Unisaw cutting capability

[Scott Stofik]

Quick Question for you all. I have a 3HP Delta Unisaw in my little shop and plan to make a traditional workbench. I mostly cut 3/4" wood and was wondering, what are my realistic expectations on cutting 8/4 maple? Will my saw handle it easily or am I pushing it?

Thanks,
Scott

[Mike Goetzke]

Easily with a sharp blade.

Mike

[Jerry Thompson]

I have a Unisaw, 3hp, made in the USA in 1988. I have ripped 8/4 maple with no problem. Everything has to be lined up, fence and all of that. I had a full kerf newly sharpened rip blade. As I recall the piece was about 3 feet long.
All other sizing of thick lumber since then I joint the face and one edge. I then use the band saw to rip to approx. thickness the plane it on a thickness planer using the jointed face for the reference.
I can only rip 6" on the band saw and maple will do OK for me if all is set as it should be and I use a 1/2'' 3 tpi blade and go slow.

[Mike Goetzke]

Easily with a sharp blade.

Mike

Maybe I should add - I had a 3HP Uni for a while and I built an entrance door with side lights using it. Lots of 8/4 white oak plus I had several cuts that required the blade to about max. depth capacity. I now have a restored 1950 Uni and it easily cuts through 8/4 walnut an oak.

Mike

[Bill Huber]

I would sure hope it would......

I have a Jet contractor saw (1 1/2 hp) and with a thin kerf Freud 24 tooth blade I could 8/4 all the time.

[Mike Schuch]

A 3hp saw with a decent blade should cut through pretty much anything you throw at it. I have a 3 hp Powermtic cabine saw and I have never been able to even slow the blade. I like using a Freud Glue line rip blade on my powermatic... Slices through everything I have ever wanted to cut with it,

[Kent A Bathurst]

Yes. If you want to make it cut like butter, go to a dedicated rip blade, not a combo blade, and drop the tooth count. I have a 30t I use on 6/4, and a 20t I use on 8/4 - it just glides through there on my Uni. But, even the 30t would be much improved over the standard 40t.

My blades are Forrest, FWIW.

[Rich Riddle]

Yes. If you want to make it cut like butter, go to a dedicated rip blade, not a combo blade, and drop the tooth count. I have a 30t I use on 6/4, and a 20t I use on 8/4 - it just glides through there on my Uni. But, even the 30t would be much improved over the standard 40t.

My blades are Forrest, FWIW.

A lot of folks don't like changing blades a lot so they use the combination blades. I fairly exclusively use the table saw for rip cuts, but some do cross cuts as well. How often do you change blades? I have a friend who has one table saw set up for rip and the other for cross cutting just so he doesn't have to change blades, but he has a huge barn.

[Jeff Duncan]

A lot of folks don't like changing blades a lot so they use the combination blades. I fairly exclusively use the table saw for rip cuts, but some do cross cuts as well. How often do you change blades? I have a friend who has one table saw set up for rip and the other for cross cutting just so he doesn't have to change blades, but he has a huge barn.

I know I wasn't being asked, but I change blades easily several times a day. I have ripping, combination and crosscutting blades for most things. Then I have specialty blades for veneered panels and melamine. Changing blades takes seconds and is a small investment to make sure your getting the best cut in your material. Whenever I get lazy and try skipping the blade change I regret it.

As for the Unisaw, I agree with the consensus, for small batches with a sharp blade it'll handle 8/4 no problem.

good luck,
JeffD

[Kent A Bathurst]

A lot of folks don't like changing blades a lot so they use the combination blades. I fairly exclusively use the table saw for rip cuts, but some do cross cuts as well. How often do you change blades? I have a friend who has one table saw set up for rip and the other for cross cutting just so he doesn't have to change blades, but he has a huge barn.

Well, Rich - only when I need to. And running 8/4 HM or QSWO across a 40t combo is not a great solution. It is simply not designed for that task. Go to a rip blade, with fewer teeth, and you will not believe the difference. Quicker, cleaner, no burning, and - it is much safer: you are not having to lean into the wood to get it thru the blade. Simply put: the right tool for the job.

It takes me maybe 1 minute to change blades [not counting from/to the dado stack]. Easily worth the time.

[Scott Stofik]

Thanks for easing my mind. I figured It could but wasn't sure. I originally subscribbed to the one blade (Combo) fits all but lately have have been rethinking that approach. I will look into a good rip blade.

Scott

[Kent A Bathurst]

Thanks for easing my mind. I figured It could but wasn't sure. I originally subscribbed to the one blade (Combo) fits all but lately have have been rethinking that approach. I will look into a good rip blade.

Scott

My Forrest 40t WW II combo lives on the saw. I even have a 2d one, so I can mount B while A is out for sharpening. It does "fit all" for most of the time - 75% - 85%. I will usually rip with it up to 5/4 - 4/4 fer sure.

But - the right tool for the job, and ripping those big honkers simply ain't the task the combo is designed for.

I also have an 80t for panels and crosscutting. Remarkable cut quality.

There really is a noticeable difference, simply by taking 60 seconds to change the blade. And - an extra few $ hundred in blades, in my case............. :o Never regretted the investment.

[scott spencer]

With good setup and the right blade, I could cut 8/4" pretty well with my 1.75hp hybrid. With my 3hp cabinet saw, the setup and blade are still factors, but to a lesser extent. You should be able to get through 8/4 quite easily with a 24T rip blade. It always helps if the stock is flat and straight, as in run through a jointer and planer.

[John Leake]

I have a 3hp Unisaw, do not know the year it was made, but it is at least 15 years old. it cuts 8/4's oak like butter with a 40T combination blade. Having the fence adjusted so the blade is parallel is key.

For rip sawing in general, the key is to go to fewer teeth per inch. You can just slow down the feed rate, but that can cause burning especially in Cherry or other resinous woods.

The design point of saws (circular, band, chain, hand, etc) is that the gullet needs to hold the chips generated in the cut (length x depth x width x 60%) with allowance for the much less dense chips vs the native wood. For example if you are ripping 8/4's oak, with a 60T blade (circular), in general that will be very slow cutting or the saw chips will overfill the gullet (space between the teeth) and then chips will bind along the blade and all sorts of havoc results. One thing that can be done to overcome this in cases where you have a single cut is to raise the blade as far as possible since the length of cut decreases as you cut nearer the center rather than with just the teeth penetrating the board.

There are no magic answers, just consider what you are attempting to do, and the blade(s) you have. This is true for any saw.

My experience with saws range from logging (felling and bucking), saw mill, bandsaw, unisaw and an older Rockwell cabinet saw, crosscut logging saws (manual), handsaws and hand held circular saws. If you had someone ask you why you have a large drawer(s) of chisels the answer would be depends upon what the task is, same is true for saw blades.