10 replies to this topic

[Rhetts dad]

Looking to cut 3" or > hardwood stock. What horse power table saw would be needed?

[Tito]

1 1/2 to 3. Just slow down your feed rate. I have the ridgid 1 1/2 hp granite tablesaw n i cut 2 1/2 to 3 in stock fine

[John Fitz]

1.5 or 3 should work ok, just use a good sharp blade and make sure your fence is aligned.

[semmons23]

Make sure you use a ripping blade. 24 tooth and thin kerf can help as well especially if you have 1.5hp saw.

[Sac]

semmons23, on 20 February 2012 - 07:40 PM, said:

Make sure you use a ripping blade. 24 tooth and thin kerf can help as well especially if you have 1.5hp saw.

Nailed it...

[Bram]

a 3 phase motor would be ideal, a 3 phase doesn't bog down.
3 - 5 hp would be nice too.

[Nick Feola]

I guess I've never understood this. I have a sawstop contractor with a 1.75 hp motor. I've never felt like I've fed a piece through that it couldn't handle. I've cut 2.5" thick walnut and cherry with no problems and I know 1.75hp is on the extreme lower end. I imagine if i wanted to force a piece through as fast as I could it would bog down, but on a normal cut it does fine. What am I missing here?

[dwacker]

Nick Feola, on 21 February 2012 - 06:16 AM, said:

I guess I've never understood this. I have a sawstop contractor with a 1.75 hp motor. I've never felt like I've fed a piece through that it couldn't handle. I've cut 2.5" thick walnut and cherry with no problems and I know 1.75hp is on the extreme lower end. I imagine if i wanted to force a piece through as fast as I could it would bog down, but on a normal cut it does fine. What am I missing here?

If your saw does what you need then its enough. A saw blade has a max chip load like all cutters, so I guess if you wanted to run your saw at max chipload to get the highest production HP would really play a big roll and of couse cut quality falls as you fall below max chip load just like any other cutters. Even a 7.5hp is not enough to run the average combo blade at close to max chip load. Then of couse a human is not capable of feeding at those speeds anyways so the huge HP is not going to do much good. IMO 3-5 hp is perfect for just about any shop not using powerfeeders.

Don

[wdwerker]

Clean and wax or polish your table saw and fence. Sharp 24 tooth thin rip blade and you do not have to cut all the way thru in one pass! When I have to rip very hard heavy thick stock like maple I will rip 1/2 or even 1/3 of the thickness on each pass.Slightly oversize and then one pass to clean it up to size. . I have a 1 1/2 hp 120volt Unisaw.

Steve

[CessnaPilotBarry]

I ripped all kinds of stuff with great success on my old Jet 1-1/2 HP contractor saw, before I knew what thin kerf blades were.

As others point out, the key was the sharp 18-20 tooth RIP blade, not a high-tooth combo, and reasonable feed rate. An upside of the low tooth count blade was that you could go slower without burning the stock. There are blades specifically made for ripping thick stock, with ideal combinations of tooth count and grind shape, that make the saw's job far easier. Freud makes a good 18T example, appropriately called the "Thick Stock Rip" blade, part #LM71M. Rip blades are relatively inexpensive to buy, and also sharpen, due to a lower tooth count.

FWIW, some of the most difficult stuff I've ripped was not hardwood at all, but wet, pitchy, construction lumber.

[SDWoodworker]

Nick Feola, on 21 February 2012 - 06:16 AM, said:

I guess I've never understood this. I have a sawstop contractor with a 1.75 hp motor. I've never felt like I've fed a piece through that it couldn't handle. I've cut 2.5" thick walnut and cherry with no problems and I know 1.75hp is on the extreme lower end. I imagine if i wanted to force a piece through as fast as I could it would bog down, but on a normal cut it does fine. What am I missing here?

Likely a 1.5HP contractor's saw with dull or wrong blade, misaligned fence, fed with inadequate power due IR drop over extension cords will result in a poor experience in ripping thick stock. A 3HP saw will tend to mask dull / wrong blade to some extent so users are not as likely to experience the bog down one can get with 1.5HP.