# Wood smokign when cutting with Miter saw, Help



## brandonwhelan (Jul 11, 2012)

When I'm cutting with my dewalt 12in. miter saw it seems to not cut as quick as it did the first few times (I'm new to wood working and have only used it a few times) and there is also a lot of smoke, which never used to happen. The blade seems to be square. Could it be that the blade is warped or maybe some other problem with the blade?


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## skywalker01 (May 19, 2009)

Check that you don't just have a dull blade. Unless the motor is smoking. Perhaps you cut some metal with it at one time?


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## jmos (Nov 30, 2011)

What wood are you cutting? Pitch can build up on a blade and cause smoking even thought the blade is sharp (it can't properly dissipate the heat.) Pine can be particularly bad, is is pressure treated lumber.


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## Walnut_Weasel (Jul 30, 2009)

Silly question - is the blade on backwards? I hear these symptoms often with bandsaws and it is often the result of the teeth pointing the wrong direction. I have put my blade on backwards on my tablesaw but luckily noticed it before I turned it on.


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## teejk (Jan 19, 2011)

walnut

most of us have been there…just a question of whether we admit it (my confession is a dado set that I thought I could stack in my sleep…one of the outside cutters was wrong…hard push, a little smoke and a crappy cut).

now I wake up before I stack it.


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## teejk (Jan 19, 2011)

back to the question…what wood? new saw? (the "stock" Dewalt blade used to be about the best blade available…I finally retired mine after about 7 years of what I can only say was abuse with a mix of treated lumber, laminate hardwood flooring, etc.).

and then we get to "square". across the table is easy enough to check but are you perp? your combination square set on the table with the blade going up across the blade (avoid a tooth) can tell you that. Dewalt does a good job on their flat stops but that tilt thing is trial and error.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

You got the saw new?

Did it come with a carbide tipped blade?

OEM steel blades shipped with some saws get dull fast.


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## TedW (May 6, 2012)

Brandon, you still with us here? 

Teejk, I once forgot I had a diamond blade on my circular saw when I went to make a plunge cut on some flooring, but I'll never admit to having done that. :]p


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## teejk (Jan 19, 2011)

Ted…you just admitted it…but that's why they sell brown caulk!


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## brandonwhelan (Jul 11, 2012)

Hey sorryy I've been working on a project all day.
The only woods I have cut are oak and pine. The oak was a few moths ago and that cut fine. Lately I've been cutting pine and it's been smoking pretty bad. The blade is the original blade from dewalt and I've only used it maybe ten times cutting a few pieces each time. 
The blade is a 12 in dewalt general purpose.


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## BentheViking (May 19, 2011)

Try giving it a cleaning to get some pitch off of it


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## brandonwhelan (Jul 11, 2012)

I'll give that a try tomorrow morning and do a few test cuts. Any tricks to clean it?


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## jmos (Nov 30, 2011)

There have been a number of threads about that topic, a quick search should turn up some good options. I'm using a cleaner I bought from Rockler that works pretty well, but I understand household cleaners like simple green work pretty well too.


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## Surfside (Jun 13, 2012)

Maybe you're cutting with a very high speed with your miter saw. You can put some coolants on your blade to lessen heat and would eventually lessen smoke. There are a lot of coolants available in the market, most generally applicable for any type of machine.


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## brandonwhelan (Jul 11, 2012)

Sorry I went out of town and completely forget to reply back…
I ended up cleaning the blade with a scraper, brass brush, and simple green. That seemed to solve the problem. There was a bunch of junk built up along the teeth and the sides of the blade.
Thanks for all the help everyone!


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## jmos (Nov 30, 2011)

Always happy to hear it was an easy fix!


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## Sawkerf (Dec 31, 2009)

You may also be cutting too slow. Newbies are overcautious and cut very slowly. The feed rate for soft wood can (and should) be faster than on harder woods (like oak).

Another possible cause could be some movement as the board is being cut. If the board isn't perfectly flat on the saw, or moves a bit during the cut, the blade can burn because of some slight binding.


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## brandonwhelan (Jul 11, 2012)

Sawkerf, you're exactly right. I was cutting slow for fear that I would splinter the wood on the bottom side. Since I cleaned the blade Ive been cutting faster and no build up!


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