Greg Guarino wrote in news:j5vkkr$6ba$1@dont-
email.me:

The last time I did this I burned up my circular saw, or more
specifically, the brushes. I cut four doors that day, in fairly quick
succession. I'm no genius with a circular saw, but I thought I had done
it right. I used a fence as a guide and set the blade to protrude maybe
a half-inch below the bottom of the door. I tried not to go too fast.
This was a year ago, by the way.

I've since replaced the brushes and the saw works fine. It's a
pedestrian Skil model and has a fairly coarse 7-1/4" blade on it. I've
also got a much older saw with a 6-1/2" 40 tooth blade. I have another
brand-new HD solid-core door to cut down. It's the thinner variety that
they sell, 1-1/4"?

Tips, besides having an extra set of brushes around? Something to coat
the blade with to reduce friction, maybe? Cutting half the depth first?
(That doesn't sound like a good idea to me, but if you're too afraid to
ask, you don't learn)


If your Skil is like mine, you may want to blow it out with some
compressed air. I had some gunk stuck in the upper guard (old trex
shavings) and as soon as I cleaned it out the saw ran much better. On
the initial cut, I thought it was time to replace the blade, but on the
final cut there was no doubt that it was ok.

Interestingly, it looked like the size of the sawdust particles decreased
as well. Maybe the blade was running at speed and taking smaller bites?

Puckdropper