flexstar
Knows what a fatty is.
Appreciate the advice cause I've experienced several kick backs. What blade do you prefer for hardwood splits?
How large a piece was it ? How irregular was it ?
I keep the size of the pieces at a minimum.
And another tip would be to use another piece of wood to hold the piece being cut.
A three inch scar on my forehead and my wife discovering me covered in blood was the last time I used a mitre saw to cut splits.
But that's for splitting.
I need to cut 16" splits to 8" to 10" length, after they've been split.
And I don't want to spend $300 to $1000 for a band saw.
How about a table saw - has anyone tried it?
Go spend the 80 bucks on some gator loppers. They make quick and safe work of cutting up the splits. I had a couple kick backs using the miter saw and after the 2nd one I was done forever. The gator loppers are so easy to use and really designed for cutting irregular pieces of wood/branches.
That's what I use...works great...especially after using kindling cracker to split in half.
With a Table Saw, the rotation of the Blade would be TOWARDS the User generating a high probability of kickback.....with a Miter Saw, the blade rotation is AWAY from the User and it pushes the wood too the fence. I've had kickbacks with dimensional soft woods on a table saw....no way I'd want to try and cut unevenly shaped Hardwoods on a table saw.
Also, most table saws use 10" blades and max cut is something less than 3" by the time the blade clears the table. I wouldn't use anything smaller than a 12" Miter/Chopsaw.
Agreed that a table saw only works for thin splits (~3" or less); however, if I stand on the back side of the saw and pull the split toward me, the kickback would go away from me instead of toward me...but then again, it might throw my hand into the blade, and that wouldn't be good at all. So I'm thinking the table saw is not a good idea.