tips for best finish

[DPForumDog]

I am looking for tips so that we can get the best finish possible finish.
What hacks  /hints / tips  could you share.

How do I know if I am walking the blade too fast or too slow thru the log? Does walk speed even effect quality?   
 
What about condition of the blade.   Angle, bent teeth, etc.

Can wood be too green or too dry?

What are ways to prevent wash boarding, pancake flour and the metal discoloration?
What problems and solutions? 

What are bad habits we less experienced folks have that you experienced guys shake your head at?

Thanks
Granny DP
DPForumDog 

[DocGP]

First thing I would recommend is to spend a couple weeks running through the old posts on the forum.  A wealth of knowledge is contained within.

Doc

[woodyone.john]

Best finish I get is using razor sharps. If it wasn't for imbedded objects I would use them exclusively. Now I use 7ts and tipped only for resawing.

[SawyerTed]

Speed does affect quality. Too fast creates waves.  To slow creates heat and build up on the blade which causes waves.  

The smoothest cuts come from sharp blades with consistent tooth set within specifications, somewhere around .025 (preferences vary a few thousandths +/-). The washboard look comes from a tooth or teeth with too much set/bent tooth. It's easy to mishandle a new blade and bent a tooth during installation or even pulling the blade from the box.  A bad habit is poor blade maintenance on dull blades like not boxing them or otherwise protecting them from damage until they are resharpened, letting them rust and not securing coiled blades from uncoiling unexpectedly.  I had three blades hanging where I bumped into them.  They weren't secured from uncoiling.  When the blades fell, hit the floor and uncoiled, I couldn't get out of my sharpening shed quick enough (think Wiley Coyote being chased by three uncoiling bands with 558 teeth).

Flour (fine sawdust) left on the boards comes from one or a combination of things.  Too much lube, sawing too slow, teeth set too wide and not clearing the sawdust, sawing with a dull blade all can cause fine sawdust to remain behind on the boards.  Sawdust should be more like cornmeal (not flour and not grits).  There will always be some sawdust left in the kerf.

A bad habit that bites most of us one time or another is sawing with a blade too long.  Quality of the cut goes down and sawing dull decreases blade life due to the stress and heat.  It's better to change blades too soon than too late.

Not checking blade tension and drive belt tension regularly are also things that decrease cut quality.  

Poor housekeeping on and around the sawmill is a bad habit for safety and quality work.