I swore off the $22 Forrest saw blade for years, then a cabinet maker in Tulsa handed me one
I always bought the cheapest 10 inch combo blade at the box store, like 3 for $30, and just swapped them out when they got dull. Two months ago a guy I share a shop with in Tulsa handed me his $22 Forrest and told me to try it on a batch of oak face frames. I got through the whole run with almost no tear out and didn't touch sandpaper, where my cheap blades would have left me chipping the edges for an hour. I still think $22 sounds crazy for one blade, but I'm not going back to the 3 pack. Anyone else finally cave on a blade and wish they'd done it sooner?
Noticed the same thing with kitchen knives, where one good $40 chef knife beats a drawer full of cheap ones that never hold an edge. It seems like we talk ourselves into the cheap stuff because the upfront price feels safer, then we pay for it over and over in time and frustration. Cheap tools usually just mean you buy them twice.