# What Happened? Updated 3-5



## jdt (Jan 18, 2010)

Today I was cutting some 6 and 7 inch legs for some chairs from some 2X2 poplar stock on my Hitachi sliding miter saw. I was not using a stop, just measuring and cutting, but kept noticing the blade was binding or catching at the bottom of the cut. On the last piece I was cutting about 2 inches off the end so the piece was about 9 inches long. When it got to the bottom of the cut it grabbed the piece and sent it flying, backwards fortunately. I checked the alignment of the saw and fence and it was in good shape.

The blade was a Forrest Woodworker II. It has been in the saw for a while and has cut a lot of wood. It still seemed to have a good edge. I changed blades to a fresh one (not a Forrest, can't afford more than one) and the binding quit and the rest of the cuts went smoothly.

Obviously the blade was the problem but what happens to a blade to make it act that way? What I don't understand is why it worked well yesterday, but not on the same type cut. I know I should use the hold down but didn't, no excuses.


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## North40 (Oct 17, 2007)

Jim - I'm not sure, but I don't think the blade is the problem. It sounds to me like the 2×2 wasn't quite straight. If it's not straight the workpiece may bow up slightly off the table or bow slightly away from the fence. If that's the case, then when you are nearing the end of your cut and there isn't enough material left to maintain the curve of the wood, the workpiece will drop and the kerf will close and pinch the blade.

You said the last bad cut was also the last cut on one piece of stock. I'm not sure if you started a new piece of stock with the new blade, or if you re-cut the piece that had been thrown before moving on to a new workpiece. If it was a new workpiece, it was probably flat, so the binding quit because of the flat workpiece and not because of the new blade. If you re-cut the old workpiece, the material was already too thin to support a curve, so the kerf was already closed when you started the cut. You shaved a little more material from the sides of the kerf and then completed the cut.

I think I'd retry the Forrest on stock that I was sure is straight and flat. I bet you'll get a lot more use out of that expensive blade!


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## Tony_S (Dec 16, 2009)

Peter nailed it. 99% of miter saw kickback is due to cutting warped or twisted (even slightly) stock.


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## PaulfromVictor (Mar 29, 2009)

Is there a woodworker II blade for a mitersaw? That is a combo blade. Would the teeth be oriented correctly?


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## richgreer (Dec 25, 2009)

I agree with those who say that the problem was probably due to the stock but I want to comment on your choice of blade. The Woodworker II is a great blade and it is my favorite for the table saw. It is a combination blade designed to do both rips and crosscuts. However, I think it is slightly better at rips than crosscuts. That makes sense since on the table saw you usually rip more than you crosscut.

On a miter saw you are doing nothing but crosscutting. There I think you are better served by a dedicated crosscut blade such as the Forest Chopmaster with 80 teeth. The woodworker II has 40 teeth.


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## jdt (Jan 18, 2010)

My mistake. I was using a Forrest Chopmaster 80 tooth, not the WW II. I use it on my table saw. Man, getting old is a bummer.

I think the wood having a bow to it may be what happened. I had cut the 2×2's from some 10/4 stock and should have paid closer attention. My son-in-law needed the 2 chair frames yesterday for upholstering for a customer by next week. I was in a hurry and, in fact, worked 10 1/2 hours yesterday getting them finished. A little fatigue may have also played a part. I thought I was supposed to be retired.


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