165mm circular saw blade buying guide
Updated: October 2026
You have an 18 V circular saw or a small plunge saw, and the listing says 165 x 20 without agreeing with itself. A thickness cell can repeat the bore, a thin claim can hide the kerf, and a 24-tooth framing blade is a different purchase from an 80-tooth fine blade. This 165mm circular saw blade buying guide orders the checks that stop a loose seat and a chipped face: diameter and bore, then teeth, then a kerf in millimetres, then whether a 16 mm ring is in the box. The twelve-row table is the [main comparison of 165 x 20 mm blades](/hub/saw-accessories/saw-blade-165x20).
You have an 18 V circular saw or a small plunge saw, and the listing says 165 x 20 without agreeing with itself.
You have an 18 V circular saw or a small plunge saw, and the listing says 165 x 20 without agreeing with itself. A thickness cell can repeat the bore, a thin claim can hide the kerf, and a 24-tooth framing blade is a different purchase from an 80-tooth fine blade. This 165mm circular saw blade buying guide orders the checks that stop a loose seat and a chipped face: diameter and bore, then teeth, then a kerf in millimetres, then whether a 16 mm ring is in the box. The twelve-row table is the main comparison of 165 x 20 mm blades.
Our top picks
| Badge | Product | Teeth | Kerf | 16 mm ring | Note | Price | Offer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best overall |  DeWalt DeWalt 24T framing blade | 24 | Thin, no millimetre | Not listed | 6.7 | about £11.55 | View offer |
 Saxton Saxton 80T fine blade | 80 | 2.0 mm, plate 1.4 mm | Bullet and components line | 9.2 | about £13.99 | View offer | |
| Best value |  Saxton Saxton 60T wood blade | 60 | 2.0 mm, plate 1.4 mm | Bullet and components line | 9.0 | about £11.99 | View offer |
On this page
Diameter and bore before anything else
Match 165 mm and the bore before you compare tooth counts. Compel’s size chart treats 165 mm with a 20 mm bore as a typical size for an 18 V saw. Your arbor is either 20 mm, in which case the blade should sit without a bush, or smaller, usually 16 mm, in which case you need a reducing ring meant for that step. A 15.88 mm arbor, the old 5/8 inch size, is a different bore. A 20 mm hole on that shaft will not centre itself because the numbers are close.
Selco’s DART 20 mm to 16 mm ring is 1.1 mm thick, and the page tells you not to use a ring if the flange is less than 5 mm larger than the original bore. The ring must stay no thicker than the plate.
Tooth count for the material
Tooth count follows the face you care about. Compel’s table puts about 24 teeth on ripping and framing, and 60 to 80 teeth on plywood and laminate. xcatalogue’s UK guide puts 24 to 40 teeth on softwood, 48 to 60 on plywood, and 60 to 80 on laminate. Those bands are buying rules of thumb, not a test we ran on your saw.
A 24-tooth blade takes a larger chip and asks less of a cordless motor on carcass timber. An 80-tooth blade takes a smaller chip on a veneer or melamine face, and it can scorch if you push too slowly. Forty and 48 teeth sit in the middle. How the two poles behave is the 24-tooth versus 60-tooth comparison.
Kerf, plate, and cells that disagree
Kerf is the width of the slot the teeth cut. The plate is the steel disc inside that slot. A riving knife, on a saw that has one, has to be thicker than the plate and thinner than the kerf, or the wood pinches. Compel quotes a thin kerf around 1.5 to 1.8 mm as the cordless-friendly band. Do not copy a bench-saw gap onto the handheld saw in your hands.
Only two listings in this set state a kerf under 2 mm you can compare: the Saxton thin 80-tooth at 1.5 mm kerf and 1.0 mm plate, and the HARDWIN 24-tooth at 1.8 mm kerf and 1.3 mm body. DeWalt’s framing blades say thin and give no millimetre. A thickness cell that says 20 mm on a 20 mm bore blade is repeating the hole, not measuring the plate.
Ring, pack, and maximum speed
DeWalt’s single blades in this set do not list a 16 mm ring. Saxton listings, Trend bullets where they state a ring, HARDWIN, and Tech Traders do mention one, though some pages then contradict the included-components line. If the bullet says a ring and the components line says blade only, open the bag before the first cut. One Tech Traders buyer in the stored UK reviews had no ring and could not fit the blades.
In this amazon.co.uk set only the BATIOPV listing states a speed, 9,500 rpm. Compel’s chart puts a 165 mm blade near 9,300 rpm at 80 m/s. That is their chart, not a legal limit. Confirm the saw is 165 mm, not a 160 mm plunge saw that only looks close.
Common questions
What do I check before tooth count?
Check the diameter and the bore first. A 165 mm blade with a 20 mm hole only belongs on a saw built for that size. If your arbor is 16 mm, you need a reducing ring, and the flanges still have to clamp the plate. Tooth count comes after the blade can sit on centre.
Will a 20 mm bore fit my saw?
It fits a 20 mm arbor directly. On a 16 mm arbor it fits only with a 20-to-16 mm ring that is no thicker than the plate. It does not fit a 15.88 mm arbor just because the numbers are near each other. DeWalt’s singles in this set do not list a ring, so you supply one if the saw needs it.
How many teeth for plywood on a 165 mm blade?
Use a fine blade, in the 48 to 80 tooth band these UK guides describe, rather than a 24-tooth framing blade. xcatalogue puts plywood around 48 to 60 teeth and laminate around 60 to 80. A 24-tooth blade can still cut the sheet, but the chip is larger.
What is kerf, and why does the thickness cell disagree?
Kerf is the width of the cut. The plate is narrower than the kerf. On the DeWalt 24-tooth listing the thickness cell says 20 mm, which is the bore again, not a 20 mm plate. Treat only a stated kerf in millimetres as the slot width.
Which listings include a 16 mm ring?
Saxton, HARDWIN, and Tech Traders mention a 16 mm ring, and some Trend bullets do too. The DeWalt singles do not. Even when a bullet mentions a ring, the included-components line sometimes says the blade only. Check the bag.
Is thin kerf worth it on a cordless saw?
A narrower slot removes less wood, which is why Compel talks about 1.5 to 1.8 mm on cordless saws. It is worth it when the listing states those millimetres and your riving knife, if you have one, sits between plate and kerf. Thin with no number is not the same claim.
Related pages
Sources
Sources from the research digest. amazon.co.uk prices, stars, and review counts are the listing lines captured on 15 October 2026.
- amazon.co.uk listings for these 165 x 20 mm blades, 15 October 2026 (retrieved 15 October 2026)
- HSE WIS16, circular saw benches (retrieved 15 October 2026)
- HSE, circular rip saws (retrieved 15 October 2026)
- Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (retrieved 15 October 2026)
- BS EN 847-1:2017, marking of circular saw blades (retrieved 15 October 2026)
- Compel, circular saw blade size chart (retrieved 15 October 2026)
- Saxton, TCT reduction rings (retrieved 15 October 2026)
- Selco, DART reducing ring 20 mm to 16 mm (retrieved 15 October 2026)