Tenryu Goldmedal

[rjwaldren]

There's a local hardware store that is the king in my area. They've been there since time began are garanteed to have any obscure part you are looking for. I was in there the other day and saw 2 Tenryu Goldmedal 40T blades for $36 each - I didn't think at the time to check the part number.

Here's the question, they look like they've been there a while but are in sealed factory packaging. Are all Gold Medals equal? I mean is the Gold Medal made today the same Gold medal of yester-year?

[Knottscott]

Dunno of any changes to the GM in the past few years, but that doesn't mean there aren't any. That's a great price for those blades....I highly suggest you get both, keep one and sell one to someone else who needs a deal. Note that the GM is a "mid kerf" blade at 0.118"....not quite full (0.125"), and thicker than a TK (~ 0.98").

[rjwaldren]

Yeah, I saw them and thought there must be several in the lineup and this was the low end model. Then I checked and saw that Tenryu only list one 40T in the gold medal series. I fully intend to clean them out, I won't feel too bad about it as I haven't noticed any local people posting here.

[rjwaldren]

I was mistaken they are GM-25540s but were $56.00 each. Still a great deal though, Amazon is currently $88

[Knottscott]

I was mistaken they are GM-25540s but were $56.00 each. Still a great deal though, Amazon is currently $88

I think you might have been right the first time...AFAIK, the Gold Medal is the "GM" 25540. It's the RS25540 that is their $40 "Rapid Cut" 40T blade. It'll say "Gold Medal" right on the front....take a look.

[rjwaldren]

Oh, they are definitely Gold Medals, I was just thought I was missing something since they were $36.00. What ended up being wrong was the 3 was actually a 5 - $56.00.

I had a little more time to dig around today and found Oshlan, Leitz and Freud Industrial mixed in there. Some for good prices others not so good. I'm just happy to find a local supplier that has some decent stuff. The big boxes have driven all but this one good hardware store out. This is one of those places that you can vaguely describe some obscure bit of a long forgotten machine and the old man behind the counter pretty much pulls one out of his pocket before your done speaking. I can never find anything there, but they know exactly where it is.

[Knottscott]

Yeah...sorry I missed the price difference. That's still a pretty nice deal if you're ever considered one. You're lucky to have a good supplier with good prices locally...

[Holbren]

I can tell you $56 is a great deal for those blades. That dealer couldn't buy them for that today and unlike Forrest, you will not see the Amazon frenzy of the week. Tenryu just doesn't operate like that blowing out product to hit quotas or whatever the reason so pricing is stable.

The Gold Medal is one of the few blades still made in Japan so I would bet the ones you're looking at are every bit as good as what you would buy today.