Tenryu Gold Medal General Purpose Blade Kerf

[Matt Meiser]

I was all set to order one of these based on rave reviews. Then I noticed that Holbren lists them as having a 0.111 kerf. Part of the reason I was going to buy a new blade was to upgrade from my WWII thin kerf I've had for years. If correct, this is right smack between the thin and full kerf WWII in thickness. And it still means I have to keep track of my ZCI's kerfs. It also means more complicated math when I want to add or subtract the blade thickness to/from a measurement.

Anyone with this blade want to comment on whether they've found the kerf difference to cause them any problems in practice?

[lowell holmes]

I have the Tenryu and WWII blades. My Tenryu is 8-9 years old. I'm not aware of any difference with the kerfs between thw two blades. My new Frued Avanti is thinner and really a good performer. It was a $20 special.:)

[Mike Henderson]

I have the Tenryu Gold medal and never had any problems. The school uses that blade (as well as others) and I was impressed with the cut so I bought one myself. Reminds me that I need to clean mine.

Mike

[john bateman]

I have one of their less expensive blades. The in-between kerf size was more a problem for the splitter or riving knife, especially those Micro JIG splitters. If/when you switch between blades. the splitter will either be the wrong width, or in the incorrect position. With those Micro JIG versions, being off a few thousanths of an inch can cause them to bind.
http://www.microjig.com/images/products/mj-splitter/design/mainmjsplitter.png

[Brian Gumpper]

Here is a link to the tenryu site, it is .111"

http://tenryu.com/gm.html

[scott spencer]

The kerf of the GM is 0.111", it's not just Brian's website. That could be a problem for full kerf splitters, and will definitely widen a thin kerf ZCI. It was ok with a thin kerf splitter.

Holbren also has the Ridge Carbide TS2000 in a TK for the same price as the GM. The two blades cut fairly comparably...both in the same league as the WWII IMO, but I honestly have a slight preference for the TS2000. That preference could be due to the impression the thicker carbide leaves, or could even be due to having a slightly easier feed rate from the thinner kerf. He's also got the CMT line now.

[Matt Meiser]

I saw that Ridge Carbide as well but was leaning towards the Tenryu because I've heard a lot of good things about it until I noticed this.

Last weekend I dropped my Amana blade that I had bought as a backup and definitely damaged a few teeth and probably some others. Since my WWII is going on 8 years old, I figure I'll keep it as the backup and get a new primary blade. My plywood blade is a 0.125 kerf and I've managed over time to screw up and run it through my TK insert. Since I'm buying a new blade, one thing I'm considering to be "mandatory" is that it be matching kerf.

[Thomas S Stockton]

I was curious and took my dial indicator and measured my saw blades. only two were the same thickness because they were the same model. I think if you measure your blades you'll probably find they are not exactly .125. Mine ranged from .120 for a combo blade to .150 for a rip blade. I didn't include my Tenyru or a thin kerk I have.
I think you'll be happy with a Tenyru they seem to be very high quality blades for a fair price.
Tom