signs of burning when cutting oak

Craig Johnson

Member
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113
Location
The Couv, Washington
I cut some 1" thick oak pieces for my crosscut sled yesterday.
I have a brand new (never been used) Woodworker 2 blade and both of the pieces I ripped had signs of burning.
I double checked all measurements before I started to make sure everything was aligned properly before cutting.
Am I pushing the work through too slow?
My saw is a Steel City 1.75 horse.
 
while you say your ripping that means your using the fence correct to do so? if so then you must have the fence set out of parrel with your blade ,,your binding between the blade and stock right. also as rennie said you might be going to slow,, when they show those blades at a show settun there and spinning threw a block of cherry and no burning well that saw isnt any one you or have set up..thats atweaked saw for the shows.. you will get some burn sometimes wood isnt fire resistant. the off sideof the cut being burnt to could be from interanl stress in the wood or again rennie said speed trouble
 
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hey that alright renie you got mine before i changed it:) i missed it at first then it sunk in what i read:eek: so changed it but you got it befro i go ti fixed.. i was relateing to that royal as well.. sounds like it could be stress i the wood if he has the fence right to the blade
 
Could be..... fence is tighter at the rear than in the front of the blade. Just takes a few thousands of an inch to create the proble. You say new blade but is it carbide or HSS ? Perhaps too fine of tooth for ripping? Really need a rip blade but a combination should also do well. Feeding too slowly and allowing the wood to just sit there next to the blade.I would look first at the fence and be sure it is Parallel with the blade, and then also look at the teeth of the blade no more than 40 tpi on a combination blade for ripping especially such a hard wood as oak.
 
The other thing I want to add is I dont want to feed it too quickly and bog my saw down.
I was feeding it rather slowly.
I will check what I cut with my calipers and see if its accurate.
 
I checked it yesterday before I started cutting and the blade to left miter slot was about .002 variance. That seemed just fine to me.
I will check the fence now since I really want to know what the scoop is.
 
Craig, when yoyu fed the wood, about half way through, did it seem to want to push back? If so, then the fence is pinching the blade.

But then if you did feed slowly (or too slow) the hard surface of Oak may have built up enough friction to burn. The chips and such are abrasive, w/o a DC the chips are all about and can be captured in the gullets and act as abrasive material, etc. If you feed too slowly.

Try a different wood with the same setting and see if you get a burn. Pine or poplar, Cherry will burn in a heartbeat so don't use it for a comparison. But if you burn pine, you got a problem.
 
No it did not feel like it wanted to come back out my way at all.
I will try some soft wood and see what happens.
I was trying not to feed it too fast but instead I think I fed it too slow.
Must be a "learn as you go" thing.
 
Red oak does like to burn if things aren't just to its liking. You're on base with the idea of learning to "feel" your saw when it is lower powered (I have the Orion cousin of your saw so I speak from experience). Is there a reason you didn't go with the thin kerf model of the blade?

If all your measurements check out (as mine did) I can only tell you what I have found. My 24T TK Freud cuts so clean, it's scary and I have no problems with 8/4 hardwoods. My TK WWII has never given me the performance of my Freud or Lietz TK blades. I have always felt the blade wasn't right from the start but, like a knucklehead I never sent it in to Forrest for sharpening/tweaking/fixing-whatever-is-wrong-with-it ;-)

Very few people have posted anything but great satisfaction with their WWII so I do not consider it a poor blade but I keep my particular one reserved for rough work. The full kerf may be a contributing factor and your feed rate and the load on your saw will be effected by that. A decent rate of feed while ripping does help prevent burning but you'll have to judge by the sound and feel of your saw if it is being burdened.
 
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I had the original equipment carbide tipped blade on my tablesaw sharpened by a friend who claims to have been professionally sharpening almost all his life. Well, when the blade came back it burned jest sumptin' awful. :(
I took to another sharpener guy who looked at it and said it looked properly sharpened. But, I had him resharpen. Cuts fine now, now burning.
I dunno :dunno: what caused this but I do know before and after.
You might consider sharpening.
 
One tooth can create the burn, One a tad bit wider and it rubs, not enough to splinter but enough to friction. I had an experience years ago, a neighbor came over and said his NEW blade is splintering... I went over and looked at his RAS Unplugged we lowered the head so that it just almost touched a steel rule. Turned the blade by hand and sure enough One tooth clipped the rule. all the others cleared but one touched. We marked the tooth with a sharpie and went with him as he took it back. Manager said "Sure" and replaced, but we insisted on setting it up on a RAS and checking for the same problem, It passed and off we went. Problem solved.

Weeks later I was in the store and walked past the rack of saw blades and there was a "New" blade with one tooth with a Sharpie mark. Needless to say, I never bought another blade there.

Point is, it only takes one tooth to create a problem. Could be too fat or too long, etc.
 
Craig: Not uncomon to have Red oak Burn, But I have found that after checking all the normal stuf....Blade to miter slot and rip fence also to miter slot. Blade hight is important. Only 1/3 of the cutting tooth above work serface will give the best results. At least I find that true with a rip blade. I prefer useing a rip blade over a combination blade for a smoother cut. I use a Systematic glue line rip and get very little burn marks. Also if your saw is capable of 110 or 220 volt power. 220 will give you best results. I used to have more problems with my Delta 1 1/2 Hp Contractor saw on 110 Then switched over to 220 and most all those problems dissapeared.:dunno::thumb:
 
I have it already running on 220. Figured that was the best option.
My ZCI I made not too long ago is not completely flat. It sits up about
1/16th of an inch or so on the fence side. I am going to get a flatter material MDF or maybe a straighter piece of ply and make another today.\
Maybe that is what is causing the issue. It sounds like it can at least contribute.
Once that is done I will check all alignment issues again and will try some different material. Hopefully I will narrow it down.
 
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