Pro tip: Check your blade before you cut a 12 foot piece of walnut

I was fitting a custom bookshelf in a house in Bellingham last week. I had one long piece of walnut left, about 12 feet long. I set up my saw and made the cut, but the blade had a tiny chip I didn't see. It left a nasty tear-out along the whole edge. I had to stop, drive 20 minutes to get a new blade, and then re-cut the piece from the other end, losing about 6 inches of good wood. Has anyone found a good way to spot blade damage before it ruins a cut?

3 comments

3 Comments

emerychen1mo ago

Ripping a whole sheet of maple ply with a chipped blade was my version of that nightmare. @ericfox has the right idea with the test cut, but my dumb brain always rushes past it. The sound is the giveaway for me now, a weird high-pitched whine right before it chews up the edge. That noise haunts my dreams more than the cost of the ruined wood.

taylor_flores1mo ago

Had the exact same thing happen with a dado stack last month. Thought I could get away with one more cut before swapping it out. Nope. That high pitched whine you're talking about is dead on. Heard it for half a second before the plywood just exploded on me. Now I do the test cut thing too. Feels like it adds time but beats trashing a $70 sheet of maple.

ericfox1mo ago

Man, that's the worst. I've started running a quick test cut on some scrap plywood first, like a ritual. It shows any wobble or chip right away. It feels like a waste of time until it saves your whole project lol.

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