Howden's standard white worktops, harder than tc

[mr edd]

Just wondering if anyone else has used these work tops, i don't expect much from Howden's so i only use them for jobs where the customer has a restricted budget, in this case a quick tart up of the annex kitchen of a large house before sale, but i was not expecting them to trash about £100 worth of new blades and cutters (bought in the last week)in about 4 cuts

After the first cut with a brand new trend kitchen worktop bit the second deeper pass was more difficult, i inspected the cutter and found chips out of the blade, changed to the second brand new bit 2 more passes, finished the cut. Cut the male part smoke juddering second bit burnt and 2nd straight router bit now a serrated.

Cut the male top to length and got a smooth clean cut with a brand new Festool TS 75 blade, did the second cut, turned work top over and laminate chips central. Tried again cut quality on par with my recip saw, blade is now in a worse condition than the blade it replaced which has been used every other day at least for 6months.

I have fitted a shed load of worktops and i have never had this experience.
I know the capabilities of the tools and do not try to stretch them for the sake of a few minutes on price or one less cut.
I could not see anything in the chipboard beyond the normal that might have caused such tungsten tipped carnage.

There were no staples i had missed, my trestles are lined with new sacrificial soft wood and i am extremely careful not to contaminate my materials with grit/crud poor handling/storage etc.


I will speak to the howden's rep.....................
I have to cut out a sink and hob tomorrow, one more worktop join .......................

 

[Lons]

I haven't had a problem especially with Howdens tops and like you fitted hundreds but there are often bits of metal and other rubbish in the chipboard used.
One of my mates told me he hit something which sparked badly and had a mini explosion when some sawdust ignited. Was only a split second but he got a hell of a fright.

 

[mr edd]

Hi Lons,

Thanks for your feedback, i had a close look this morning at some of the off cuts and bits of something in the chipboard caught the light and there appears to be flecks of green, white and blue plastic in there as well, could not see so much in yesterday afternoon light, took some site lights today.
I guess i must have been pretty lucky up to now, then had all my rubbish worktops in one hit!!! Glad to know it not just me tho.
As i said i generally don't buy from Howden's.
Most of the tops i use come from a local kitchen company and are of excellent quality, but this time the customers budget was the deciding factor

I have bought some cheaper trend blades to go in my makita battery (rough as a badgers .... saw) to make the last two cuts knowing they will be probably written off :roll:

I cant afford a new festool blade to do each and every cut.