Forrest makes a clean sweep in the awards ceremonies. Their Woodworker II took top honors in Fine Woodworking Magazines run off of blades. Close behind was the Freud at a quarter of the cost. Excellent for both blades on smoothness of cut, but the Forrest earned an excellent on tearout, whereas the Freud earned a very good. Well I bought both, and found the Freud to cut a surface so smooth that it was glass like. If I was going to put a finish on it, I would rough it up with 200 grit to improve the adhesion, it was that smooth. Also the Freud had absolutely no tear out, not even a little bit. Perfect is the word here. So why did I buy the Forrest Woodworker II also? Because everybody was raving about it. Forrest makes great products.