I rip a lot of 2 1/4" hardwood and I have ripped thousands of feet of it before I needed the blade to be sharpened. Because it is a thin kerf ATB blade it will try to follow the grain on thick hardwood if you push the wood through too fast, but overall it is a good blade. For the money though the Freud LU87R010 is a better blade. You can sharpen the LU87R010 more times, because of the large size of carbide teeth it has. The LU87R010 is just a more professional blade.