A blade-type tensioner for chain drives which is suitable for use as a tensioner on the timing chain of a motor vehicle engine. The present invention is a chain tensioner particularly suited for use in confined spaces having a blade spring element mechanically interlocked with a plastic shoe. The shoe may be of rigid filled nylon and engages the chain to be tensioned. The spring element is interlocked to the plastic shoe by having ends inserted into grooves formed in the opposite ends of the shoe. The shoe is rotatably fixed to a base by way of a pin. The groove at the fixed end of the shoe extends towards the tip of the fixed end of the shoe past the pin attachment point. The groove at the free end of the shoe extends toward the tip of the free end of the shoe past the point at which the free end of the shoe bears upon a sliding surface formed on the base.