Mitre saw blade

[Chris_belgium]

Hello, have been using this cmt blade for a while now with very good results. Today I used it to cut a small piece of wood along the grain and the blade had difficulty cutting the wood, lot's of smoke and burn marks. The burn marks were in the face of the cut not on the side of the cut (hope that makes sense ).
Does this mean that the blade needs to be sharpened or is it just the design of the teeth that makes this blade unsuitable for long grain cutting?

Christof

http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=366014&name=cmt+blade&user_search=1&sfile=1&jump=44

 

[DaveL]

Blades with lots of teeth have small gullets and are nominally used for cross cutting. The small gullets cope with the small chip type saw dust this produces. When cutting long grain you tend to get longer stringy saw dust, which needs bigger gullets to carry it out of the cut, hence the ripping blades have fewer teeth.
If you are careful it is possible to rip with a cross cut blade but the feed rate must be quite slow.

 

[Chris_belgium]

That makes sense, thank's for the explanation!

 

[wizer]

Try the Atkinson blades from workshop heaven, they are the mutts nuts!

 

[devonwoody]

Mitre saw blade?
Are you using it on a table saw?

If you are using it on a mitre saw, it is usually not recommended to cut along a grain.

 

[Chris_belgium]

No, am using it on a sliding mitre saw. I don't have a table saw, so for ripping small (30cm) pieces of wood, it's handy.

 

[Karl]

Why were you using a mitre saw to cut along the grain?

 

[Chris_belgium]

Why were you using a mitre saw to cut along the grain?

Because it's fast and easy,

 

[wizer]

Are you keen on your hands?

 

[Chris_belgium]

Are you keen on your hands?

yes

 

[devonwoody]

Are you keen on your hands?

yes

Well do not use a mitre saw to cut with the grain. :wink:

 

[clewlowm]

i always use my scms to cut with the grain and across the grain. its safe as long as your skilled and the work is clamped. its been done for years.

 

[devonwoody]

i always use my scms to cut with the grain and across the grain. its safe as long as your skilled and the work is clamped. its been done for years.

How do you clamp with the grain items?

 

[clewlowm]

its called a hand

 

[wizer]

i always use my scms to cut with the grain and across the grain. its safe as long as your skilled and the work is clamped. its been done for years.

I don't think the fact that you've got away with it for 'years' makes it a safe practice.

I think it really depends on the width and length of the board being ripped. The saw's fence arrangement would restrict narrow pieces and, of course, you can't rip more than the saw's capacity. Personally I'd not want my hands closer than 150-200mm to the blade. If you don't have a TS to do this, then setup a circular saw with a home made saw board guide.

 

[clewlowm]

of course its safe! im a trained carpenter 22 years now i know my limitations and what i think is safe. i have all my fingers, and cannot be told what is safe by anyone that sticks there hand into moving cutters.

 

[wizer]

:roll:

 

[clewlowm]

not meant to offend wizer :? its a safe practice as long as your skilled and understand what can go wrong. i have great respect for my machines.and would not advise a novice to attempt it. it is safe though. correct blade and sharp blade.

regards mike