# Ripping 8/4 stock on table saw



## jaidee

Hello all,

I have decided to try working with heavier stock and want to do a laminated top for a kitchen island. Went back and forth on granite vs. wood for weeks and the wood finally won out. I would usually dive right in head first with my eyes shut but a recent experience with mortise and tenon beaded face frames has made a bit more pensive in my approach to new things, so I have decided a large cutting board would be a good intro project to gain some good insight.

My question is really more on tooling. I have a rip blade in my 10" table saw (Rigid TS-3650, made before they sold out to the Chinese) and when I rip either the hard maple or the purple heart slabs it does not leave a clean enough face for glue up. I would still need to joint the faces taking off a 32nd or more. I have seen others rip cut a clean face and wonder if it is the saw or the blade that is lacking. I have trued the blade/arbor and the blade is square in both planes to the table. I use a blade stabilizer which allows just enough of the blade above the table to just clear through the slab. I know that this is probably the cause of the slight burning and can't be avoided unless I remove the stabilizer discs and just nut the blade on the arbor.

I have also seen "glue line" rip blades on various sites but wonder if they are any better given my equipment than what I have. Are they worth $80+?

I appreciate your insights,

jd


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## marcuscraft

I just ripped some 8/4 walnut w/ a freud blade on my grizzly 1023 and it out came glue up ready. I spent a good deal of time adjusting the top and fence so that everything was square and I generally do not have any burning issues, unless I am just showing stuff through quickly.


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## Jeff28078

I have a 3650 and have never used or needed stabilizers except the washer that came with it. If you do maybe it's an indication you need a new blade and why not get a glue line one anyway? Have you tried the blade without the stabilizers? Maybe they're warping the blade.


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## lumberjoe

Glue line blades are pretty good - HOWEVER they are not going to help you here. Most glue line blades (like the popular Freud LM74 and LM75 series) are good up to 4/4 only. So skip the glue line rippers if you are working with 8/4
Check out my review on this blade
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=31766&site=ROCKLER

I get consistent clean rips with this blade in everything i have cut so far. I had some REALLY interlocked red Cumaru (exceptionally hard wood) that made me nervous, but it plowed through it easily.


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## Loren

While a glue line rip blade may work in 4/4 stock most
of the time, the pressures released when you rip
a piece of 8/4 hardwood are pretty unpredictable.

You can improve your chances by using a riving 
knife or splitter, a short fence extension,
and a more powerful saw. Still, many ripped
boards will have saw marks on them due to
tension in the wood.

If you want really good results use a jointer.


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## Ripthorn

My current blade is in need of a sharpening so the rips are not glue up ready. However, when the blade was new, they were. So you may need to look into sharpening your blade.


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## DS

Even if you manage to get a glue-line rip out of your 8/4 stock, it most likely won't remain straight after it is cut. 8/4 tends to move more than 4/4 in my experience.
I nearly always figure to make a pass on the jointer just to straightline the board again after it is ripped. 
That takes care of the saw marks, if any, at the same time.


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## luce32

I use a glue line blade for 8/4, I know it's only good for an inch, and I do not have born marks. I push it through between slow and medium speed and keep it going at a steady feed rate. I do joint the edge before I start. The blade seems to be just fine - no warping. I've riped pear, hard maple ( some burning ),mahogany,cherry, and some others without any issues. Do not push it through as fast as it will go. Good luck


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## tenontim

As already mentioned, you need a good, sharp blade. Maple and purple heart are both very hard, so expect some burning. If you're not going to joint the boards before glue up, I think you'll be happier with the granite.


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## Cosmicsniper

Edge joining/clean up of 8/4 boards for larger panels is the only real reason I keep my jointer, though how often do we really need to glue together 8/4 boards? For most everything else, my saw blades leave glue ready edges. But I have a 3hp cabinet saw and sharp blades. YMMV.


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## jaidee

Thanks everyone for your input, it is greatly appreciated. I ended up taking off the stabilizers to allow the blade to raise up past the gullet during the rips and pushed through steady. The cut was not glue ready but there was no burning and I only had to make a light pass on the jointer to clean it up. First glue-up went well and I was pleased with the result. Made several very light passes through my thickness planer after scraping all the glue off both sides (used a chisel and scraper for this) until both sides were smooth. I was tempted to just square off the ends and make it a simple edge grain laminated cutting board, especially after making the first squaring cut with a new 80T blade. It was soooo smooth and sleek. But I just can't do it…...gotta do the rest of the crosscuts to make the edge-grain board. That's this weekend's project. I'll post photos if anyone is interested when I'm done…...no matter what the final result!

Thanks again,

jd


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## Charlie5791

Just curious. Are you making the island top 2 inches thick? My kitchen island is walnut. The boards were run through a planer many times before being cut to width. Why? In my case we were using walnut that had been air dried in a barn loft for 20 years. It was pretty roughly sawn. We were planing down through the imperfections to see how thick the top would actually end up being. Some boards were obviously better than others, but my island top is just under an inch and a quarter. After the glue-up it was run through a wide-belt. Had to be done in 2 sections as it's 41 inches wide and nobody had a machine big enough to handle it in a single piece. So we had one seam that had to be finished by hand. Then I sanded the whole thing with a ROS, rounded the edges, cut out for the cooktop, knocked one corner off, and applied the finish. So far, it's been great! 









SO I was never ripping 8/4.. More like 5/4. Pretty big difference actually.


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## jaidee

The 8/4 I'm using right now is for a large cutting board project. I wanted to gain my "education" on a smaller scale (translation, "less expensive") before attempting a 34" x 72" island top. The anticipated finished thickness of the island top will be +/- 1 1/2" so, depending on whether I choose to go "edge grain" or "end grain" I will probably be working with at least 6/4 stock to begin with. I like the idea of taking it someplace with a drum sander to finish it. I'll have to look around and find a shop that has that equipment.

jd


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## HorizontalMike

I use the LM72M10 24T Freud blade on my G-0690 TS, and I love it so much I bought a second one when the first one needs sharpening. I typically will use it to rip 8/4 when I get boards wider than my 8in jointer can handle.

I also love the flat bottoms of the cut… Great for dados and rabbets.


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## knotscott

The term "glue line rip" is a marketing phrase. You don't need a special blade to achieve a glue ready edge….you need good alignment, a sharp good quality blade, and flat straight wood. Most decent 30T to 60T blades are capable of a glue ready edge…..even some 24T blades are capable. 80 teeth for ripping can lead to some burning, but it depends on several factors. For ripping in 8/4 cleanly, I'd be looking to a top notch 24T, or something like the 30T WWII.

*Saw blades*

FWIW, the TS3650 is a good saw, but it was made by TTI/Ryobi in Asia. It was the first of the Asian made Ridgid contractor saws. The TS3612 was the last of the US Emerson made contractor saws.


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## BillWhite

And the answer is…...................?
Freud makes an 18 tooth full kerf blade specifically for thick stock.
We struggled with ripping heart and SYP at work. Blades were heating and drawing resin from the wood. Guess what? Blades would gum up, smoke, cut like crap with std. rip blades. The 18 tooth has been a great problem solver. Yes, it needs cleaning and a reasonable feed rate, but the smoke has gone away.
Regular hardwood should be a breeze with this blade.
Check it out.
Just my professional production shop experience.
Bill


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