strange rip from Ridge Carbide 10" 24T Ripping Saw

[Justin Rapp]

I got some odd tear out from ripping Poplar ( 5/8 thick, ripping various width strips from 1 1/4 to 2 1/2) on my 3hp saw using a Ridge Carbide 10" 24T Ripping Saw. The edges were not smooth, showing some saw tear out marks. It was worse on some of the pieces I was ripping than others. I thought maybe the blade was warped or something so I tried a piece of walnut and the cut was like glass.

I've never had this issue with Poplar before with my Forrest 40t combo blade.

Any thoughts on root cause?

[Jamie Buxton]

Is the blade mounted backwards?

[Justin Rapp]

definitely not or it would have smoked and burned like crazy, esp through the walnut. i made that goof once years ago and always double check.

[Mel Fulks]

Possible that the board was closing up as cut …gave it a chance to go rogue, When narrow pieces are going to show it’s best to get them out wide enough to joint and rip . But nothing wrong with ripping a piece or two to see if they can be used WITH OUT first oversizing.

[Jim Becker]

Justin, the only time I've ever had that happen with tulip poplar is if it was "degraded"...ie, had some somewhat invisible rot/decomposition. Otherwise, it always cuts as clean as other hardwoods. But I also agree with Mel, that tension could have caused rubbing at the side of the kerf that would make the surface less than pristine.

[Justin Rapp]

Justin, the only time I've ever had that happen with tulip poplar is if it was "degraded"...ie, had some somewhat invisible rot/decomposition. Otherwise, it always cuts as clean as other hardwoods. But I also agree with Mel, that tension could have caused rubbing at the side of the kerf that would make the surface less than pristine.

Interesting that i cut a few more pieces from another board and they were much better, but strange not perfect. This is left over boards from a few hundred board feed i just used for another project and didn't have any issues with ripping on my combo blade. Very strange. I did notice the board that was the 'worst' I heard the blade 'free up' a little during the cut, which could be the board has soft spots in it due to some degradation that had occurred.

I didn't notice the board closing up, the tension release on the worst of the boards was actually pushing away from each other plus I had my jessem rollers in use which 'should' keep the board pulled to the fence away from the blade. But anything is possible.

The good news is, I am just building a kinda rough fume box for my laser printer so the bit of tear out is just going to sand out. And the blade is fine base on the walnut cut.

I have a few board boards of poplar left so i'll see what happens when if I rip them.

[Jim Becker]

My gut feeling is that it's just those specific boards that are being ornery...

[john lawson]

I've had this several times and there were only two reasons. One, the wood had tension in it and as it was ripped it closed up on the back of the blade. Two, and this was the problem most of the time, the rip fence was set so that the back of the blade was closer to the fence than the front of the blade. All rip fences need a bit of run out to keep them safe and cutting cleanly.

[Jim Becker]

Two, and this was the problem most of the time, the rip fence was set so that the back of the blade was closer to the fence than the front of the blade. All rip fences need a bit of run out to keep them safe and cutting cleanly.

It seems that things work fine for the OP, however, with other boards of different species. I would think that might rule out a "toe" issue with the fence but it's certainly worth checking.

[Justin Rapp]

I've had this several times and there were only two reasons. One, the wood had tension in it and as it was ripped it closed up on the back of the blade. Two, and this was the problem most of the time, the rip fence was set so that the back of the blade was closer to the fence than the front of the blade. All rip fences need a bit of run out to keep them safe and cutting cleanly.

Thanks - I do check my fence all the time. It was the boards I was ripping apparently. The had some odd soft spots maybe due to some rot like Jim pointed out. I ran walnut through the blade and it ripped with a good edge.

[Mel Fulks]

I think 24 teeth is too many . Like 18 ,will accept 20. The faster cut doesn’t let the stuff get hot from rocking wood.

[John Kananis]

I think 24 teeth is too many . Like 18 ,will accept 20. The faster cut doesn’t let the stuff get hot from rocking wood.

The 24t rip blade from ridge is a pretty amazing blade imho.

[Patrick Varley]

Related to the idea of it being an internal tension issue, perhaps it was case hardened, which would cause it to pinch in on the blade. I'm used that burning, though, and not having chip out. Could also make sense why it was one piece and not another.

You could always test to see if this is a case, which may not matter unless it was happening on more than one board and it became a situation where you'd think about getting a refund from the supplier.