Blade Locking up when Cutting Hard Maple

[William Burgess]

I am cutting some 1-3/4" Hard Maple on my G0715P saw for some end grain cutting boards. Twice during cutting strips from the wood, the blade would just stop in the middle of the cut. I usually have to back the wood out a little until the blade starts spinning again, then push it through. I feed the wood at a steady rate, not too fast, but not slow and am using a pretty new Forest WoodWorker II. The motor is only 2 hp, my guess is that with a slightly larger motor I would not have any issues. I have not experienced this while using this saw for about 1 year now, but this is the first time I have cut wood this thick on the table saw. What do you guys think?

Thanks,
William

[Mike Heidrick]

Have you tried a sharp thin kerf blade?

[Charles Brown]

I am cutting some 1-3/4" Hard Maple on my G0715P saw for some end grain cutting boards. Twice during cutting strips from the wood, the blade would just stop in the middle of the cut. I usually have to back the wood out a little until the blade starts spinning again, then push it through. I feed the wood at a steady rate, not too fast, but not slow and am using a pretty new Forest WoodWorker II. The motor is only 2 hp, my guess is that with a slightly larger motor I would not have any issues. I have not experienced this while using this saw for about 1 year now, but this is the first time I have cut wood this thick on the table saw. What do you guys think? Thanks,WilliamWilliam, we had this saw at a shop I worked at before; it is just underpowered. Provided the motor switch isn't tripping and the fuse isn't popping, I bet it is just from you asking a lot from the saw. Is the WWII blade a rip blade or a crosscut blade or? I know Forrest makes a 24 tooth rip specific blade that may help but that's a $100 solution that isn't guaranteed to work.

[Robert Chapman]

Is your fence parallel to your blade? Getting any burn marks on the wood?

[Bruce Page]

A dull blade would be my first suspect. I would also check the belt tension.

[Kent A Bathurst]

"Pretty new", but is it sharp? It isn't age of the blade, but how much it has run.

Is it the standard 40t WW-II? If so, IMO you are pretty much at the limit of the blade.

On my 3 hp Unisaw, for hard maple [or other hardwoods] of that thickness, I use a Forrest 30t blade. At >2", I use a Forrest 24t blade. While more hp would overcome some of what you are seeing, I think a different blade would be the correct answer.

[Rick Fisher]

Thats a pretty thick chunk of maple for a hybrid. I had a Delta contractor saw that would do that exact thing in thicker woods.. Blades are the only solution.. A 24 tooth Tenryu rip blade in my Cabinet saw cuts so effortlessly that I had to get used to using it ..

[William Burgess]

Thanks for all the suggestions/answers. The blade is the standard 40t WW-II. I have not tried a thin kerf blade because I don't own one ;) I doubt the blade is dull, it is less than a month old and has seen very light use in that month (ie I only get shop time on the weekends). The fence is parallel to the blade and I very rarely get burn marks on the wood. It has happened but I think it has more to do with feed rate. Looks like I may need to look into a 24t blade if I see this problem more.

[johnny means]

I would consider that way to many teeth for ripping. I would go with 20 teeth or less. The gullets in that blade just are not sized to carry out that large of a shaving.

[Steve Griffin]

Another thing that may be happening is the wood has some internal stresses which are being released by the cut and pinching the blade. On rare occasions, even with a 3hp saw, I've had a blade bind and (after turning it off )pound a shim in the kerf to open the cut back up.

A good rip blade might also help, as it needs less power to keep cutting.

In any case, be extra carefull backing up after a blade stalls, as kickback can occur. It's probably safest to kill power as fast as you can when the blade starts to bind, and then back all the way out before restarting.

[Jim Matthews]

+1 to Steve's suggestion - is there a splitter or riving knife after your blade?

[john bateman]

I recently made some cutting boards from 1-3/4" thick hard maple and walnut. My Ridgid TS3650 is certainly no more powerful than your saw.
The blade I used was this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Freud-LM72R010-10-Inch-Ripping-PermaShield/dp/B0000225UD/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1321154900&sr=8-3 and the cuts came out so well the pieces could go right into the glue up clamps with no further resufacing.

Your stock has to be jointed and planed completely flat and square for this to work, and a splitter/riving knife of some sort should be used.

When your blade stalls, what is the motor doing? Burning the belt?

[Bob Feeser]

That Forrest WWII is exactly 1/8" thick. So a thinner blade would definitely help. If that doesn't work, a rip cut blade with less teeth will not give you as smooth of a cut but can get through a lot easier. Some people make their cut, and then joint the edge to get it even and smooth. That is not ideal because although a jointer will give you an even edge, it may not be exactly equi-distant to the other side of the board. The most important thing as was just mentioned is having the blade and fence PERFECTLY parallel to one another. Any slight off angle even a few thousandths will really slow down a blade.
I messed around with all of those problems, using Dad's old contractors saw, and I was doing a job for a customer making oak doors out of 8/4 stock and the room was filling with smoke, and the blade was binding. Finally I went into the room and measured my saw front to back with a straight edge and realized it was a sway back mule too. The motor was attached to the table top instead of the cabinet, and over the years the cast iron top got a belly in it. That was the last straw. I went in and ordered a 5hp PM and never looked back. It hurts a little when you first buy it, but then you spend a lifetime enjoying it. (That is until you catch a large piece of wood in it and it punches you in the stomach, and you wonder why you ever bought that much power?) :(

[Kent A Bathurst]

Thanks for all the suggestions/answers. The blade is the standard 40t WW-II. I have not tried a thin kerf blade because I don't own one ;) I doubt the blade is dull, it is less than a month old and has seen very light use in that month (ie I only get shop time on the weekends). The fence is parallel to the blade and I very rarely get burn marks on the wood. It has happened but I think it has more to do with feed rate. Looks like I may need to look into a 24t blade if I see this problem more.

Yep - its the blade style and tooth count that's gotcha. A different blade will fix you up.

FWIW - one man's opinion that is contrary to what some others have said - and it's only that, and opinion - the thin kerf makes a difference, no doubt, but I don't go that way because I don't want to be changing the rip fence lens' calibration.

Also - I misspoke earlier - It's a 20t [not 24t] Forrest. It's listed under Custom WW II blades, if you are looking for it. I got mine because I had & still have a buncha 9/4 QSWO to cut - and that blade just sailed through it. While the cut is certainly rougher than the 40t, it is not dramatically worse. Other guys have solid experience with other brands as well - I've just never tried any of them.

[David Nelson1]

I was using a Glue Line rip blade to rip 4/4 oak for a flooring project. Feeding by hand was difficult due to the fact that the blade max depth is 1", compounded by the fact that my saw is 1.5 hp. I wanted to use a unifeeder to rip the blanks, that turned into a disaster as well as a major disappointment.

I switched to the FWWII 20 tooth which works well. It still jams when internal pressures close the kerf but that has only happened twice and I have run around 2000 linear foot of stock past that blade.

As far as the tooth count discrepancy that seems to afflict a few folks myself included, I think that they advertised the blade as a 24 tooth @ some point then corrected it. In following video I refer to it as a 24 tooth blade. Recently I visited there sight and saw the 20 tooth blade. I almost bought it. LOL When bought I was looking for a 16 tooth count. Couldn't find one with a 5/8 arbor or in 10 inch.

The quality of the cut coming off the saw with a good fence and properly fed IS more than adequate for any glue up I've done. For an exposed surface scraping with a card or cabinet scarping plane removed all of the tooling marks.

Click here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDFEz6Hc_Mc) for a demo of the 20 tooth and the unifeeder together. If I have posted this already I apologize I can't seem to find it or remember doing so.

[Peter Quinn]

The problem is simple. Wrong blade, not enough saw to overcome the wrong blade. I could (and have) rip that same stock on my 5HP 66 with the same blade (40 th WWII), but I wouldn't normally do that. Takes too much feed pressure, feed rate too slow, its all around an unsafe situation. You can try raising the blade about 1" above the top of the stock, which will put less teeth in the stock and make the cut go a bit easier. Its recommended by some combo blade manufacturers for thicker ripping. Of course most of them start by suggesting you don't rip thick stock with a combo blade. And that puts your blade almost full up, in this case which has some safety issues of its own. A decent thin kerf rip blade will make a world of difference for you on that saw. A full kerf 24th blade may work well too, but I'd give the saw all the advantage I could. Stay away from glue line blades for that, they are not meant for thick stock. I have ripped 6/4 oak on an 8" portable with a thin kerf Freud, no problem. If I threw a full kerf combo on there, it would stop it dead every time.

[Myk Rian]

I use the same blade John Bateman uses, on my Steel City 1 3/4hp Hybrid.
Works fine with whatever I throw at it.

[Peter Quinn]

I have a Freud LU87R on my job site saw, 8" model but they do make 10" as well. Does a fine job in most anything.

[William Burgess]

I decided to order the tenyru 24t 10 inch blade and will give it a try. Hopefully it fixes up the problems I was having.

[Robert Chapman]

Here are the critical issues IMO
1. Blade and fence must be absolutely parallel or the far end of the fence should slant away from the blade one or two degrees.
2. The part of the stock against the fence must be absolutely straight and square.
3. The feed rate must not overwhelm the motor.
4. The blade must be reasonably sharp with probably not more than 40 teeth.

If all of the above are in place the saw should cut the wood.

[Joey Chavez]

I have the same saw (great saw!), tried to rip the same wood, about the same thickness, and had the same problem. Once I put a 24 tooth rip blade on it I've cut through 8/4 maple and walnut with no issues. I had tightened the belt, which helped a little, prior to putting on the rip blade.