I am having problems with my Delta 12" compound miter saw. It started a while ago, but first only with hardwoods such as oak: when I tried to cut a piece of rel. thin chair-rail molding with the blade tilted to 45 degrees, it would just totally shred the wood, instead of cleanly cutting it. Now I am having problems with softwoods: when making a standard cross-cut (everything at 90 degrees) through a relatively hard piece of pressure treated 2x6, I noticed that the blade seems to flex as evidenced by saw marks on the side of the piece after cutting. Also, while pressing the saw through the wood, the cutting feels very rough. I visually checked the blade and the it looks OK, all the teeth are still there. I am still using the original Delta blade, which is a 12" 40-tooth ATB blade. It looks to me like a thin-kerf blade.
Is this simply a sign of a dull blade, or is there a different cause? If
the blade is to be blamed, what blades would you recommend - for simple framing (2-by wood) versus hardwoods such as oak? If possible, please include some suggestions that are not too $$, I don't use the miter saw for the absolutely most demanding jobs (I have a pretty nice blade in my table saw for that). However, getting big saw marks on the side of the cut is unacceptable.
Thank you for your help!
Adriaan.
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