"Mike Marlow" wrote in message ...

I was ripping a slab of 8/4 walnut Saturday night and it was going so-so.

60 tooth blade.

Still - it's the wrong blade, and it was still smoking up the garage pretty
good. The cuts were very smooth but there was some burning on each cut.

60 tooth is way too many teeth for ripping... the gullets are way too small
to carry the waste away... and it is undoubtedly a cross cut grind.

So - after threatening for god-knows-how-long to smash the piggy bank and
buy a Woodworker II, I finally took the plunge. Ordered it Saturday night

Better than the 60 tooth for sure but I'd take my WWII off and put on my
Freud 24 tooth rip blade for such a task. A rip grind and large gullets do a
better job... I use a standard kerf blade as I've got 3 HP. If you have a
1.5 or 1.75 HP saw the thin kerf may be better...

The vast majority of the time my WWII is on the saw but when lots of ripping
is involved it's either the rip blade or the bandsaw!