I’ve several 2X12X8 southern yellow pine boards I need to rip. I’m using a Unisaw (3 hp). The wood is relatively knot free. I sticked the wood in my shop for about 6 weeks after buying it and my pin meter reads between 6 and 8% moisture on the stock. I put a brand new Freud ripping blade (not a glue line blade) on the saw.
The saw’s bogging down and stalling with each cut I attempt. I’ve tried reducing my feed rate to no avail. Each attempt pretty much results in an electrical breaker trip on the saw’s circuit (only one leg is tripping out, but not always the same leg). The first board pinched the splitter so badly that I sat it aside assuming I had some wild torsion in that board. Other boards didn’t close up on me, but the saw still stalled.
I’ve had no problems in the past ripping even 9/4 hard maple or oak. None at all. This is my first time using SYP for anything.
What am I doing wrong?
Replies
Construction grade lumber is notorious for this. First, the obvious. Make sure your rip fence is parallel to the blade. Another thing to consider is the blade width. A wide kerf blade may work better. Beyond that, be prepared to put some small wood wedges into the kerf soon after the end of the work piece end gets past the splitter. More may be necessary as the cut proceeds.
Hope that helps.
What am I doing wrong?
Not using a bandsaw.
Seriously, make sure you are using a splitter on the tablesaw. If there is so much tension in the wood that the kerf is closing, I would not continue to rip it on the tablesaw.
http://johnbarfielddesign.com/
Your meter may be reading the surface, but it sounds like it could be wet on the inside.
My contractor saw struggles with thick rips using a regular kerf blade. Thin kerf blades, even a combination blade, works much better. Thin kerf blades remove much less wood than regular kerf, so they seem more powerful.
If you have a bandsaw, you can rip a little wide on that, then clean up the cut on the table saw.
Reading back I was a little short on my reply. I assumed you have a bandsaw, you didn't say. A bandsaw is much safer for ripping. The blade will not bind, burn, or kick back. The cut will not be as smooth, but wood that moves like yours will have to be face jointed after it settles anyway.
http://johnbarfielddesign.com/
Thank you all! Wedging helped once I was able to get the rips past the splitter. As with many things, a bit more patience helped. I have a bandsaw that I'll have to use to rip 2 of the boards. I really wanted to avoid that since the boards were pretty heavy and I don't have a reasonable way to set up infeed and outfeed support on the band saw. I'll just line up a helper to get through the ripping with the bandsaw on the 2 remaining sticks.
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled