Furry Edges

[Kingmt]

I'm new at milling so I don't know if this is common/normal or not. I'm milling pine. I use dish soap & water as my lube. The pitch is staying pretty well cleaned off my new 4° Wood Maxx blade.

My wife asked why it was leaving the furry edge. I didn't have an answer for her. I've seen this on lumber before & also planned lumber I've sawed but I don't know what causes it. It doesn't bother me & doesn't hurt anything to build with it but I would like to be asked to give an answer other then maybe it is cold.

[UpInATree]

Furry on the exit side of the cut?  If so, this can be from feed speed too fast for the sharpness of the blade. 

[Kingmt]

Yes on the exit side. I thought I was going really slow.

[Ox]

Happens a lot for me when sawing pine.  More so when the blade is duller.  Feed speeds don't seem to make much difference.  Some furry edge always seems to be there except around knots.  I just figure it's a pine thing.   :laugh:

[bkaimwood]

Exit fray is more notable on softwoods, sometimes non existent on hardwoods.. While feed rates and blade sharpness impact it, even using the ideal new blade for what you are sawing and matching feed rate typically will not eliminate it. It has little to no impact on the quality of lumber, and is pretty much normal...production sawing with higher feed rates and more aggressive blades makes it worse...but, like I said, with it being pretty much normal, don't beat yourself up trying to eliminate it. If you want just experiment with different blades and feed rates...

[Magicman]

Put a sharp blade on for comparison and see if there is any difference.

[drobertson]

Not sure how furry is furry, but sharp blades with the right wood will still give ya the curls, at least for me, curls being fuzz as you mentioned.

[GDinMaine]

It will be "furry" and sometimes there is nothing you can do about it.  I see it happen when the logs are less then "fresh".  I could not make smooth lumber from year-old pine logs with a brand new blade that just came out of the box. It was not only producing the fraying on the exit, but on the surface of the boards as well. I tried WM 7° and 9° blades.

[timberjackrob]

I have it quite a bit with poplar no problem with it in oak.

[gfadvm]

"Exit fray" - I learned a new term today. I like it. Elm seems the worst of the hardwoods I cut for "exit fray". But I don't see it as a problem.

[Kingmt]

It doesn't bother me at all. I just didn't have a answer to the "why" when I was asked. I'm sawing pine I cut about a week before sawing. Once the bark is cut away I get 1-2" stipes hanging off the exit side of the lumber. I think they may have only been on the bottom side of the cut but I wasn't paying enough attention to it to know for sure.

I was just tickled that it was nice & smooth for the most part with no waves anymore. The stock blade was making wavy lumber.

[78NHTFY]

Also like the term "exit fray." ;D.  I cut a fair amount of WP -- typically see "EF" when pine is fresh and blades getting duller.  The drier the pine the less EF.  It had an effect on my work the other day when staining air dried ship lap for my barn: the EF was dry and tearing up my brush when I applied stain to the ship lap surface.  Not really a problem: just a pole barn! .  Just part of the rough cut look of the wood surface.  All the best, Rob.

[deadfall]

Exit Fray Happens

[snowshoveler]

None of that nasty exit fray on a circle mill.
Just messin with you.
Regards Chris

[barbender]

I get more exit fray on pine with WM 7's  than I do with WM 10 's

[UpInATree]

So...if the circle mills don't get EXIT FRAY, is there something to do with the gullet size of the cutting blade?   Of is the cutting action of the circle mill different as it moves through the wood?

[snowshoveler]

The gullet size is huge and I think the feet per minute is crazy high too.
That's why a circle mill needs big power.
I kind of cheat..my 4 side planer eats all my mistakes and also all the exit fray.
No evidence left at all.
Chris

[Kingmt]

If if assume the circle blade sounds into the wood so it isn't pushing the fray or of the board like a band saw does. This is a little hard for me to put into words tho.