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I'm jig-happy this week, and now, while I'm waiting for a few parts for my binding jig to show up, I'm building a jig to cut the slots for sides in a standard (meaning not wedge or double wedge) classical heel. I'm looking for a table saw blade that produces a kerf in the neighborhood of 2mm. My 7.25" 40 tooth Diablo comes in under that, at a hair under 1.8mm. My ferrous metal Diablo is much bigger - 2.6mm (and will probably be my saddle slot cutting blade henceforth).

Anyone know off hand what blade comes in right around 2mm?

_________________
Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

The Tenryu "PT" series has an assortment of blades with .79" kerfs.
http://www.tenryu.com/pt.html
No experience with this particular series but should equal or exceed the Freud. Their Gold series and versions of the Festool blades I have used are outstanding. Free shipping until December 31 here:

http://tenryusawblades.com/ is offering FREE Shipping on any order thru December 31, 2010. This site is under NEW ownership and is an authorized “Internet Partner” for Tenryu USA. You will find a Toll Free number on the site for you to discuss expert saw blade recommendations. Please enter the word “free” in the coupon box. Your consideration is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,

Tenryusawblades.com

Howdy Jim,
I'm still a lurker, haven't built a guitar yet, but I just checked my table saw blade, a 40 tooth carbide Matsushita(~8"). I cut a saw kerf and it mic'd at 2.06mm. It's an old blade, that been sharpened several times, and needs to be sharpened now, but it's probably close new. It's an off the shelf blade around here at your "better" tool emporiums.

Good luck, benny

No real need to buy a new blade (unless you really want to). Your 1.8mm should suffice. You can enlarge the slots a touch with an abrasive glued to something like a thick(ish) cabinet scraper. That and/or thinning the end of the rib should suffice.

Thanks for the heads up on the Tenryu blades.

I found several 8" blades on the Freud site that have 0.083" kerfs, or about 2.11 mm. A little heavier than I'd like. Strangely, the Freud site does not seem to have any info on 7-1/4" blades. What's with that? (Correction - just needed to hit the Diablo link down at the bottom of the page. Nothing in the right size range, though)

Michael - I've been doing the same when sawing by hand - cutting the slot with my ryoba and then widening. I was trying to avoid doing that all over after spending the effort to jig up. The existing blade will probably serve for very lightly constructed guitars, though.

_________________
Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Oh I wouldn't call 1.8mm lightly built, especially when you consider how thin some of the old makers (like Torres) went. Thinning the inner end of the rib is the way many Spanish makers get the rib to fit the slot.
Widening the slot is a pain if you have to do much more than 0.1mm. A combination of thinning the rib and widening the slot is a perfectly acceptable practice.
A good hand tool method is to laminate 2 saw blades together. I used 2 fine cut hardpoint saws with a thin veneer epoxied inbetween. You have to remove some of the set from the outer teeth otherwise the 'saw' wobbles too much in the kerf.
Many ways to do it.

Yeah, you're right. I don't think I'll do 1 mm sides anytime soon though.

_________________
Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu