Yeah, I know that there is a lot out there on this, but I just have to ask about my specific issue. I'm trying to rip maple for face frames. Delta Unisaw, Woodworker II blade. And it's burning the edge. I played around with fence alignment with no real improvement. So, I tried an old Freud combo blade. Better, but still a little burn. Then I tried (what do I have to lose?) an old Freud F-80 CROSSCUT blade and got a very nice cut with no burn. Then I took a razor blade and scrapped the gunk off the sides of every tooth on the Woodworker II. The blade still burned the wood, no improvement. So I'm thinking that there is a problem with the Woodworker II but can't figure out what it would be. Suggestions?
Fewer teeth make for a better rip in maple, as well as a faster feed rate. It's easy stuff to burn- I'm actually sort of surprised you got your best cut off the freud 80t blade. That's the one that always burns my maple if I don't change it.
My initial reaction would be that, if your idea of cleaning your WWII is scrapping the sides of the teeth, your blade is probably in need of a real cleaning (possibly even a sharpening, but I would try a cleaning first). Many opinions on this site about what to use. I use Simple Green and a toothbrush. I have an old christmas cookie tray that is just the right size for a 10" blade. Pour some Simple Green in, set the blade in making sure that it is fully covered, let it sit for 10 minutes to 10 hours (i.e. either clean the blade now or in the morning, usually now), brush all of the teeth (fronts, tps and sides), rinse, dry and wax.
Tom in PA wrote: | Yeah, I know that there is a lot out there on this, but I just have | to ask about my specific issue. I'm trying to rip maple for face | frames. Delta Unisaw, Woodworker II blade. And it's burning the | edge. I played around with fence alignment with no real | improvement. So, I tried an old Freud combo blade. Better, but | still a little burn. Then I tried (what do I have to lose?) an old | Freud F-80 CROSSCUT blade and got a very nice cut with no burn. | Then I took a razor blade and scrapped the gunk off the sides of | every tooth on the Woodworker II. The blade still burned the wood, | no improvement. So I'm thinking that there is a problem with the | Woodworker II but can't figure out what it would be. Suggestions?
The burning is a consequence of friction-produced heat. I've routinely ripped maple with an Olson 100-tooth blade on my Unisaw, and as long as I keep the feed up to a reasonable speed, it doesn't burn.
Fewer teeth is probably better, but sharp and clean are essential. Keep the feed rate up so that heat can be carried away by the sawdust.
going against the grain of what others have posted I had this problem with my WWII on cherry and maple (but not on other softer woods) until I bought the TS aligner and reset my saw. No more burning after proper alignment.
Are you using a splitter? Maple burns easily and if the board is moving/trying to close any at all, often the cut the blade will burn the wood. And, raise the blade a bit higher.
Nope, they're just presuming proper alignment, which is easy to get even with touch gages. It's probably uneven feed pressure or case-hardening. When a guy has an expensive saw, I suppose we assume he'd set it up properly.
As to more versus less teeth, more takes smaller bites, and might not be dragging those long pieces of carbide on the edge of the kerf. Assuming carbide, dust removal isn't much of a problem, because the natural hollow ground effect moves dust well before it can pack and cause squirm and burn.
He didn't mention which, but fence converging aft or heel right will burn the fenced piece with fence on right. Heel left will burn the non-fenced. Wood problems tend to be random left and right.
Another neat thing to use for the cleaning solution is either a 5 gal bucket or one of those short buckets that the 3" chlorine pucks come in (for pool sanitation). With the chlorine bucket, make sure it's really rinsed out well before being used.
When using either type of bucket, you want one that has a lid. In this way, you can reuse the cleaner multiple times and keep out dirt and debris. With either type of bucket a 10" saw blade fits in very nicely on the bottom with just a bit of space around the outside of the blade. Because of this, it doesn't take a whole lot of cleaner to cover the blade. Ideally you probably want to fill up the bucket to a depth of 1" or so.
Once the blade is sitting in the bucket, in the solution, it can be a little tricky to get it back out again. One thing you can do to help with that and to insure the bottom of the blade gets a good soak too, is put something thin, flat and doesn't float on the bottom. Ideally this object should have a diameter smaller than
10". I used a piece of plastic that was used for packing something. This makes it easy to poke my finger through the arbor hole to grab the blade out of the solution.
When I'm done, I just put the lid back on until next time.
Another benefit of this, is having the container of cleaner readily available. I dip a toothbrush in after using router and forstner bits to clean them up. The bits can soak in there as well, if they're gummed up enough.
One other thing sprang to mind- how far are you setting the blade above the top face of the wood? Generally speaking, I keep mine so that only a tooth's height protrudes in the interest of safety (Yes, I am aware that there is an argument that that increases the chances of kickback)- but with maple, I let it run at least an inch above the top of the wood. Seems like that little bit of extra time out of the wood is enough to let the teeth cool down a little.
If me, then yes, the alignment is correct, and no, I don't have burn or buildup with other woods. If I had to guess, I'd maybe say the hard maple has some leftover sugar content from the sap, but I'd probably be wrong- most likely, it's just a matter of not feeding fast enough.
Thanks, everyone, for the replies! (I'm the OP) I cleaned up the blade with simple green and also raised the blade height. Results are still not perfect but MUCH better! Also, once this project is complete, I'll sent the blade off for a re-sharpening, as I have had it a while.
I also cleaned off a couple of Freud blades as long as I had the cleaner set up (I used an big old pot my wife used to use for canning to soak the blades in.... it was the perfect diameter and also had ribs on the bottom which kept the lower portion of the teeth off the bottom of the pot). On the Freud blades, it not only cleaned the blades but also took off all of the labels. Oh well.
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