Tenryu Gold Medal Series saw blade

[Bill Winter]

I purchased what I believed to be a full kerf version of this blade on ebay. It turns out it's a .111" kerf instead of full kerf. It has not yet been delivered. I can return it (because it was misrepresented) and before I do I want to get a few opinions about using full kerf vs the .111" kerf. I'm also toying with the idea of buying a Forrest WWII, which I used to have and (stupidly) sold.

[George Yetka]

I have a thin Kerf I use to rip sometimes. I use it with a stabilizer. The stabilizer balances the blade but you lose height of blade.

There are many good blades out there. I have the ww2. I also like Ridge carbide blades.

[Aaron Inami]

I think the biggest issue with using a thin kerf blade is the requirement to re-adjust your rip fence guide and/or any cross-cut/miter fence guides. I have read comments that people like thin kerf blades because it "takes away less material", but you are looking at about a 1/64" difference and I don't think that matters much.

Thin kerf may require less HP motor because it's chopping away less material. I have seen blades as thin as 2.4mm (0.0944").

George may have a good point on blade stabilizing. The thinner kerf blades could have a tendancy to wobble or flex under load. This could lead to a less accurate cut.

[Mike Henderson]

I've used Tenryu blades and they've been good blades. Ridge also makes good blades.

Mike