Blade flex (revisited), cleaning

RE the smoke... it's the cherry. If I feed cherry too slow on my 3 HP cabinet saw with a sharp and clean Forrest WWII blade I get smoke... gotta keep it moving as when going slow the friction gets the wood hot which results in smoke and burn marks. By going the same slow speed with other woods you will likely not see any smoke.

RE cleaning. I soak in Simple Green over night, brush, rinse, and spray with WD-40. Good to go even with gooey woods like air dried pine.

John

The wood is smoking not the blade. Too much heat. Real easy to get Cherry to burn. Dull blade or weak saw or out of alignment feed or feeding too slow. I think finding the right feed rate is what you need to do. If your machine is underpowered you might just burn the wood at the fastest rate.

Is it a 40 tooth ripping blade? Is this a full kerf blade? A thin kerf blade will reduce the power consumption significantly and may fix the issue. Also a coated blade can help and also vibration kerfs like in a Freud blade can help..

There are a number of chemicals people use that clean a blade fast. But many of them are rumored to be bad for carbide or the brazing attaching the carbide.

Simple Green worked better for me than kerosene. The only problem with SG is that it might erode the brazing that attaches your carbide to the blade, according to the manufacturer. They say don't soak the blade, but spray and wipe is fine (which gets me nowhere with that product). They also recommend soaking the blade in strong black coffee, for tough jobs.

I wouldn't mess with caustic oven cleaner, because it is believed to react chemically with carbide.

I use washing soda (not baking soda) to clean my blades and use WD-40 after, as well, to ensure the metal is dry. Washing soda is fast but you have to keep it out of your eyes (maybe it's not all that much safer for your eyes than oven cleaner, I don't know).

Maybe the best solution is to purchase a commercial blade cleaner. Like CMT Formula 2050, which you spray on and wipe off after a couple of minutes. There are other brands (Oxisolv, Empire Blade Saver, etc).

Hadn't tried the washing soda.... I have a box of it sitting in my shop that I mix with other stuff for cleaning things like pressure treated wood. Next time the blades need cleaning I'll give it a shot. I've got TSP sitting there too and that will act a paint remover if you soak things in it. I took the paint off a whole kitchen worth of hardware using TSP... probably work on blades too! I've probably got about everything for cleaning in powder form and quarts of a lot of other stuff. Sometimes it's tricky to figure out what it is I'm trying to remove so a good selection is useful.

John

Question

Has anybody investigated an ultrasonic cleaning process for cutting blades?

Expense might be an issue.

Lew

Hmmmmm. That means that my little "cause" is near hopeless. For what I was doing, going with a super-slow feed would fill my basement work-shop with smoke, I could take a week just to cut it all. Going fast with the blade at 45 degrees resulted in an untrue cut. Damned if I do, and damned if I don't (feed fast). :-(

Not what I wanted to hear, but I needed to hear it. Any other American hardwoods burn this easy on a table saw?

Good enough.

Thanks, Peetie

Peetie Wheatstraw wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

You may be able to work around the tool by cutting slightly oversize and then using another tool such as a jointer or plane to finish the edge.

Puckdropper

Use the product specifically made to clean bits and blades. CMT Formula

Spray on, let soak in a few seconds and wipe off with a paper towel.

Puckdropper's suggestion of cutting a bit oversize and using another tool to clean up the cut is viable.... I recently cut cherry on an angle and I cut it just oversize enough to clean it up with a No 5 L-N plane--literally a few thousandths. I sharpen that plane like a jointer rather than a jack. That took care of the burn marks and the slight saw marks in a few swipes across the width of the cut.

Personally, I haven't had this problem with other domestic woods unless it pinches or I didn't keep it tight to the fence. The Biesemeyer T-Splitter helps with the pinch problem and with feeding.

John

Is the cherry green? I've never used cherry.

RE the smoke... it's the cherry. If I feed cherry too slow on my 3 HP cabinet saw with a sharp and clean Forrest WWII blade I get smoke... gotta keep it moving as when going slow the friction gets the wood hot which results in smoke and burn marks. By going the same slow speed with other woods you will likely not see any smoke.

RE cleaning. I soak in Simple Green over night, brush, rinse, and spray with WD-40. Good to go even with gooey woods like air dried pine.

John

You *are* a cherry which explains your great need for attention.

It's a $400 (in 1985) Craftsman direct-drive with cast-iron leafs. I *think* the motor was rated at something like 2 hp.

Blade is maybe 20 years old, sez stuff like:

Freud 10" Carbide Finishing 40 Tooth Advanced Anti-Kickback Design

Hit it with oven cleaner years ago, now I can hardly read the markings. No part #, etc. Cuts a kerf a little under 1/8".

I cut slow and true, it asfixiates (sp?) po' me. With blade at 45 degrees, if I cut fast (and suppress the smoke), I cut untrue. Maybe there's a workable compromise between fast and slow. Doesn't look easy to find.

Thanks, Peetie

Show me your cherry, Davey

You *are* a cherry which explains your great need for attention.

That sounds like the wrong blade for ripping... it sounds like a cross-cut blade. On a rip cut it cannot clear chips fast enough due to small gullets and the tooth configuration doesn't chisel out the chips it's trying to slice them out. That would explain problems on the rip cuts...

John

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I've used washing soda once (for an electrolysis experiment), have some left. No problem handling it, I'll likely try using it to clean my blade.

Thanks, Peetie

If it cuts okay with the blade plumb, your trunnions need shimming.

I keep a quart of Simple Green and a pie tin for cleaning my blades. It takes about half an hour before ALL the gum and tar wipes right off without any hesitation. I've reused the solution 3x times without any deterioration so far, so it's cost effective. I'll run it down my kitchen sink drain after I'm done with it to see if it can take any of the plumbing crap out, too.

-- The human brain is unique in that it is the only container of which it can be said that the more you put into it, the more it will hold. -- Glenn Doman

what about cutting it about 1/2 blade width oversized, then running it back to cut it to size with the same blade? the 2nd pass will remove very little extra wood and shouldn't flex.

Might work if I only needed to rip-mitre one side.

I was leaving maybe 1/8" un-mitred so I could turn the piece around, rip-mitre the other side with the same fence setup, then round with a router after glue- up. That wouldn't work with what you suggest.

Thx, Peetie