I haven't been doing much firewood stuff lately - I've been playing around in my workshop mostly since the weather turned really cold. I'm building out my super deluxe radial arm saw station. I garbage picked some really nice kitchen cabinets from my neighbors house, and then they ended up replacing more and saved the old ones for me too. So I'm making some countertops for them. When I ripped the oak board for the edging, the side against the fence got a lot of burn marks on it - but it's perfectly smooth. The other edge looks like it went through a jointer. I used a Forrest Woodworker II that I've had for about a year. Think it's an indication it needs to be sharpened, or cleaned? There does seem to be more buildup on that side of the blade. Or maybe I'm using it wrong... I adjusted the blade to just barely cut through the wood - should it have been higher for oak? It didn't matter anyway, because I've discovered edge jointing at my router station.... I planned to take a little off that edge anyway. Still would be nice to know what went wrong though.
Ive seen burn marks when the rip fence is not parallel to the blade. I have an older bench saw and I measure the blade to the fence on the infeed and then outfeed of the blade. The blade should also be a bit higher than the thickness of the board unless you are cutting a kerf. I also use a thick steel ruler to measure that distance and not a tape measure that can be flimsy and have a loose tip on it.
Possibly a bit dull or that the radial arm is not quite square ( constant problem with those) that Forester blade has very little clearance ( very narrow kerf) only about .005 per side so any little bit of runout is magnified. Run out on blades from a quality mfg is about .002 tolerance. They use a decent carbide on those so I am guessing it is a bit dull more than anything. You can clean most of the build up off with a good cleaner/degreaser product and a stiff brush. after it is dry wax it or use a product to prevent build up- several on the market- I do not have a recommendation. use a dial indicator and check the run out with the blade mounted ( not under power). Forrester blades are good, but not a fan of the absolute minimal kerf on those. Note that I am a professional sharpener/ machinist of many years - just stating my back ground.
Most likely rip fence is out of alignment. It should be about 1/32-1/64" more open at the outfeed end of the table than the infeed. Also, for best results with the Forrest or any other TS blade you should crank the blade up as high as safely possible. If you have a good blade guard, splitter, feather boards and push sticks, you should be able to crank your blade up all the way for all through cuts. Be safe.
"When I ripped the oak board for the edging, the side against the fence got a lot of burn marks on it - but it's perfectly smooth" The side against the fence is always going to be at higher risk of burning because it can get "pinched" between the blade and fence, the other side is free to fall away. A little pinch and you get burn. A little more and you get KICKBACK! Don't ask me how I know... As I said before, make sure your rip fence is adjusted correctly and that you are using proper safety equipment. If all of that is in order, then so be it, sometimes wood burns. A couple of licks with a hand plane will fix that.
The blade should only be slightly above the material. Make sure the fence is at least parallel to the blade, if not slightly open on the outfeed side. That blade shouldn't be dull in a year unless you've got a production shop, so my guess is buildup on the blade. Very easy to clean. If you hesitate while running the Oak through, you'll get burns, but that's burned the whole length. Is that pic showing one piece, or more? If only one, the burns are indicating that the blade may not be perpendicular to the table. Doesn't take much. Have you cleaned the table recently? The fence? Get those clean too, then wax 'em.
I thought about the rip fence alignment after I wrote this. I bet that's it. This is a Craftsman contractor style saw - the rip fence is OK, but I usually have to push on the clamping end while locking it down to get it to stay straight to the blade. I should probably check and adjust it again. I think I'll stick with the lower blade though - seems to produce the smoothest cuts on my saw that way, and if it's set higher it seems like I get more tear out. The 3rd pic is the board from the 1st pic after I ripped it. So there are 2 boards there. I stood them on edge to show the cut faces. The 5th and 6th pics are after I jointed the sawn edges at my router station. I think I'm going to try putting the rip fence to the left of the blade after I check it for square. I'd think if sharpness was the issue, there would have been more scratching and tool marks. What would you recommend for cleaning? Solvent and brass brush?
Mike he is using a radial arm saw. Different beast than a table saw. Alignment still is an issue - more so when doing rip cuts not only can the head be off from the 180 deg mark but also from the fence in both x & y axis. They are just a royal pain to set up and keep that way. As I said before the Forester blades have very little in the way of clearance kerf wise Another note to the op: Radial arm blades should have a 0 or -5 deg rake to the teeth (same for any of the miter saw units or any saw blade above the work type unit.) pop up saws are essentially table saws in these a positive rake is preferred. Carbide tip non ferrous metal cutting should be done with -5 to -10 deg rake blades, preferably with a blade specifically designed for non-ferrous cutting.
This tells me he's building a radial arm saw station and using a contractor table saw to do it. Shawn, care to enlighten? chris, you're so right on trying to keep a RAS in adjustment....the one I have anyway. Craftsman from the mid to late 80's. Do you not like the Forrester blade? I've always heard they make a great blade. I have a Systematic on the TS right now and it's almost as old as me.Ok, not really.
see that's what happens when there is a bunch of time between posts and ya don't go back and re read the thread.. Systematic blades are good also. Off hand I do not remember the kerf specs. Always helps to have a couple or at least one skive blade to keep things from pinching reduces probability of kick back also.
That's how I read it too. I'm not familiar with the Forrester blades since I have always used Freud blades in my TS and compound miter saw. As for cleaning blades Simple Green does a good job.
Actually I was using my Craftsman table saw model 315.228590 to make these cuts. I prefer to make ripping cuts on the TS. The DeWalt RAS in the first pic originally belonged to my grandfather. It's a dedicated crosscutting machine for me, and it's quite accurate. I first discovered Forrest blades, because they seem to be the only company still producing the 9" blades my RAS was originally designed to run. Their "Chopmaster" line has a negative rake and ATB+R tooth arrangement. It's on my "wish list". I currently have a Diablo 8-1/2" 60T fine crosscut blade. It has a positive rake, so it wants to "climb" in harder woods, but it makes really nice cuts so I haven't been in a real big hurry to spend $130 on a Chopmaster.
Seems odd that the burning is only on 1 half of the board. Do you remember if that was the top or bottom as you ripped the board? When was the last time you checked the blade to table top for square?
It was the side against the fence that burned. The offcut side had almost zero burning. They both came out nice and smooth though. I have another board to rip so ill try putting the fence on the other side of the blade if everything seems square. The fence can easily lock down out of square if you're not careful with this saw, so I'm thinking that was the reason.
I have a lot of those pesky little buggers in my shop. They're everywhere, I tell ya'. I think you can put away the popcorn, problem solved.
I think you misunderstood me Shawn. In your first pic only 1 half of the THICKNESS of your wood was burnt but in your last pic it does show burning thru out the entire thickness of the wood. I have an older Craftsman TS much like yours that when I was in the trades I hauled from job to job in the back of my work truck. One thing you cannot do is rely on is the measurements on the fence or the tilt angle of the saw. Measure, measure measure. I'm thinking you have several things going on here. Blade choice is 1, dullness of blade, rate of feed of stock into the blade, pinch due to fence not parallel to blade or blade not square with the table top. Another thing I noticed in your original pics was the feather board on the TS. Is that in the right spot? Also, how long has the oak been in your shop to get acclimated to the temps and humidity? I know, more questions than answers but.... One thing you can try to narrow down the problem is to rip a piece down to within a quarter of an inch of your final width and then readjust your fence to the desired width and run it thru again at a faster rate of speed. Just trying to help cuz I know what a stick of clear red oak costs and I know the feeling when we F up a pricey piece of stock.
you should have a blade guard and run the blade as high as possible, this keeps the carbide on the teeth cool. the fence is not square to the blade for the wood to burn as it did, maybe a little dull also.
I got a nice score of rough sawn red/white Oak an older gentleman was getting rid of a few years ago. Some went to my BIL, and the rest is still in the shop.....stickered.....in an 8'x8'x2' high stack. I don't remember the last time I bought Oak other than firewood. All very good points Butcher. The body of the blade doesn't do anything but create more resistance if up too high, especially if the blade has a slight wobble or isn't square/perpendicular. The cutters are doing the work. How hot are those teeth really getting in a single rip? I still say just the cutters and gullets should be through the stock. Flame suit on.
