Cutting Maple....Blunt Blade?

[Distinterior]

I've been asked to make a small gift for someone and have been requested to make it out of 2 different offcuts of wood that I've got "spare"....
The 2 woods are Spalted English Oak with a minimal amount of spalting and a section of a reclaimed Maple kitchen worktop.

As part of the gift, I want to make a 120mm square open topped box with mitered corners & bottom out of the Maple, but every time I try and cross cut the mitres on the Maple, it is burning the cut.....The same blade cuts the Oak perfectly well. I've tried to make the cut on both my table saw sled and on my Festool Kapex mitre saw.
I have tried 2 or 3 different blades but they all produce the same result.
Admittedly, none of the blades are brand new but are freshly cleaned of resin and, as I said, all the blades cut the Oak without any issues.

Can anyone suggest a particular blade that is particularly suited to cross cutting Maple?

Do I just need to try a new or freshly sharpened blade?

Just for reference, the material is approximately 12mm thick x 120mm, so not a huge depth/length of cut even...!
Blades are good quality general purpose TC tipped blades with approximately 60 teeth and are ATB type.

Would less teeth help do you think...? ( On the saw blades,....not in my mouth!)

Tim.

 

[recipio]

Firstly maple is prone to burning like American cherry. It needs sharp blades at all times. I suspect your 60 tpi is creating too much friction and of course the maple is bone dry. The answer is to use a 40 tpi blade with a slight 5 degree positive angle. Wealden market a blade called the 'Cleancut 40 ' just for this purpose. Not cheap of course but worth keeping just for very hard woods. It also helps to have the piece clamped down when cutting. Otherwise just use a freshly sharpened blade.

 

[niall Y]

The proneness to burning could well be the sugars in the wood, Cutting cherry has always filled my nostrils with the appetising smell of cherry pie.
You could try using the saw to plane a fraction of a millimetre off the side of your mitre and slide the wood away from the spinning blade, as quickly as possible.

 

[pgrbff]

You might use one of those often derided tools, a shooting board, to clean up. Takes minutes to knock up.

 

[kinverkid]

I second the shooting board as the cheaper and best finish option.

 

[Doug71]

I've used a lot of Maple recently and haven't found a problem cutting it with my Kapex although they have all been square cuts no mitres. My blade is newish but embarrassed to say it's only a cheap 60 tooth thing from Saxton. Clamping does help on mitres as the wood can get pulled across (I'm sure that's a granny sucking eggs type thing I just said).

No problem cutting the Maple but I'm finding my planer blades aren't lasting long!

 

[Distinterior]

I've used a lot of Maple recently and haven't found a problem cutting it with my Kapex although they have all been square cuts no mitres. My blade is newish but embarrassed to say it's only a cheap 60 tooth thing from Saxton. Clamping does help on mitres as the wood can get pulled across (I'm sure that's a granny sucking eggs type thing I just said).

No problem cutting the Maple but I'm finding my planer blades aren't lasting long!

When I cut the mitres on my Kapex, I did use the clamp to hold the maple in place but it still left a burnt cut.
I've freshly sharpened a blade today at home, so will try it in the Kapex tomorrow ......

 

[loftyhermes]

Not sure if this will work with what you're using, but when I'm scroll sawing I, along with a lot of other scrollers, cover the wood with clear packing tape to prevent the blade burning the wood. It's something to do with the release agent on the back of the tape lubricating the blade.

 

[Distinterior]

Sorted!
A freshly sharpened mitre saw blade and it cuts fine now.

Thanks for the advice everyone...

Edit.
In case anyone was wondering what I used to sharpen the saw blade with, here is a picture of what I used.
It's not a top quality tool by any means, as it takes longer to set it up correctly & remove any slop/ play in the mechanism than it does to actually sharpen all the teeth.! Having said that, once set up correctly, it does a a pretty good job and can be adjusted to suit lots of different sized blades.
I've had mine for about 10 years.....

 

[Pabs]

I've found maple burning when I cross cut with the chop saw
Less with bandsaw
Less still with handsaw then shooting board


And worth the time as a small hobby scale of course.