I have own'd a table saw for almost a decade and I have NEVER encountered this before.

I am working on the top for the blanket chest I made. Solid white oak. I will post some pictures when its done but I need to make the top first.

I bought 8/4 rough cut white oak from my local lumber yard. The biggest piece is 11.5 inches wide. Two smaller width pieces.

I decided to cut the 11.5 in wide board in half to make it easier to mill. After running the three boards through my drum sander, for a final thickness of 1.9 inches, I noticed a slight twist on the 11.5 board. Its is 6' long and I was not worried, I have clamps that can fix that.


Onto cutting the 11.5 board in half. My still new Lugana F2 Fusion 1.75hp saw only made it 1' in before I could not push the board through the saw. That was my first WTF moment. I flipped the board over and it made it 2' in but again I was not able to push the board through the saw. My saw was complaining during the cut as well.

Could there be so much build up stress in the 11.5 board that cutting it results in the wood binding on the saw blade?



ETA: Wood is trash. Tons of stress in it. I will keep it for a future project (and until I can get a jointer and planer).
ETA2: My lumber yard gave me full credit for that board, $154.

Yeah, that's what it sounds like to me. It can happen on smaller boards than what you've got there and it will jam up or kick back.

Be careful. Might be better to cut it on a band saw if you got one.

Scary stuff. Wedge the kerf if it is safe to do so.

Another option is to cut all but a 1/4" through then flip the board and finish but only cut deep enough to finish and you still may have to wedge the kerf.

Casehardened lumber is scary to cut. The suggestion of partial cuts is a safe way to do it.

A big thank you to everyone. I had never heard of caseharden lumber.

I could cut it at 1/4 inch but afterward the twist will still be present.

I will decide on what to do tonight and I will head to my lumbar yard tomorrow.

I tried to cut a piece to do a stress test but once again my stupid 1/3 HP benchtop Rikon bandsaw couldn't do shit.

Here a picture for 2' cut side. You can see the stress.

Is there any way to tell is lumber is case hardened while at a lumber yard?

How many teeth on the table saw blade?  Wedge the kerf. Should resolve the problem.

If it's kiln dried it's probably case hardened. I've heard you can mitigate case hardening after the fact by steaming the wood but I've never tried it.

Tooth count does not matter. I was able to rip a smaller but longer piece of 8/4 white oak with no issues.

Thank you for you help.

I have bought lots of "kiln" dried lumber from various lumber companies over the years but this is my first time seeing this.

I tried to 1/4 cut method. I made it throught 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 but at 1" (8/4), I could not push the piece through the saw, again.

I turned off my saw, got the piece of lumber off of my saw, and threw it on the ground. It split in two. I might post some pictures of the two pieces later tonight.

Tooth count always counts. You said rough 8/4, why use a fine tooth blade. You had a twist is the board. That's the reason for the binding.

Switch to fewer teeth and wedge the kerf. Resolve's most of the problem with the saw hanging up. Try it next time you'll be surprised.

Like I said before the tooth count of blade is irrelevant because I was able to rip another piece of 8/4 white oak with ease before I got to this piece. I always use a thin kerf blade. I only use high tooth count blades on plywood.

I have been using a table saw for years. First time seeing this problem.

Age will mitigate case hardening also.  As moisture migrates from the wet interior of the wood into the dry exterior, it will allow the exterior to expand again and release the tension set.  So wood that was kiln dried a while ago won't exhibit the same degree of case-hardening as wood that was kiln dried very recently.

Well I went to my lumbar yard and explained what happened. I got full credit for that 11.5" by 9' 8/4 white oak board.

The replacement boards were a bit bigger so I had to pay under $50.

Yep.  2X something or other doug fir.  I was ripping and it bound up hard.  I got through the rip and the board did a mighty twist and that was the end of my use for my rip cut.  Never seen it again.

I have a saw mill and have done small tough jobs for folks before. Yes even stressed boards. Had one where the 3" thick 16" wide plank that developed a warp in it. Like a rocking horse. Put it on the mill and was able to make it flat the full length and only took 1/2 " off total thickness.

Moral of this is if any of you run into a problem like this look for someone near you with a portable saw mill. For a one off I don't charge. Just help the person out with about 30 minutes time. One of the benefits is word gets around that I have product to sell. I've sold some nice mantle planks from just this type of word of mouth.

EBR

seems to me it would be best to let a board go where it wants while air drying vs trying to force it flat and kiln drying it.

OP just got lucky if he was cutting 8/4 kiln dried wood before.   It is almost never dried properly and is case hardened.   Becuase kiln operators don't usually have a full load of 8/4 boards and don't want to run the kiln at the rate and total hours it would take to do 8/4+ boards correctly.

Rip them down on a bandsaw first close to the size you want.  Only take small slices off at the table saw, or dimension on a jointer and thickness planer.
On a table taw ripping 8/4 kiln dried boards is a good way to get hurt or damage your shop from kick back.

Not going to matter a bit with residual stresses in a board.
If it wants to pinch in, it will
And sticking wedges in a table saw kerf if you're the only one in the shop, that's just foolishly dangerous.

Use a band saw

I never knew of case hardend lumber before so this was my first WTF when I could push the wood through my table saw.

I have a small bench top bandsaw that is a POS. I will be selling it and saving up for a correctly sized bandsaw.