recommended blade for cutting Europly?

[mike1967]

I am building some cabinets with Europly.  This is great plywood and the design I am doing calls for exposed edges.  The edges are similar to Baltic birch: many plies, few voids, and they look great.  The only drawback to Europly is cost.  A 3/4" sheet is around $125.

I am getting some slight edge burning with my TS 55 saw, stock blade.  I have been able to sand out the burn marks but would prefer not to cause them in the first place.  Some of the burn marks reflect user error in feed rate, but I am wondering what blade I might want to try in the future.  Surface chip-out is not a problem with the TS 55 stock blade.  Would more teeth or fewer teeth be recommended in my situation?

Thanks, mike

 

[EcoFurniture]

I'm using europly quite often... you are right, that stuff is expensive!!!

So far I haven't had any issues with the stock blade. Just try and push the saw a bit faster.

 

[ForumMFG]

Maybe experiment with motor speeds and blade depth.

 

[mike1967]

Ok, that is good.  I can hear that the TS 55 is working hard on the Europly; I do not hear a similar noise when cutting regular 3/4" ply.  Do you notice this as well?

mike

 

[jonny round boy]

Maybe the blade is a little dull - try a new one & see if it makes a difference.

 

[ForumMFG]

If you are using the same blade as eco, then you should get the same results if there is not to much human error.  Try a little dri-cote.

 

[EcoFurniture]

No problems at all... I even cut 1.5" bamboo countertops with it. Ok, I have to admit it's going slow, but no burning...

 

[Greg_R]

Maybe the blade is a little dull - try a new one & see if it makes a difference.

Or maybe it is just dirty... try cleaning the blade and lubricate it.  I've cut quite a bit of appleply (13ply 3/4" maple plywood) and have not had any burning problems.

 

[woodshopdemos]

You have a lot of good advice. Add one more thing...when you clean it, are there burn marks on both sides of the blade or just one. If the latter, your saw needs some minor trascking alignment.

 

[woodshopdemos]

aand something happened in my shop yesterday. I was cutting some phenolic coated europly and things were going smoothly until the saw started to get bogged down. I set out to change the blade then I saw the blade and it had more than the usual burn marks...I cleaned it  back to shiney steel (CMT Blade and Bit Cleaner) and put it back on and it sawed like a new blade. I think we (I) forget the number of glue layers in that stuff...and glue layers can mean saw buildup of "tar". I think the quality of the glue (China panels) may have same negative effect.

 

[Dave Ronyak]

I have no experience with Europly, but wholly agree with John's observation that the glue in plywood likely leads to faster buildup of contaminants on the blade and degradation in cutting performance.  I have used several different brands of spray on blade cleaner, including CMT; all seem to work OK.  I recently purchased one of Rockler's blade cleaning kits which includes a bowl large enough to immerse 12" circular blades in the cleaning solution.  The kit also includes a quart of concentrated cleaner which Rockler recommends be diluted with 3 parts of water to make the cleaning solution.  I recently cleaned both my TS 55 blades and my 10" table saw blades using this immersion setup.  Although Rockler includes a brass wire brush in the kit, I decided to try an old toothbrush (nylon bristles) first.  To my amazement, after soaking a blade only a few minutes, the crud came off very easily with the toothbrush.  The solution can be kept in the bowl with its cover on until needed again.  I found this method much faster overall, and much more effective in terms of cleanliness of all surfaces and recesses of the teeth on these blades when I was finished, and less mess than with the spray-pump type bit and blade cleaners and paper towels or rags.  The crud on my blades was due to cutting Chinese origin birch plywood and USA origin poplar core/oak veneered plywood.  After cleaning the blades, I spray them with Dri-Cote and wipe off the excess before re-installing them.  CMS also makes a cutting edge lubricant which also helps reduce friction and buildup of crud.

Dave R.

 

[BC6738F5BCE98B4]

Without wishing to take this thread "off message" could someone post a link or describe what Europly (and how it differs from Baltic Birch) and where one can get it?

 

[EcoFurniture]

http://www.columbiaforestproducts.com/Products.aspx/Europly 

Not only is is FSC certified, it is also formaldehyde free. Compared to baltic birch it is also higher in quality and doesn't have to shipped around the world, it's a north american product with plants all over so that shipping can be cut down to a minimum.