size wrong!).

For what it's worth, look at infinity blades (www.infinitytools.com). No association etc, jut good blades.

Trav