re-saw question

[Barry Bruner]

My question is should my blade be smoking while resawing a piece of walnut 6 inch x 1/2 thick ? I am useing a 3/4 Temberwolf blade that they recommened for resawing . I used it on a piece of African mahogney and it really put of a bunch of smoke and it looks like it may have some pitch or tar or what ever you call it on the blade about 1/8 behind the teeth. Barry Bruner

[Lance Norris]

Barry... soak your blade in a cleaner for tar and pitch. There are commercial products for this. I use Formula 409. Make sure you oil the blade to prevent rust if you are going to clean it and then let it sit for a while.

[Jamie Buxton]

That's not right. Do you have the blade mounted correctly? That is, are the teeth pointed down, not up?

[Charles Lent]

A slower blade speed will reduce or eliminate the smoking and reduce the pitch build-up, but it probably won't eliminate it. Walnut is one of those woods that want slower resaw cutting speeds and more patience. A slightly increased set on the blade teeth will also help, but it may be difficult to find someone to do this for you. It's not something that you can do for yourself because it requires special tooling to achieve the accuracy that is necessary. Timber Wolf resaw blades are what I use and I have had little to no problem with them for most resawing, but slower blade speeds are necessary for many hard or green woods.

If you have any pitch on your blade you will need to clean it off before you use it again, and then put a thin coat of oil on it if it is not going to be used right away. I use a citrus based (orange) cleaner and it works OK for me, but there are products on the market that are designed especially for cleaning saw blades that you may find work better. I usually just use WD-40 to keep them from rusting when stored. If you don't clean the pitch off your blade you will have problems cutting almost anything with it until it is cleaned. Wood that has a lot of pitch in it or wood that is still green (wet) can be very difficult to re-saw and can really mess up your blade quickly.

Charley

[Barry Bruner]

I cut a piece of white oak after I made the post and it did not smoke and it stayed on line with out any drift. I will clean the pitch of before I cut the walnut. The walnut I was cutting was burl and walnut has a certain amount of smell I suppose. Thank all of you for the help. Barry Bruner