Burn marks on wood

I also use the micro splitter in a zci, and have never had the cut off burn. The only thing I can think of is that you are using the fine kerf splitter with a regular blade and are putting pressure on the cut off against the blade.

If your blade and the splitter are the same size, then I wouldn't think it is possible. The right size splitter should protect against that.

I have both but I have the blade, the insert and the splitter color coded.

Had a thought though - if my fence were a wee bit out of alignment outward at the far end AND I was applying pressure against the fence, it might cause the offcut to pull against the left side of the blade. This was hard maple and it doesn't flex much. I'll check that later tonight.

Another thought - I recall that the splitter was really pressing the wood against the fence rather than just being 'neutral'. I know you can control the pressure depending on how you insert the splitter - I'll look at that also.

Vic

My guess would be that you've found the problem. Because of the high sugar content in maple it doesn't take much to get burn marks.

Boy, don't I know it. It's been pretty good with the WWII blade for a while but I think I used the splitter incorrectly.

BTW, completely off topic - I was born about 90miles SW of you in Erie PA. When I was a kid the lake was a beautiful thing. Then it got so much pollution that almost everything died. Have they been able to reclaim the lake at all or is it still a pile of filth?

Vic

I'm down in the Erie, PA area on about a weekly basis. The lake is now pretty clean with the closing of the major polluting manufacturers. A friend of mine is a scuba diver. He says that on a calm day the visibility is now (IIRC) about 50'- 70'. Perch and yellow pike are coming back.

Wow! That's good news. As a kid ( I'm pushing 69 now) we used to take an outboard skiff out on the lake for perch and then cook 'em right on the shore. Also remember how quickly a storm could come up and catch you if you weren't careful.

Thanx for the update Jack - there's hope for the world yet!

Vic

A splitter will help prevent binding and some burning. The blade does in deed come in contact with both sides of the cut before it reaches the splitter.

You are pushing the wood too slowly, or the blade is not perfectly clean, or your fence is toed out on the back right side of the blade.

How long since you have been back?

Lake had done a great job of recovery when I left in '89.

Next year, hello zebra muscles.

Lew

Misaligned splitter?

That could be, too, but if it happens on other workpieces too, I think I'd be looking for alignment issues (fence, splitter, or both).

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek at milmac dot com)

Nobody ever left footprints in the sands of time by sitting on his butt. And who wants to leave buttprints in the sands of time?

Easily 30 years, Lew altho from what Jack says I might take a trip this summer and see the few relatives I have left .

Vic

Vic,

I have the same problem with maple and not with cherry or oak. I checked all my alignments and readjusted everything to within a micron or two using my PALS. Even with the WWII, I get the burns on maple. Not bad burns but still a slight burn on the offcut.

I have the same problem with maple sometimes. My table saw is not particularly impressive, but it is properly adjusted- what I found was that raising the blade so that is sticks up about an inch to and inch and a half above the stock eliminates the burning. My personal theory on why this works is that the air whistling past the moving teeth is cooling them down, and the raised blade gives that just a little more time to work. No idea why it wouldn't be having that same effect when the saw is below the table, but it works anyhow.

It would be more hopeful if you realized that the "major polluters" of lake Erie were not those evil industrial employers, but housewives. Eutrophication was the problem. Algal bloom from too much sun and phosphate, followed by bust .

Those of us at the northwestern end were still catching walleye in the Detroit river offshore of the steel mills and chemical plants when the lake killed the perch.

Brest bay was some of the best perch fishing available....

Checked the splitter again and I *DID* insert it so that it was offset towards the fence. Reversed it so that it was neutral and no burning. The instructions on the jig say that the offset is .003" towards the fence as I had it installed.

Wouldn't have thought that slight iffset could have caused it but it's ok now.

Vic

On Mon, 16 May 2005 19:16:24 -0400, the inscrutable "no(SPAM)vasys" spake:

Yabbut what's their RAD count?

------------------------------------------ Do the voices in my head bother you? ------------------------------------------

Radiation's not a problem. It's the heavy metals and PCB's that will get you. See:

The worst area in the Great Lakes for heavy metals is probably Saginaw Bay, thanks to Dow in Midland, MI.

What has been found is that if man quits futzing around and allows nature to take it's course, nature takes care of it by silting over the bad stuff in a few years.

One of the worst rivers in the Great Lakes system is the Black River in Lorain, OH.

USS had a seamless tube mill there and dumped who knows what into the Black River for probably at least 75 years.

Catfish caught in the river usually had visible cancers on them.

The mill sat idle for awhile starting around the 1990 time frame and now is owned by Kobe Steel of Japan.

Don't have a clue what is happening there these days.

Lew

On Wed, 18 May 2005 18:18:12 -0400, the inscrutable "no(SPAM)vasys" spake:

P.S: I sure prefer UPSTREAM fish. WAAAAY upstream.

------------------------------------------ Do the voices in my head bother you? ------------------------------------------