LENOX has announced a new generation of bi-metal reciprocating saw blades, which they say features a revolutionary new tooth form design delivering up to 50% longer blade life.
Lenox’s longer blade life claim is made with respect to the brand’s MultiWolf, select MetalWolf, and select DemoWolf blades, in comparison to the prior generation of Lenox blades.
The brand added that the new line is redefining performance levels in the bi-metal reciprocating saw blade category.
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Their new WAVE EDGE design will be featured across all models of MultiWolf, select MetalWolf, and select DemoWolf blade models.
Lenox will also be extending Lenox Rapid Plunge tech to select LumberWolf and DemoWolf reciprocating saw blades. This feature allows users to plunge-cut with ease due to the blade tips’ unique design for easy, quick, and clean plunge cutting.
MetalWolf – Ideal for making quick cuts through a range of metal types and gauges.
MultiWolf – Designed for making quick, clean cuts in metal, wood and plastic.
DemoWolf – Engineered for rigorous demolition applications.
LumberWolf – Ideal for cutting through dense wood with nails.
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The blades are all made in the USA with global materials.
I had some questions for Lenox.
Why would a user buy these Lenox blades over competing blades, such as popular Diablo or Milwaukee offerings?
LENOX has over a century of cutting expertise, delivering solutions that make our end users more productive. LENOX invented the first bi-metal reciprocating saw blade in 1977 and is widely viewed as the leader in reciprocating saw blades. We have a range of blades that cover the common cutting applications as well as specialty blades for those specialty applications. In addition, users can find our blades in a wide range of distribution outlets not only in the US but also around the globe.
To be frank, I was hoping for a more technical or performance-focused answer, and while I don’t get that here, it comes in later, below.
How might these Lenox blades compare against existing Dewalt offerings?
Our LENOX & DEWALT reciprocating saw blades meet the needs of all professional end users. Our LENOX range features the new Wave Edge technology and covers slightly more applications than the DEWALT range.
Lenox and Dewalt are both Stanley Black & Decker companies, and so I was curious to see how the two brands’ blades would be positioned against each other.
Can Lenox elaborate upon the “revolutionary new tooth form design?”
Wave Edge technology’s unique cutting-edge geometry channels the power of the reciprocating saw into the cut, resulting in 50% longer life than prior generation LENOX.
I’m guessing this is the best we could hope for, given the proprietary nature of tooth geometries and cutting edge optimizations.
Lenox is “is redefining performance levels.” How? Please clarify if you can.
These new blades deliver up to 50% Longer Life vs. prior LENOX generation and we have a few performance videos on our YouTube channel that shows how they perform vs. the competition. The performance vs. the competition demonstrate what an end user will experience when using one of these new blades vs. other brands.
Alright, so let’s take a look at the results of Lenox’s internal comparative performance testing, which feature the Lenox Wave Edge reciprocating saw blades against Diablo and Milwaukee offerings.
Lenox 18 TPI Metal Cutting Blade vs. Competition
Cutting Test: 1″ SCH40 Black Pipe, 1850 SFM, 25 lbs downforce
Failure Mode: 1 cut at 45 seconds or 3 cut average at 60 seconds
Milwaukee 5184 Number of Cuts: 25
Diablo DS0614BF Number of Cuts: 61
Lenox 618R Number of Cuts: 300
From these results, Lenox says that their new 618R blade delivers up to 1100% more life compared to Milwaukee 5184, and 350% more life compared to Diablo DS0614BF reciprocating saw blades.
Lenox 24 TPI Metal Cutting Blade vs. Competition
Cutting Test: 1/2″ threaded rod, 1500 SFM, 25 lbs downforce
Failure Mode: 1 cut at 20 seconds or 3 cut average at 35 seconds
Milwaukee 5186 Number of Cuts: 150
Diablo DS0620BF Number of Cuts: 71
Lenox 624R Number of Cuts: 374
From these results, Lenox says that their new 624R blade delivers up to 140% more life compared to Milwaukee 5186, and 400% more life compared to Diablo DS0620BF reciprocating saw blades.
Lenox 10/14 TPI Multi-Purpose Cutting Blade vs. Competition
Cutting Test: 1-1/2″ SCH40 black pipe, 1800 SPM, 25 lbs downforce
Failure Mode: 1 cut at 60 seconds or 3 cut average at 90 seconds
Milwaukee 5091 Number of Cuts: 19
Diablo DS0614GBP Number of Cuts: 26
Lenox 650R Number of Cuts: 82
From these results, Lenox says that their new 650R blade delivers up to 300% more life compared to Milwaukee 5091, and 200% more life compared to Diablo DS0614GBP reciprocating saw blades.
Availability
“LENOX WAVE EDGE and RAPID PLUNGE products are now available in stores and online where LENOX products are sold.”
Here are some sample SKUs:
- MetalWolf – 20566618R
- MultiWolf – 20580810R
- DemoWolf – 20371966R5
- LumberWolf – 20582956R
I checked my local Lowe’s store and found that many of their Lenox bi-metal reciprocating saw blades feature the new Wave Edge technology. There are also still some older-style blades and sets.
For this kind of generational update/upgrade, I would suggest shopping in-person as opposed to buying online, to ensure you get the newer blades with up to 50% longer life.
Discussion
Interesting.
The new Lenox Wave Edge reciprocating saw blade tech didn’t sound too exciting from the start, but now they’ve got my attention.
“Up to 50% longer life” than select predecessor models sounds like an instant upgrade.
But, and not to put it indelicately, I don’t use Lenox reciprocating saw blades, I mainly use Milwaukee premium bi-metal and carbide-tooth blades, and certain Diablo blades when I find them on-sale at the home center.
Lenox’s testing performance seems very encouraging.
Have they convinced me to switch brands? No, but I’m at least open-minded. Lenox sent over a press kit, and I’ll be sure to give the blades a whirl.
I tend to treat bi-metal reciprocating saw blades as generally being interchangeable. But here, it looks like Lenox has a significant edge against both Diablo and Milwaukee.
See Lenox’s Testing Performance Videos
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Bruce
When I was in the trades, I always preferred to buy Lennox blades when I found them at the parts house. Seriously good stuff even 10 years ago. All kinds of crazy tasks fall to the sawzall when you are traveling in a van specialized for HVAC work.
Now I work in maintenance, I have a larger tool selection because I’m not limited to what I have in a van. The sawzall gets selected less and my milwaukee blades last almost forever. I can’t remember the last time to had to do more that 4 back to back cuts in black pipe and I didn’t reach for the bandsaw.
Jared
I recently engaged in a Project Farm-level reciprocating saw cutting project – cutting the top of a piece of railway track to make an anvil. A reciprocating saw was a poor choice of course, I knew that from the start but, while I have several grinders, they’re all 4.5″. While I started there, I quickly abandoned that option.
I wanted to cut straight across to make the top of the anvil flat – railway track is curved on top. That meant cutting through steel roughly 3.5″ wide and 14″+ long. I figured I would try those new Diablo “amped” blades I saw cut through a trailer hitch (https://toolguyd.com/diablo-amped-carbide-reciprocating-saw-blade-012021/).
You know what? It didn’t work that great. Not only is railway track thick, but I suspect it’s work-hardened from all the trains that drive over it.
I didn’t make it very far before the first blade stopped making any progress – maybe 2-2.5 inches – and it took FOREVER. The second blade did better as I decided to try “injecting” some cutting oil into the cut with my oiler can.
When that still didn’t get me to halfway, I bought some Milwaukee blades that were cheaper but still marked “thick metal” ( I want to say they were branded “Torch”, but I’d have to go check). They were noticeably better in my strange application, though still a long ways off what I saw demonstrated on YouTube.
From this project I learned that “thick metal”, as defined by a reciprocating saw blade, isn’t as thick as I expected. Diablo says theirs is intended for a maximum of 9/16″. Doesn’t that seem surprising when the blade is 9 inches long?
By the way, I’m not suggesting the Milwaukee blades are obviously better – my project just suggests they were better cutting super-thick hardened steel with cutting oil. They might behave a lot differently cutting more appropriate things.
TomD
There’s quite a bit of this, especially when trying to cut exotic or strange things – blades are developed for different materials and thicknesses – something that’s amazing at a given material and thickness may not work nearly as well as a different thickness.
Recip saws are limited by the “amount” of movement they can do, which can mean that for a piece of work that is LARGER than that they will eventually start clogging really easily. This is where things like water cutters and laser cutters start to appear.
I’ve also noticed that some blades will work decently well, but last nearly forever, and others work very very well, but quickly die, and some are in-between where they work well and degrade to “ok enough” but then stay there forever.
Stuart
The problem with cutting harder and thicker materials with a toothed blade is that you can end up scraping the material more than cutting or chipping away at it.
Bandsaws are often used for solid metal stock in machine shop, but I’m not sure if they would work as well for a railroad tie.
I imagine a 14″ handheld cut-off saw with appropriate blade is what’s used in the field to cut railroad tracks. Someone please correct me if this is wrong!
MM
Railroad tracks are very tough steel, they are a real bastard to drill/cut/etc. I’ve made anvils out of them before, you need some really serious iron (as in heavy machinery) to easily work rail ties. And removing the curved part from a length of rail is an extra specially crappy job. The first two times I did that on a manual surface grinder. Tedious but easy. Second two I made I was lucky enough to have a big vertical milling machine at my disposal so I just faced off the top, that took less than 30 seconds to make the cut but that’s a 24,000 lb machine with a 30hp spindle motor and a 7.5hp table feed motor so not so common….
A suitably heavy vertical bandsaw could do it too. Bolt angle plates to the saw table, clamp the rail to the angle plates so it’s held at 90 degrees to the table, then feed it thru. Same general idea as resawing boards.
JR Ramos
I thought most of it was done with a shear but they do have some special abrasive saws (and blades). There may be some information on the Warwood website but they do mostly hand tools (fantastic quality)…lots of specialty tools including for railworkers.
Martin
Railroad rail isn’t a particularly great anvil material to start with, taking off the work hardened surface off it makes it less so.
If that is all you have for an anvil, leave the crown. It makes drawing steel out easier anyway.
If you just gotta have it flat make friends with someone with a mill or surface grinder, your local blacksmith group is a good place to start.
Good luck.
Bob+Adkins
Jared, I think grinding the rail flat with an angle grinder instead of cutting would have been faster. The 3M Cubitron disks cut crazy fast and last amazingly long.
A carbide recipe saw blade may have held up longer, but I suspect would have still been slow.
Dave
Really interesting concept, I’d like to hear the actual engineers talk about the tooth profile rather than some random brand manager with a communications degree that put that release together. It would seem that the random size and orientation of the teeth would cause some teeth to initially take the brunt of the wear until they are worn down enough for the smaller and less optimally oriented teeth to take over.
Robert
Unfortunately engineers get muzzled because they are too likely to blurt out the truth. For example, take Lennox PR words above of:
“Wave Edge technology’s unique cutting-edge geometry channels the power of the reciprocating saw into the cut”
I’m sure engineers of all companies intend to channel the power of the recip saw into the cut. Where else would they want it to be channeled? The battery compartment?
BTW, the better Fisch forstner bits have wave edge technology, I wonder how close these lennox blades are to that, can’t tell from the photos.
Bonnie
The Fisch forstners just look like a fancy kind of serration. The teeth all appear to still be in line. This Lennox thing reminds me of those late-night infomercial kitchen knives that tout all sorts of miraculous properties and are shown sawing through drywall and cutting tomatoes.
Stuart
Me too, but there are times when even a couple of seemingly minor details can reveal too much proprietary information.
In this case, it didn’t seem productive to insist on more.
There’s always the potential for further exploration and conversations if readers are interested.
TomD
I was pleasantly surprised about the details you DID get.
Unless someone digs up a patent filing, I doubt we’ll get more. I haven’t seen any patent numbers on the pictures I’m finding.
Bob Adkins
If it’s the waves I’m thinking of, nearly every hacksaw blade has had them for decades. Not much to patent there.
Nathan
I used to always buy lenox recip or hacksaw blades. They were I suppose one of the big name brands and were consistent. I’m not all for buying carbide toothed ones or such as I notice the cost is very high. per blade and I expect that.
I don’t use enough to justify the extra cost. Of late I’ve cross shopped the other brands, used MK morse, and diablo, and others. I like Diablo for all my other blades – circ saw, table, mitre. I seem to use Bosch blades for my jig saw. etc.
I’m intrigued but I notice here these are only bimetal blades right – no carbide, etc.
And if I’m looking at it right is the wave down the length of the blade such that the teeth vere left to right of center. OR is the wave down the thickness of the blade such that the teeth go long and short from the bottom of the blade.
If the thickness bit then it would seem like you would purposely use the bottom wave teeth first – thus reducing your actual used tooth count. And therefore wear down the blade into the next set of teeth over and over. Not a bad idea for somethings.
MM
Like Stuart wrote, I largely consider recip blades to be interchangeable. For me the recip saw is usually one of the last tools I might consider for a cutting job. Nearly any other saw is more efficient and produces a better quality cut, so if at all possible I’m going to use a miter, circular, table, or bandsaw instead. If it’s for metalwork the same saws apply, plus there are pipe cutters, torches, and plasma cutters as well. If it’s for outdoor work a chainsaw, brushcutter, or even a manual pruning saw is nearly always preferable. The recip is the last choice when those tools won’t work for whatever reason. Because of that the recip saw often gets stuck doing jobs that are not very blade-friendly, like demolition tasks, where who knows what might end up striking the blade. I rarely wear out a recip blade, instead they fail by breaking or by having highly localized wear or broken teeth in one part of the blade, usually that closest to the shoe. For a time about 20 years ago I mainly concentrated on the Milwaukee Torch and Ax blades as those were standouts at the time but nowadays I find they’re not appreciably better than offerings from the other big names like Dewalt or Diablo. At this point I’m not very picky, over the years since I’ve used tons of brands and I haven’t noticed a huge difference between them. Now I’m sure things could be different for people doing the same repetitive tasks with their saws but my uses are random and varied, so I just try and make sure I have a good assortment of blade styles and lengths on hand.
Bob Adkins
Yep, my recip saw is always the tool of last resort. Yet, I find myself using it 2-3 times a month.
Franck B.
My experience has been that Lennox bimetal blades cut consistently for longer than Diablo and Bosch. IMO the Diablo/Bosch blades do tend to be initially sharper and will produce a nicer cut, if that’s what you’re after, but will degrade much quicker.
Whether it’s the appropriate tool for a job has a lot of factors, so I will leave it that the people on our worksites are making their own judgment calls correctly. I would rather talk about the new product and not if we should even be using it, since like most things I can’t possibly know all the factors that go into a decision on someone else’s issue. Someone out there has a legitimate use for things even if I don’t, and I can defer to their needs.
My crews go through a fair amount of reciprocating saw blades, mostly demo (removing stuff for remodeling, not tearing down houses as we farm that out because it’s not what we do and the recycling regulations are getting overly burdensome).
Bonnie
I’d be interested to know how fast the initial cuts compared in their testing, versus their cutoff point of a cut taking too long. Something tells me these might be slower at the start, given the changing angle, but perhaps remain more consistent through the life of the blade?
Call me cynical, but any time a company starts touting their own tests/data I’m looking for what they didn’t talk about.
MM
Agreed, especially with your last comment.
What’s especially confusing here is their standards for what determines failure….they appear arbitrary and different for every test. I can’t help but wonder if they kept cutting for far beyond the numbers quoted and then specifically chose failure criteria after the fact which made their blades stand out compared to the others. I want to see what the numbers look like if we double or halve the times mentioned for “failure mode”.
Stuart
Unfortunately they don’t show relative cutting speed in the videos, but you can pause the video to examine cutting angles. It appears that the conditions are kept the same for all three blades in each comparison series.
I am pretty sure Stanley Black & Decker’s legal team reviewed the presentation materials and claims to ensure it’s accurate and properly defensible.
If in doubt, they give the exact model numbers and testing conditions for anyone that wants to independently verify their claims. (I included them here for such purposes as well.)
MM
I’m sure the testing is legitimate. They clearly state the test conditions, and as you said I’m sure the legal team reviewed everything before allowing the claims to be made.
The question is whether or not the test conditions were arbitrarily chosen to skew the results one way or another. Perhaps the Lenox blades outperform the others when X pounds of force are used, while the others outperform Lenox when Y pounds are used instead.
Bonnie
I’m sure it’s accurate and technically (legally) honest, for the very specific claims they make. But we all know a lot of marketing is build on lies of omission and clever presentation.
As for angle, what I meant was the angle of the teeth relative to the body of the blade and the workpiece, and how that relative angle changes as the first teeth in each “wave” wear down.
Jared
Your comment about wearing out the blade closest to the shoe reminded me how I wish a power tool company would make a shoe with a wider range of adjustment. I suspect they don’t because it becomes a weak point if you’re leveraging off of it – plus reciprocating blades tend to flop around a bit, more so for the longer blades. Still, it would make my blades last a lot longer if they did.
Jared
Oops. I was trying to reply to MM, must’ve clicked the wrong spot.
MM
It’s frustrating that so many recip saws don’t have adjustable shoes. The first I ever bought was a corded Milwaukee Super Sawzall. It had an orbital function and an adjustable shoe. That was more than 20 years ago. Yet today when tool manufacturers are touting all sorts of improvements to their tools it’s still a relative rarity to find either of those features on today’s recip saws.
Stuart
If or when this happens, put a “placeholder” comment in the right spot (or simply copy and paste your existing comment – if it doesn’t give you a “duplicate comment” warning), and I’ll fix things up in the backend.
(Some commentors already do this on occasion, and the context clues me in as to which comment to keep. If you don’t want me guessing, include a note or mention somewhere.)
John+D
Is this really new? I remember seeing ‘wavy’ edges on saws for as long as I can remember.
MM
It seems that this blade is wavy in the same plane as the teeth of the saw, rather than the usual wave used for the saw set, at least that’s the impression I get looking at the photo. Or in other words, a normal saw blade is set with a “side to side” wave, while this appears to be wavy front-and-back.
If that’s the case, and if you’re cutting hard materials, then only some of the teeth will be in contact with the work rather than the whole length of the blade embedded in the cut. That should make the blade cut more aggressively since it is putting a higher load on each tooth (by removing some of the teeth from the cut). Those teeth will wear out faster, and as they do they will gradually expose other teeth which previously weren’t in contact with the work. It’s an interesting idea, I wonder how it will work.
Ct451
Many makers have similar. They resemble waves or some other repeatable pattern with some teeth forward and some held back. Some have more complex patterns with different sized teeth as well and some have more basic patterns like 1 big 1 small you wouldn’t call a wave.
I don’t think it needed a trademarked name but maybe they can tap into that elusive millennial market with it. Seems to work for Bosch’s “edge”.
MC617
Stuart- would love to see you expand to testing. I know you said once that you don’t like being on camera but I find there aren’t enough YouTube testers out there who are conducting their tests in methodical, data-backed ways.
Some of those that do – their videos feel more like paid advertisements (undisclosed) than subjective test and opinion. I think a lot of people would go to you and your collaborators first for that type of information given your subjective rep and engineering background.
Peace!
Stuart
The problem with comparative testing is that it takes a LOT of time, effort, and resources to eliminate potential compromises or the potential for doubt. This then has to be repeated for every tool type.
I can automate things to some degree, but the difference between manned and monitored testing requires space and an order in magnitude more in equipment.
So, let’s say we want to test recip saw blades. Consider cutting 1″ SCH40 black pipe pipe. Lenox’s test would have required close to 400 cuts. For consistency, you can’t just do 1 series, you would need to do at least 3, 5 is the sweet spot in my opinion, and 10 provides higher confidence. For the test repeated 3 times, that would be over 1,000 cuts, with tool and blade resets each time. I can create a more automated jig, but not quickly or inexpensively.
Then let’s say we want to test circular saws. Whether running one saw or multiple saws at the same, a controlled jig is going to take a lot of space. At media events, brands usually pull a saw through a stack of plywood, which works, but it requires a 10-foot footprint at the least. If you shorten the length for the sake of more manageable equipment, you then have to run through a lot more cuts.
Even simple things – battery runtime or performance endurance – are challenging. An 18V 2Ah 5-cell battery subjected to 15A continuous load (270W) requires a 300W electronic load. Okay. What about an 18V 5Ah battery with 10-cells? A 15A load can verify capacity.
The size of load required to push modern batteries to their limits runs $10K at the least, the last time I checked. How much amperage might a high performance tool draw from a 10-cell 27100 form factor 8Ah battery? 15-cell 12Ah battery? The new stacked lithium batteries?
When testing accessories, you can use the same tool with rest periods in between, or simultaneously, which requires 3X the test jig and setup cost.
When testing drill performance, YouTubers like to couple two models together and have them fight to see which over-torques the others. What I would do is setup a magnetic brake or other controllable load. There are ways to create mechanical loads, but repeatability and control end up upping the complexity.
It costs a lot to do things right.
What’s the goal, to be able to say “this is the one you should buy?”
After everything, what might the data show? If one blade style lasts 25% longer, is that the best one to recommend? But then the slightly shorter-lasting blade can often be found at the home center in promotional packs that drop the per-blade cost by 40% in comparison…
Broad comparative testing is a “if/when I ever have an industrial space” goal. I can work in narrow-scope comparative testing on occasion, such as if a tool brand funds/backs my efforts, or a reader has a specific question such as “which 3/4″ bit drills holes faster in 2x materials?”
Tim D.
Maybe collaborate with project farm on YouTube?
Stuart
If I or a friend knew him personally? Maybe?
His approach works great for him, but probably not so much for me. My approach would work great for me, but probably not so great for him.
Tim D.
I could see that. I don’t really agree with all his tests and methods, but sometimes its pretty interesting and valuable info that comes out of it.
Tim D.
I won’t be buying any Lenox blades based on my recent experience with their hole saw. Possibly the worst hole saw I’ve ever used.
Bob
Can you elaborate? Teeth dull too quick or ???
Genuinely curious as I am the exact opposite. I only buy Lenox and not Milwaukee hole saws. Recip blades I prefer Lenox or Diablo if I need carbide. I was concerned when Stanley bought Lenox you never know what’s going to happen to quality levels after new ownership. I have found Lennox quality levels to be the same if not better. Hopefully you just got a lemon and this is not a precursor to QC problems.
I find the threaded mounting location on the Milwaukee hole saw to consistently be out of alignment causing the hole saw to wobble. I do find that all brands hole saws seem to be less precise than they used to be years ago. I had a set of Lenox (sadly long used up) that was almost machine shop precision.
dave
All these fancy graphs on how long it will last and how great the blade is.
I have stumps and roots of ancient hedge I am removing. I dig around the hedge stumps and using the best available 3 TPI 9 inch pruning blades, take the roots out below grade. It is working out to one blade per large hedge and does not seem to matter what brand; Diablo or Milwaukee. At the end of one stump the blade is destroyed. I will try the 3 pack from harbor freight as 3 blades at HG are the same price as a single Diablo or Milwaukee ($9).
Side note, it’s cheaper than renting a stump grinder.
Stuart
Stumps and roots are brutal on blades, and pruning blades are the best one can hope for with a reciprocating saw.
I learned this the hard way too.
Wood demo blades work on smaller diameter branches and roots, but not on thicker stump-like masses or giant root balls.
MM
Yep, all that grit from the dirt and sand embedded in the roots is really what kills the blades. I would expect that a good demolition blade, especially one with carbide teeth, would outlast a pruning blade. Pruning blades are usually fleam-filed, that makes them very sharp which is great for cutting green wood, but it also means they are fragile and get dull a lot faster.
Or if you have access to a chainsaw consider using that with a carbide chain.
Bob
I also definitely recommend carbide for roots. Had to dig out a massive maple stump. I used the longest carbide blade Diablo makes. They’re pricey but man do they work. Hacked away for an entire weekend on that one blade. Still had some life left in it when I was done.
Stuart
You would think that – and I did too – but no.
I wrecked demo blades before switching to pruning blades. A few months later I saw Milwaukee advertising pruning blades for just that purpose. I spoke to a product manager at one of the recent Pipeline events, and they confirmed that the pruning blades will work better.
Part of this is due to the abrasiveness of dirt, clay, sand, minerals, rock fragments, and everything else that you might be cutting through or past.
Pruning blades also have a coarser tooth profile with larger carbide points (at least when comparing carbide-tipped blades) and deeper gullets.
It can be beneficial to try both and see what works better for different applications.
Frank D
Chainsaw chains are too expensive to dig in the dirt with.
I am a very strong proponent of DIY tree trimming and stump removal with a reciprocating saw. Blades in the dirt or going through roots without much excavation is a recipe for dull blades. I can’t guess the number of times I have tried to make cuts and dulled a chain or blade on an embedded wire, screw, pebbles, stones, … so when it comes to stumps I always try to dig out and around a little, then wash most of the dirt off with a hose, … I have trenched around stumps that way out of necessity when there was no option for stump grinder access. Tedious. But anyhow. Recipricating saw works a treat and pretty much guarantees quiet and safe work, without the need to suit up.
Blades. I have a pack of inexpensive 12″ pruning blades. I keep the old ones with dull fronts for branches, may touch up the front teeth a tick with a grinder, …
I have bought expensive long diablo blades but while probably great for framing, they were too aggressive for solid damp brances and especially roots … they jammed in place repeatedly and there goes your wrist and lower arm before you can let go of the trigger.
Bob Adkins
I used to think that about chainsaws. If you have 1 big stump, you can rent a stump grinder for $200-$300 a day, or hire it done for $500-700. Or, use your chainsaw and replace the bar and chain for $60. Hey, it was time to replace that bar and chain anyway, right? 🙂
Frank D
Great deal.
Now, I have rented a couple stump grinders before. Small one. Medium one. When I have a bunch of them to do.
Just that with the 1 stump that has to go, I’m looking at $45 chains and $45 bars … if the price hasn’t gone up. Professional sharpening is $20 each. And it only takes a couple embedded pebbles and stones stuck between growing roots, or under them where you can’t see them, even if you’ve been blowing sand and dirt away with a leaf blower … to dull a chain within seconds.
Bob Adkins
I had 11 stumps to grind, so I bought a stump grinder for $1500. As soon as I finished, I put it up for sale. some guy drove 90 miles and paid me $1400 for it.
Had to say this, sorry for the off-topic!
Smokey+McPott
Lenox is one of those brands that has been around for like 100+ years and has steady been top tier,,, but it seems they just fell to the wayside in recent years, im guessing due to distribution issues/ability to get their products in the right stores,,, as well as a lack of advertisement and branding.. their one of those brands your grandfather swore by, and your father grew up / learned on but forgot the name as he got older lol…
but i know in my case, i grew up on the older solid af Craftsman tools, and then Irwin and Lenox blades and saws and accessories… lenox makes sone of my fav self feed bits, and i still to this day use their jigsaw n recip blades when i can find them (cuz theres not a store within 50 miles of here that stocks em)… and ordering of the internet is tricky cuz they have so many variations and iterations of blades and diff types,,, like they used to do curved recip blades,,, and they also used to use gold on the teeth lol…but if u order sumn online, chances are its not the exact model depicted…
Buuut,, their most recent lineups,,, their demo-ct (wood carbide) and laser-ct (metal carbide) blades, honestly to me are dead on perfect match copies of Diablos carbides blades,, thier bigger taller, thick af, have nearly the same teeth structures, and cut the same.. just they are painted a dope shiny silver haaa.. i love lenox ,but its just finding them can be tuff, and usually their a bit pricy,, but in my 20+years theyve always been worth it.
theyce got a diamond gritted recip blade for ceramic n cast iron,, thats DOUBLE TANGED!! lol so once one end wears out, u can flip it around n use up the other half! lol
I mean that should be all the incentive ya need lol
but forreal,,, imma have to hunt these down and check em out,, anyone know if these are just bi metal or are they carbide tipped or anything??? cuz im a bit skeptical that a thicker bi metal blade can do all that noise…
Stuart
Bi-metal.