HD framing lumber gumming up jointer/planer/table saw

I believe the chemicals in regular Simple Green are pretty bad for carbide and the tooth brazing.

In in my area (ATL) the framing lumber at the BORGs is almost always better than the specialty dealers. This wasn't always the case, but has been for the last several years.

I don't think it's fair or accurate to lump the pitch problem on BORG wood. It's species specific. We use first growth heart pine every once in a while - something you just can't get at the BORG. It gums up tooling despite being felled over a hundred years ago.

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Originally Posted by Dave Sabo

I believe the chemicals in regular Simple Green are pretty bad for carbide and the tooth brazing.

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I can't say I've heard this before...Simple Green has been the "go to" for cleaning blades for a really long time now. I use it for degreasing in my kitchen, too.

I've used Simple Green for years to clean painted/coated parts of machine chassis and never had an issue with corrosion. But, I think there is some "industrial version" of Simple Green that maybe is more caustic? I can say for sure that if we're talking about the OG licorice-smelling stuff, it's safe for this.

Erik

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Originally Posted by Jim Becker

I can't say I've heard this before...Simple Green has been the "go to" for cleaning blades for a really long time now. I use it for degreasing in my kitchen, too.

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I use oven cleaner for heavy blade cleaning jobs and car 'bug 'n tar' remover where i'm concerned about damage to paint or surfaces. Simple green is really meant to clean up residual proteins.

I've run a lot of pine through my tablesaw, jointer, planer and router bits.

Most of it is hand picked KD southern yellow pine from a big box store. I find the 2x12s to be much better than the 2x4s in terms of quality.

If I want to build something from pine I have few options. LOTS of local places will sell you various hardwoods, even rough sawn stock, but pine is not available. In my case I am attempting to match other parts of my old house which were built from pine. I have found one sawyer who will sell eastern pine, but they're 45-60 minutes one way. I also don't see a difference in quality between it, and the big box store. The main advantage is being able to get 8/4 Pine, rather than the 6/4 from the big box stores.

It's nice for beginner projects, prototypes, shop furniture, and general screwing around. Jay Bates and Christopher Schwarz both found it superior for building hand tool workbenches. It's also the material of choice for making Windsor chairs. I honestly find the denigration of various materials to smack of elitism. There is a time and a place for everything, you just have to be clear about the advantages and disadvantages of the material. I think pine has a poor reputation because a lot of beginners make projects from it, but do not use the advanced techniques applied to hardwoods. I find with the proper milling attention to detail, and advanced techiniques it can be a nice material to work with. I currently have two interior doors made from it, and after several years have not noticed any major changes in terms of warping, shifting, or cupping.

I do see a bit of build up on the knives and bits, but have not experienced some of the problems people are reporting with running a board or two, and disaster. Generally I use CMT's Blade Cleaner which takes care of it.

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Originally Posted by Jim Becker

I can't say I've heard this before...Simple Green has been the "go to" for cleaning blades for a really long time now. I use it for degreasing in my kitchen, too.

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There used to be a Simple Green that was advertised as noncorrosive/safe for metal. That implied to me that the 'regular' stuff was corrosive to a degree. That was several years ago though. Perhaps the current stuff is noncorrosive.

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Originally Posted by tim rapp

one of the posts above has several inflammatory/misleading points. Some people hate framing lumber, got it, didn't mean to start a holy war. To clarify, most of the wood is KD, either way I normally dry it before use (since the middle of KD boards is usually still wet). And as stated I pick the best boards out of the pile, so no staples/wet/twist/visible sap. Also, it's mostly for shop projects, not my living room. Framing lumber is about $0.70 - $1.25/bd ft, 8/4 S3S hardwood is $8-$14/bd ft. Let's keep the thread focused on the basic question of "will cherry-picked Doug Fir boards from HD gum up cutters?"

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If I wander into an HD I usually pick through the pile of KD Douglas Fir 2x12's, grabbing any particularly nice clear, straight boards, stacking them in the barn for later use. I'll pass on anything that looks iffy so it takes me a while to build up a collection.

Can't say I've noticed an excessive buildup of pitch when machining.

If you do the math, an average 2x6x8 in my area (SPF) is going to be about $0.69+ a board foot. So that would be from dead rough, to 19%, S4S. In my area at least, you can buy #2 common poplar for about the same and pay another $0.30 to have it surfaced. And your dealing with true KD material, stable, decent quality, definitely not as easy to get as the homecenter hours, cant pick through board by board, but your in a stable situation, no gumming, no BS, no worry about down the road, and your not supporting an entity that is shafting the US economy with imports down the river for the sake of corporate profit. Your more than likely supporting a local operation trying to process timber in the US for a profit.

Comparing home center framing lumber to 8-14$ a board foot primo hardwood is an unfair comparison. My poplar inventory is very close to home center framing lumber pricing (in my opinion) and its MILES better on all fronts from sourcing, to processing, right on down the line.

I could easily see picking some material from the home center. I buy quite a bit of 4x4 fir as its the only place to get it. But if there is any local option even for a slight upcharge, its going to be better material.

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Originally Posted by Josko Catipovic

I use oven cleaner for heavy blade cleaning jobs and car 'bug 'n tar' remover where i'm concerned about damage to paint or surfaces. Simple green is really meant to clean up residual proteins.

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Oven cleaner should not be used for cleaning carbide tipped saw blades. The caustic in oven cleaner will attack the binder in the carbide and the brazing used to secure the teeth to the blade.

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Originally Posted by Jim Becker

I can't say I've heard this before...Simple Green has been the "go to" for cleaning blades for a really long time now. I use it for degreasing in my kitchen, too.

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Regular Simple Green is also not recommended by Simple Green for use on saw blades. See the discussion at this link: Response from Simple Green about Cleaning Saw Blades

I've been using dishwashing detergent to clean my blades. I put the blades (one at a time) in a bucket and put in enough water and detergent mix to cover the blade. Let soak for a while and then use a brush to brush the blade. Has worked fine for me.

Mike

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Originally Posted by Jim Becker

I can't say I've heard this before...Simple Green has been the "go to" for cleaning blades for a really long time now. I use it for degreasing in my kitchen, too.

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Perhaps it was before you were moderating ?


https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....Green-Followup





https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....ad-for-Carbide



-and-

this one quotes an official response from Simple Green's tech dept too.

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....ing-Saw-Blades



Simple Green's advice on their website:
https://simplegreen.com/cleaning-tip...ge/saw-blades/



and FWIW, I believe Freud is on record saying they recommend something call LA's Totally Awesome from ...................the Dollar Store .


All that aside, my personal feeling is that a weak dilution of simple green sprayed on and then brushed off in a relatively short time isn't going to ruin your fancy blade in any meaningful way. YMMV

I stand corrected.

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Originally Posted by Mark Bolton

If you do the math, an average 2x6x8 in my area (SPF) is going to be about $0.69+ a board foot. So that would be from dead rough, to 19%, S4S. In my area at least, you can buy #2 common poplar for about the same and pay another $0.30 to have it surfaced.

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Must be nice. Here in the midwest Southern Yellow Pine is ~$.75 a bf, while popular is around $2, rough, from a sawyer.

Southern Yellow Pine has a higher Janka Hardness, modulus of rupture, elastic modulus, and crushing strength than poplar. Both can be tricky to stain, poplar's softness often results in fuzzy edges and surfaces. Most poplar I see around here is pretty clear, while you have to work to find SYP that is free of knots.

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Originally Posted by Andrew More

Must be nice. Here in the midwest Southern Yellow Pine is ~$.75 a bf, while popular is around $2, rough, from a sawyer.

Southern Yellow Pine has a higher Janka Hardness, modulus of rupture, elastic modulus, and crushing strength than poplar. Both can be tricky to stain, poplar's softness often results in fuzzy edges and surfaces. Most poplar I see around here is pretty clear, while you have to work to find SYP that is free of knots.

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Again, what grade? You say clear poplar, that's not a reasonable comparison to framing lumber. #2 common? #1 common? Should be down in the dollar and under range.

That's the problem when people compare "hardwood" to framing lumber. To justify the practice they compare #2 framing lumber, which is pretty clear usually, to "$8-$14 a foot" boutique hardwood.

The price and availability of KD hard or softwood is never going to be as low as framing lumber from the Borg or a lumberyard but it's not 15x the process either.

It's not as big a stretch as is commonly tossed around.

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Originally Posted by tim rapp

A good friend told me that another guy dimensioned some HD framing lumber in his shop and "the sap in the wood gummed up the cutters and caused the wood to have burn marks, had to remove gum with Simple Green, took a while". I've never heard of this or experienced it; I've dimensioned Doug Fir and SYP at my friends shop no problem. My friend has high-end equipment with carbide cutters. I suspect the other guy doesn't know how to buy lumber and got some with lots of sap. Assuming you sort through the pile and buy good lumber with no visible sap or pitch pockets, is it going to gum up the cutters? I'm in Colorado, most of our framing lumber is Doug Fir.

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I don't doubt the experiences of others here but I have done a number of projects using 2x3's milled down on my lunchbox planer and table saw. I have not had gumming up blades but I did have a knot start to lift out after a while. I don't have a moisture meter so I don't know how dry it was.