cutting thick stock

[Joe Skinner]

I was ripping some 12/4 maple tonight and was having a problem with my saw bogging and wood buring. I have a Steel City cabinet saw, 1 3/4 hp motor, the stock riving knife, with a WWII combo blade. I had to raise the blade all the way up to get enough blade clearance. It cut fine, until the stock got about 3" past the blade, then it really started to bog down. I slowed my feed rate way down, but boy did it burn. I put my machinist square against the blade and it is 90* to the table. Used my combo square to measure distance front to back of blade from the miter slot. Same with the fence. Everything looks good.

I usually don't work stock this large, and have no problems with thinner stock. The thickest I have ripped until now is about 1". Am I just asking too much of my saw? Not the right blade? Am I dealing with blade flex?

[Brian Brightwell]

I think you are asking a lot of your saw. Three inch stock is a big bite.

[Paul Murphy]

Agree with Brian, and offer a suggestion. A thin-kerf blade with low tooth count. When I had a contractors saw I used a Freud thin-kerf 24tooth atb rip blade, and it helped make the most of modest HP in thick stock.

[Peter Quinn]

Thats the wrong blade for stock that thick, and not enough saw to compensate. I'd get a thin kerf rip blade and have at it. My guess, the maple released a bit of tension, the motor couldn't push a blade that thick with that many teeth through stock that thick, add a little bite from the wood.......less than ideal. I've seen 12/4 maple stop a 15 HP straight line rip saw, not surprised it stopped a small cabinet saw.

[Rod Sheridan]

1.75 HP is fine for that size of wood, however your blade is the wrong type.

Buy a 24 tooth standard kerf rip blade, I like FS Tools blades....................Regards, Rod/

[Mel Fulks]

You MIGHT be able to do it with an 18 tooth rip blade.

[johnny means]

That cut would've given my 10 hp SCMI a run for it's money. I've moved to trying to do a lot more roping on my bandsaw before milling, then milling to size.

[Prashun Patel]

I had a hybrid saw that I cut 3" stock on several times.

First, use a ripping blade 24-30t.

Sometimes thick stock can release some tension as it rips, causing it to pinch and bind on the spliiter. In these cases you might do better to rip on the bandsaw and clean up on the tsaw. It is possible to wedge the kerf after the blade, but that's tricky and requires stopping and restarting the cut mid-kerf. I won't describe that here, but you can investigate and decide for yrself if it's safe or not.

Last, I learned that it's best to rip thick stock in multiple passes, raising the blade a little more each time. Done this way, it doesn't matter what kind of blade you have. The only catch is that you can't use a guard, since all but the last cuts are non-thru. If your piece is already s4s, then you can rip 1/2 way thru and then flip end for end to complete the cut. It will likely require clean up, but prevents having to have the blade all the way up.

[Brian Brightwell]

That cut would've given my 10 hp SCMI a run for it's money. I've moved to trying to do a lot more roping on my bandsaw before milling, then milling to size.

That sounds like a good solution.

[Jim Andrew]

My old craftsman ts had a 1hp motor, and it was weak, so used to downsize the blade to rip 2" stock. Raised clear up a skilsaw blade would rip the 2". It would die with a 10" blade.

[scott spencer]

I would use a 24T TK blade for 12/4 rips with that saw.

[Jeff Duncan]

There are always a lot of variables to these situations. In theory if your stock is stable and your blade is sharp you should be able to feed that stock through the saw. No it's not the ideal situation, but it should handle it none-the-less.

So my guess based on your description is it's the maple. If it started cutting OK, then got several inches past the blade it may have started closing up on the blade. The riving knife should help, but I'm guessing it may be somewhat thinner than your blade? Maple is notorious for causing this type of burning when cutting. If it were an alignment issue you would have problems with other thicknesses of woods as well. If it were the saw being underpowered the saw would bog before any burning started. Although the blade isn't the ideal, it's certainly capable of cutting that material when sharp IME. Which for now leaves me with the wood being the culprit.

Lastly be careful with the thinner kerf blades. Yes they can allow your saw to cut a bit easier, however if you run into a similar situation where the wood is binding the thinner blade can heat up much quicker and warp on you!

good luck,
JeffD

[Bill White]

Combo blade?
Nahhhhh!
Get a good ripper. 18 to 24 tooth designed for THICK work.
Bill

[Kirk Poore]

Combo blade?
Nahhhhh!
Get a good ripper. 18 to 24 tooth designed for THICK work.
Bill

Yes, go with the rip blade. And unless there is a really good reason, stay away from thin kerf. A friend of mine was using one last week on his 5 hp saw, and it heated up so much "it looked like a potato chip". (His words.) It actually bound up in the cut and stopped the saw. I've never had any problem ripping wood over 2-1/2" thick on my PM 65 with a standard rip blade.

Kirk

[Erik Loza]

Ditto on the ripper...

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i315/erikloza/Mini%20Max%20Combo%20Seminars/012LongRip.jpg
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i315/erikloza/Mini%20Max%20Combo%20Seminars/Edgetrimmingonslider3.jpg

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Lee Schierer]

I put my machinist square against the blade and it is 90* to the table. Used my combo square to measure distance front to back of blade from the miter slot. Same with the fence. Everything looks good.



Invest in a dial indicator and mount it to your miter gauge. You'll be amazed at how much better your saw aligns with the dial indicator. A blade that is out of alignment less than .010" will burn wood. Seeing .010" on a combination square rule is very hard to do.

I also agree that you are using the wrong blade. Use a dedicated 24 tooth rip blade. Probably a thin kerf would work best for your 1-3/4 Hp saw.

[Joe Skinner]

Thanks for all the replies. Found time to get back in the shop today and did my remaining cuts on the bandsaw. Not as smooth of a cut, but felt much better through the blade and gave me an excuse to use the new Veritas low angle jack. Got some nice shavings on my feet and stock is the right size.

[joe milana]

Ditto on the ripper...


Erik Loza
Minimax USA

Erik, is that parallel cutting device a MiniMax product?

[Erik Loza]

Erik, is that parallel cutting device a MiniMax product?

Joe, that's a Jointech "Clincher" fence, mounted to one of our steel accessory tables for the slider. I believe Jointech is now defunct but possibly Incra or someone else makes a similar product.

Best,

Erik Loza
Minimax USA

[Chip Lindley]

a Freud 30T glue line rip blade should solve your problems. But if the thick maple stock has a tendency to bow and close around the blade, no blade will be much help. But, I have ripped 3" green ash with such a blade with perfect results!

[Kent A Bathurst]

To each his own, of course.......I have a WW II 30t that I will use in the 1-1/2" +/- range, and a WW II 20t that I use in the 2" range. HM and QSWO.