I have a Sears table saw that i purchased used from a relative (yeah, I
know...). I will be building cabinets for my kitchen remodel. I
purchased a new saw blade and did a few experimental cuts last night
and found that the wood had burn marks on it. I tried cutting at
different rates and still had the marks. I then measured to make sure
the blade was perpendicular (which it was) then measured front and back
of blade against the fence... it measured about 1/16" off.

Is this enough to cause the problem? And if so, is there an adjustment
to correct this? Or am I doing something else wrong. I'm not a new
remodeler, but I am a beginner with working with a table saw.

Thanks.

If it has the same fence that mine does (stock) it will do it. If it's
off that much it will wedge the piece in as you push it through.

See another post on Kickbacks for horror stories about what this can
cause.

What I do isI take a measurement on the front and back of the fence
from the edge of the table to line mine up.

Getting a good fence would fix it, but there's this $$$ issue. ;-)

Good luck.

If I remember the saw correctly the fence has two bolts near the front
(on top). If you loosen the bolts you can align the fence to the miter
slot. You should confirm that the blade is parallel to the miter slot.

Generally I checked the fence pretty regularly to make sure it was
parallel. Finally bought a Jet Supersaw--now no problems.

lots of warnings about kickback. all true.

so you're going to have to tune up your saw.

if you are the kind of sawyer who shifts the fence from side to side of
the blade, you will need to get alignment closer than if the fence will
always be on the same side of the blade. what you really don't want is
to have the back of the blade closer to the fence than the front of the
blade.