Diminishing Returns?

Kind of a tough question. I run a sharpening service, a 40t is $10 ($.25 a tooth). I fear the day of the professional sharpener is going away. You can go to the "big box" and buy a 2 pack of new carbide blades for $15 on sale, right there at the checkout by the chewing gum. They are cheap imported junk and you will throw them away in a year once they dull...or take a quality blade to a service and "reinvest" in your good ones.
I guess it is a personal preference thing. You have to consider your time too, what do you make in the hour you take it to the shop? Do the cheaps ones produce in the hours you spend using them ? Or do they let you down.
I have sharpened 30 (?) year old carbide blades that I wish the fellers would have forgot they dropped off here :yes:, cause I don't know were to get one that good. I have sharpened "new" ones that I personally would have pitched (or never bought in the first place new)
I guess I would have to vote towards the higher ends blades and a good sharpening service, in the long run I think that is the best investment.

Points are well taken.

But I don't have a woodworking shop per say. Because of my occupation, my shop has to be mobile, i.e. fit into my capped p/u and ready to roll. So, I use a Bosch transportable saw with folding stand and built-in infeed/outfeed supports. I also have a very inexpensive Ryobi 10" table saw for those times when I simply have to rough cut old used wood with no finesse at a job. One hidden nail or screw remnant and the blade's a goner. So, I can't afford to put $100 - $200 top-end blades on my saws. Given that the Bosch is a cast aluminum saw with a fairly decent fence and a pretty small table, cabinetry and fine woodworking are pretty much out of the question. And so, buying a really hi-quality $$$ blade is possibly just overkill. Perhaps buying less expensive blades and simply changing them out and discarding them when they become dull is the practical and economic way for me to go.