"Mike Ballard" wrote in message
...

I have a 14" closed-base Jet bs (bought a few years ago), cool blocks, no
riser.

Ditto.

I have a 1/2" (6 tpi I think) Suffolk blade.

Mine was 3tpi from Suffolk.

blade's tips definitely feel sharper than the Suffolk's (so I don't know
if that means it's time to replace the Suffolk).

I happened to have a 1/2" WoodSlicer available, when I was having trouble.
Things improved greatly with a new blade. Dunno what to expect on BS blade
life either, but cutting got substantially easier when I swapped in a new
blade.