Scoring hardwood for crosscuts anybody?

[rodrigo sosa]

Hi folks,

Here's a quickie for those who have a slider with scoring unit. Do you score your cross cut on hardwood? Preventing tearout on melamine and plywood was the meant to be of the scorer. But what about cross cutting for drawers fronts? Is it over engineering? Maybe im overlooking something?

The other day was doing some cross cutting of eucalyptus and could see some tear out. Maybe it's time to get the blade sharpen?

Cheers

Rodrigo

[Wayne Lomman]

I use the scriber sometimes when cross cutting hardwood but not always. The rest of the time I just use a sharp blade. I mostly work with eucalypt. Some species splinter badly and that is where the scriber is useful.Cheers

[fRED mCnEILL]

Seeing as how the scoring blade rotates in the opposite direction of the main tablesaw blade I tried running the work backwards over the blade with the blade raised just enough to cut the first ply on the work.This scores the cut and then I raise the blade and complete the cut in the normal direction. For those that feel this is unsafe there is an almost unperceptable drag on the work so the blade isnt going to grab the work. Examination with a magnifying glass shows NO tear out whatsoever.

[Rod Sheridan]

Yes, I do that always for veneered surfaces and sometimes for hardwood.

It does eliminate tear out.........Rod.

[Nick Nelson]

Not always, but it works well.

[Jim Becker]

I've done that a few times with solid stock and it works well. When my Forest blades are sharp, it's an unnecessary step, but as time passes, the benefit grows. I absolutely use the scoring blade for sheet goods, however, as veneered goods are more sensitive to tear-out on the bottom, even with a sharp-sharp primary blade.

[John TenEyck]

No scoring blade here, but if I use a fresh zero clearance insert on my table saw with a HiATB blade I don't get tearout, even on Melamine. I'm making some veneered Sapele doors right now and cut the rails to length the same way - no tearout.

John

[Jim Andrew]

I have a Hammer K3 winner, and have not used the scoring blade, as I bought some Tenryu blades from Carbide processors, and they cut so clean, don't need to score, even on plywood. Do not use the saw daily. The 80 tooth blade can even be used to rip hardwood, so no need to constantly change blades.

[Jim Becker]

I'm surprised to read that folks with scoring blades are not using them even for sheet goods. I get noticeably cleaner cuts on veneer plywood, even with a freshly sharp main blade, using the scoring setup on my slider...

[Sebastien La Madeleine]

What Jim Andrew said is exactly my situation. Since I moved to Tenryu blades, which I can't recommend enough, I barely used the scoring blade. A fresh zero-clearance and even the cheapest splintery baltic birch comes out perfect. I did have to adjust the slider on the K3 to give myself a little more clearance on the back of the blade (about 3 thou) and no more back blade spit ups.

[lowell holmes]

Plus one for Tenyru!

I had one before I heard of Forrest. I like them both.

[Joel Christensen]

I use the blue tape method when I cut plywood but I use a knife or a marking guage to eliminate any splintering or tearout on all my hardwoods. :)