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rip blade?

4K views 43 replies 18 participants last post by  GeorgeC 
#1 ·
I have a brand new table saw and I am unable to rip a 2 x 6 piece of construction/treated lumber. Do I need a special rip blade to do this? Your input is greatly appreciated.
Rick from Texas
 
#3 ·
Do you have a splitter on your saw? Wet lumber will close up and bind on the lumber. It is also a kick back risk. If you don't have a splitter, then cut as far as feeds easily and turn off the saw and then hammer in a shim to spread the material.

But a splitter is best. If you took off the splitter (along with the guard), put it back in place and try again.
 
#13 ·
Yes, a splitter is necessary for some rip cuts!

Do you have a splitter on your saw? Wet lumber will close up and bind on the lumber. It is also a kick back risk. If you don't have a splitter, then cut as far as feeds easily and turn off the saw and then hammer in a shim to spread the material.

But a splitter is best. If you took off the splitter (along with the guard), put it back in place and try again.

I recently attempted to rip a 1" X 12" Oak board in two pieces, but only got about 10" down the length when the kerf closed on the splitter and it would not feed any further. Had there been no splitter on the saw, it would have been a kickback. So, to proceed, I drove a tiny wood wedge into the kerf which opened it up enough to complete the cut. I keep a small wedge right on the fence just for those rare times this happens.

:vs_cool:
 
#4 ·
Simple answer, yes, fewer teeth the better, 24 tooth is fairly standard. You need to use the proper blade for the job, which means you will be changing blades as the type of cut you have to make changes. You can get by with a combination blade for utility work but there will be trade offs.
 
#5 ·
ripping is much different than crosscutting ......




What is the blade that's on the saw now? Most new saws don't come with a quality blade, just so you know.



I use Diablo Thin Kerf blades from Amazon or Home depot:
Ripping 24 teeth
General purpose 40 teeth
Combination 50 teeth
Cross cutting 60 teeth
Fine finish for miter frames 80 teeth


:vs_cool:
 
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#6 ·
Hi Rick! Welcome to WoodworkingTalk! Sorry to hear about your problems.

What does "unable to rip a 2 x 6 piece of construction/treated lumber" mean? The more details you provide, the better.

Which model table saw did you buy? 110v? How much horsepower?
Did you check its alignments with a combination square or other tools?
Is the insert level with the table?
Which blade are you using? It is new, not worn, right?
How high are you raising the blade?
What happens when it is unable to rip the board?
Does the blade slow down or stop turning?
Does the wood get pinched or blocked somewhere as you push it through?
Are you using the blade guards, riving knife, splitter, anti-kickback pawls, or other safety gadgets? Could one of them be interfering with the cut?

Have you tried other cuts with your new table saw? Which cuts did you make? Were they successful?

Have you tried cutting a piece of the same lumber with another saw? A handsaw or circular saw? What happened?
 
#10 ·
Seems like most people arent really touching on the actual question, but no, you do not 'need' a special blade just for ripping operations.

Now, a dedicated, low tooth count ripping blade does make the process easier and can give good results, but you do not need one. A lot of people, myself included, get by just fine with a 40t "combination" blade for all operations. A dedicated ripping blade will allow you to feed a piece through faster, and in some cases give a cleaner cut, so its not a bad idea to have one, but not a requirement by any means.

If your current blade isnt cutting it, theres a few things to look at. The biggest one is the possibility that your piece of wood is closing up on the blade, causing it to bind. Happens a lot with construction lumber, its just the nature of the beast. The best fix is to use something like a riving knife that prevents the wood from closing up on the cut, but barring that ive had decent results by making an incremental cut, starting shallow and raising the blade by about 1/2" at a time. Works well enough for me
 
#11 ·
As mentioned, first be sure the wood isn't binding. Construction lumber can have a lot of internal stress due to the rapid kiln drying.

That said, use the right blade for the job. Chances are, the blade that came with your saw is a crosscut blade, and probably a cheap one at that.

There are two basic ripping blades, 24 tooth and 40 tooth. The 24T blades are usually flat top ground and are also used for plowing narrow grooves, such as drawer bottoms.

40T blades will give a smoother cut. Some are called "glue line rip".

Combo blades can also be used for ripping.

On direct drive or table saws with lower powered motors, I recommend a thin kerf blade.
 
#15 ·
I also faced this problem few weeks ago then took suggestion form one of my friend to use table saw having few teethes it cuts it perfectly with less effort of-course as the teeth is reduced and you can make more movement for and back easily makes cutting easy
 
#16 ·
The KEY to Rick's problem is the "treated" lumber. Virtually guaranteed to be wet, full of stress and a total PIA to work. With a low powered saw use a "rip blade" I. E. flat top with teeth wider at the top than at the plate and very few teeth. 12 to 24 teeth?? Like suggested, stop the saw in the cut and dive a wooden wedge to open the kerf. You may need to do that several time on a long cut. Keep the riving blade in place to reduce kick back chances. Do not try to use a straight line rip blade on a weak saw. Because of their design they are using the side of the teeth to shave the kerf smooth. It takes power, lots of power! A 3hp table saw won't cut it, tried it. We have a small straight line rip saw. 12" blade, chain fed, 15hp, max feed rate 99'/min. Slow by industry standards.
 
#18 ·
I was born in Odessa, but currently live in the country outside of Normangee.
That's very nice, @rick from texas.

Would you care to respond to everyone's requests for more information about your rip cutting problem or were you planning to ignore them, as you have been doing for an entire week?

At the very least, you could say "thank you" to all the people who gave freely of their time trying to help you answer your question.
 
#22 ·
I bought a Rockwell RK7241S.
I have checked the alignment.
The insert is level with the tale.
I'm using the blade that came with the table saw - it's a 40 tooth combination blade.
I raised the blade so that the teeth are just barely over the top of the board.
When it is unable to rip the board, it becomes impossible to push the board
farther through the saw.
The blade does not slow down or stop turning.
As I push the wood through, it will, at some point, start to rise up off of the table saw.
I am using blade guards, I don't know about a riving knife, don't know if it has a splitter, I
believe it has anti-kickback pawls, and I don't know if any of these is the problem.
I have successfully crosscut several pieces of wood.
I have not tried to cut the same board with a handsaw or a circular saw, but I will give it a try.
Thank you for responding to my post. I really appreciate it.
rick from texas
 
#23 · (Edited)
The factory blades are ......

The blade supplied with the saw may not be ideal. The 40 tooth sounds right for a general purpose blade IF it's a decent quality. Blades have come a long way in the last 10 years, so let's move on to what else may causing this issue.


Try a different piece of wood, maybe a softwood like Pine and a hard wood like Oak. Beware of flying knots in Pine however.


Back to the original piece....See if you can determine if the kerf is closing up as you make the pass. If it's binding on the splitter or riving knife, that piece of wood may be destined for firewood. However, there is a method for dealing with that type of wood. Just make a 1/2 depth cut at first all the way along the length. The remaining wood keeps the kerf from closing on the splitter or the blade. Then flip it over, end for end keeping the same face against the fence and make the cut completely through.


A new blade on a new saw should not be giving you issues. Now, make certain the fence is parallel to the blade and miter slot when it's lock down. This is critical, because table saws can NOT cut wedges very well, if at all. Every thing needs to be parallel for it to feed easily.


Make sure your blade is higher then the riving knife! If not, it will only cut about 8" or 10" then give the symptoms you describe. Raise the blade to full height and try that....



Let us know what you find. :vs_cool:
 
#34 ·
That was me ......

The blade supplied with the saw may not be ideal. The 40 tooth sounds right for a general purpose blade IF it's a decent quality. Blades have come a long way in the last 10 years, so let's move on to what else may causing this issue.


Try a different piece of wood, maybe a softwood like Pine and a hard wood like Oak. Beware of flying knots in Pine however.


Back to the original piece....See if you can determine if the kerf is closing up as you make the pass. If it's binding on the splitter or riving knife, that piece of wood may be destined for firewood. However, there is a method for dealing with that type of wood. Just make a 1/2 depth cut at first all the way along the length. The remaining wood keeps the kerf from closing on the splitter or the blade. Then flip it over, end for end keeping the same face against the fence and make the cut completely through.


A new blade on a new saw should not be giving you issues. Now, make certain the fence is parallel to the blade and miter slot when it's lock down. This is critical, because table saws can NOT cut wedges very well, if at all. Every thing needs to be parallel for it to feed easily.


Make sure your blade is higher then the riving knife! If not, it will only cut about 8" or 10" then give the symptoms you describe. Raise the blade to full height and try that....



Let us know what you find. :vs_cool:
Some where way back in the first replies someone suggested cutting half way through, flipping it over and finish cutting from the other side. Before making the second cut put some wooden shims in the kerf and you should be fine.

I don't think you'll need the shims, but if so, do so. :wink:
 
#25 · (Edited)
Keeping the kerf open ....

As you rip down the length of a board, there's a kerf made by the saw blade, typically about 1/8" wide or less with a thin kerf blade. This kerf may close up do to stresses being relieved within the board and pinch the blade OR the splitter plate.

You can add a small wedge of wood directly into the kerf BEFORE this happens to prevent stalling the saw OR preventing the movement of the wood through the saw.

There are small pieces of steel that are plastic coated that you can locate inline with the blade to prevent this:
http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/page.aspx?p=65138&cat=1,41080,51225&ap=1

The illustration shows how they both will work. :vs_cool:

Read this article on table saw usage, especially blade height. It's a great source of good info!
http://www.waterfront-woods.com/Articles/Tablesaw/tablesaw.htm
 
#27 ·
If this is a wet treated 2X6 that is binding on the blade because the kerf is closing I would work my way over to the desired width, cut narrow strips aprox. 1/4" wide until you get to the required width. You will have wasted the offcut but will not have put yourself in a dangerous situation with a high blade or stopping the cut part way to insert a wedge which can be an adventure to the inexperienced.
 
#29 ·
The old school solution to this would be a steel, not carbide tipped, rip saw with lots of set to the teeth so it is very free cutting. Rather than bind against the saw plate, they will cut with both the leading and trailing edges, so you do get showered with sawdust. Anytime you are cutting unstable material the danger of kickback is there, so use precautions like push sticks, splitter, and a rip guard. I keep one or two of these blades around for really rough work, but it is harder now to find someone to sharpen them. When they are sharp, they cut with less power than a carbide tipped blade.
 
#30 ·
Yes, I'm sure it has a riving knife but not a splitter. I guess I need to buy one. I'm just trying to rip a 1.5" x 2" x 11" out of a board that's just slightly larger than that.
I've already used my miter to saw to cut the length to 11", and the board is already 1.5" thick; so that just leaves the 2" width.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
#32 ·
Tool Ag has most points covered. As for your blade height, generally it should set so the carbide tooth is just completely above the work, 3/16-1/4". A good thin kerf blade will cut freer but may not make enough kerf for the riving knife. Keep the riving knife! Kickbacks are one of the most dangerous things that can happen on a table saw. If the work won't feed freely, STOP!!! find out why. Wear eye protection. Getting hit in the eye with a splinter why cutting will distract you and cause loss of concentration, dangerous. Saw blades are exceedingly unforgiving.
 
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