Is it the blade or the saw?

Roger Tulk

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St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
Yesterday, I needed to rip a 4' piece of 8/4 cherry. I had a Diablo thin kerf blade on the saw, but it was pretty beat up, so I put the original blade back on the (Craftsman 13amp) saw. I had to feed it VERY slowly, and the saw tripped the breaker a couple of times when I got to the 2½ to 3' area. So, I pulled the board out of the saw and did the cross-cutting I wanted to do, leaving the last 16" or so intact. The right side of the cut was burned, and the cut wandered off centre when I was cutting it.

I had used the old blade for some time before I got the Diablo, but it didn't have any broken or missing teeth, as the Diablo now does. I'm going to be doing a project that is in the nature of a construction project (small addition to my front porch) so I'm not planning to put the Diablo blade back on, and will replace it when I can afford a new one, even tough it still cuts smoothly.

So, I'm wondering, should I get a new, less expensinve combo blade for the upcoming construction, and was my problem with the saw, the blade, or the operator? :huh:

Thanks for any advice you can give.
 
roger could be all of the above:) but first off a dull blade and 8/4 stock doesnt mix well.. even a dull blade on a larger saw and 8/4 stock doesnt mix well either so first thing is either clean blade and retry or get new blade.. the cost to resharpen a diablo is probably a wash in regards to new cost.. the burn on one side is a common problem you might have your fence set to tight on the exit or perhaps you dont have a splitter to keep the cut open as you finish it up..
 
Every time I take a dull blade off my saw and put a sharp one on, I'm always amazed at how much nicer and easier it cuts! I think that the sawblades we use daily are like the old frog in a pot of water brought slowly to boil, we don't notice them getting dull over time. I have some nice blades that I keep for certain things, but I picked up one of these >> Irwin Marathon 24T << blades a while back on sale for something like $13 :eek:
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I wished I'd bought half a dozen of these blades, they are cheap, but they rip well and are a good general purpose blade. The one I have has been sharpened at least four times and is still doing just great!

Maybe you should buy some cheaper blades for daily use and save your nice blades for special cuts :D
 
Every time I take a dull blade off my saw and put a sharp one on, I'm always amazed at how much nicer and easier it cuts! I think that the sawblades we use daily are like the old frog in a pot of water brought slowly to boil, we don't notice them getting dull over time. I have some nice blades that I keep for certain things, but I picked up one of these >> Irwin Marathon 24T << blades a while back on sale for something like $13 :eek:
View attachment 69397
I wished I'd bought half a dozen of these blades, they are cheap, but they rip well and are a good general purpose blade. The one I have has been sharpened at least four times and is still doing just great!

Maybe you should buy some cheaper blades for daily use and save your nice blades for special cuts :D

I picked up a 2 pack of Irwin Marathon 24T several years ago for $20 well yehaw Stu is right they work great.

To answer the question. Is it the blade or the saw? I'd say it's the operator.....because the saw doesn't know if it has a problem & neither does the blade but the operator should. If you don't please step away from the saw because it doesn't know the difference between flesh & wood either. Ask me I know. My finger is healed up now but has lost feeling over a portion of it. This wasn't caused by a dull blade or poorly adjusted saw but rather to a combo Table-saw Jointer that I wasn't used to operating. So make sure your familiar with your tool & how it should feel & sound as you operate it. If you have any doubts shut the tool off until you know for good & certain it is going to perform properly.
 

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Roger, there are a few things you should consider.

1) Do a tune up of your saw. You may or may not know there are several items to examine here and adjust. Given you say you were ripping the issue could be the aspect of your fence being parrallel to your blade (it can be adjusted) and second is just how parallel to the mitre slot is the blade. The whole top of your saw can move in relation to the saw blade so first align blade to mitre slot. Then get fence parallel to blade. On my craftsman table saw i even checked arbor runout and fix it with a old oil stone bought specially for the purpose. Then another small item is the flatness of the washer that holds the blade against the arbor. All small little bits that can certainly make a difference.

2) Buy a new blade. If the blade has teeth missing , i would chuck it out. Too risky for my liking. Body parts are worth way more than the price of a new blade.

3) Splitter. Do you have a splitter behind your blade? This would keep the wood that has been cut separated after the cut. If the wood is releasing tension in it it can have a tendency to pinch on the other side of the blade causing binding and adding to the force required to make the cut. Add this all up with a bit of misalignment and you got the makings of trouble especially when you want to cut 2 inches of hard wood.
4) What size of motor has your saw got and what sort of condition is the drive belt in? Dont know if you picked up the saw new or second hand etc but worth a check to make sure its in good condition so as to be able to transfer max power from the motor to the saw arbor.
 
I tried to rip some 2 1/2" seasoned hard maple with my 'new' old Craftsman ts with 3/4 hp motor. Maple stopped it dead. There is a recently sharpened blade on the saw just not enough power. I'll have to take the wood to a friend with a big ts for the cutting. Looking for a 2 hp single phase motor.
 
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