Standard or thin kerf

[Kevin Gagne]

I am getting ready to buy a Grizzly G1023SL and want to also get a good quality blade for it. I am looking at the Forrest Woodworker II. I see they have a .1 and .125 kerf model. Which one would you recommend? In the past I have bought mainly thin kerf blades but other than making it slightly easier for the motor to turn the blade through wood and wasting a little less wood what is the advantage of the thin kerf?

Thanks -Kevin

[Sean Kinn]

I have a thin kerf on my Uni (already had it from my BT3100) but wish I had the standard kerf just to have the more standard width for ease of calculations and stuff.

[Jim Becker]

I suggest a "standard" 1/8" kerf blade for any saw outside of a direct drive benchtop machine.

[Jeff Duncan]

The thin kerf can be handy of your saw is underpowered. Personally though I like the thicker .125 kerf. I still have 1/2 dozen or so thin blades from my pre-unisaw days and they just bug me. Nothing drastic but I just prefer the standard kerf.
good luck,
JeffD

[jerry nazard]

Kevin,

I'll toss in 0.02 for the standard kerf. Also, a plug for the Freud Premier Fusion blade. I like using the Forrest WWII although I do not own one. I did pick up a new Fusion blade when they first came out, and have found it to be an excellent all-purpose blade.

Best!

-Jerry

[jason lambert]

Grate blade that is what I use. Standard kerf will not flex under pressure thin can flex at least this is what I am told. Go for the standard if you have the power.

[scott spencer]

I'm a fan of high quality TK's for smaller saws, but I'd definitely go full kerf for your saw. The advantage of the thin kerf is less feed resistance and less waste. The disadvantage of the TK is more tendency to flex, but is a characteristic I haven't experienced with blades at the quality of the Forrest using flat stock. The added resistance of the full kerf should be a non-issue with your new saw. The waste factor depends on how much you'll be cutting and how expensive it is...it's pretty minescule savings for most of us.

The Forrest is a good blade, but so are the Infinity Super General and Combomax, Freud Fusion, Ridge Carbide, and Tenryu Gold Medal. If you cut alot of hardwood, I'd also suggest giving the 30T WWII (http://www.epinions.com/content_384567447172) some serious consideration instead of the 40T if you go with the WWII.

[glenn bradley]

A recent test rated the TK just slightly better than the standard WWII. The 1023 (3HP?) should run a standard blade no problem. My sub-2HP prefers a TK blade and that is all I run. There is no problem with flex in any of the quality blades. There are of course poor TK blades and folks who buy them. . . don't be this guy ;-)

I also find task specific blades (RIP and Crosscut) to do better at their specific jobs than any GP blade trying to do it all. I run WWII, Freud, Lietz and others. All do well for me at their designed tasks.

[Mike Wilkins]

Personal opinion only here. I believe the thin kerf blades were developed for the benchtop or job-site tablesaws with anemic motors, to aid in moving through a cut. I tried a thin kerf blade on my Unisaw and found it gave me a lot of funky vibration.
Switched to a full (.125) kerf blade and the vibes went away. And I believe the extra meat is needed when cutting a thick hardwood.
If I remember the machine you are getting blades for has a 3 HP motor,and should have no problem with a full kerf blade.
Stay safe and watch those fingers.