Matthew Simmons

I had it at 4 and then 5 on my dw788, which I thought was the highest it could go, but I'll double check. And I did have the crimped end up. I'll keep playing around with it though.

I did the entire be mine box using a #5 Flying Dutchman ultra-reverse blade, which cut like a dream. Sit in front of the blade, push, it cuts forward, it turns when you want it to, etc. It can be a bit aggressive at times (especially in 1/4" stock) but turning the speed down on the saw seemed to take care of that. Then I started on this nature shadow box. Those turns are pretty fiddly, and the material is 1/4" plywood, so I decided to try a #2 UR blade instead of my trusty #5. My goodness the #2 is temperamental. The blade I put in only wanted to cut at a 45 degree angle, and was seemingly ready to go off in its own direction if I even looked at it funny. I made the mistake of trying to cut one of those long interior straight lines (layer 2 in the pattern, for example), and had a very bad time. I eventually gave up and put the #5 back in for those lines, saving the #2 for the fiddly bits. Is this behavior typical, or is it just me? The need to drive the part at an extreme off angle to get a cut in the desired direction, the difficulty cutting straight lines (compared to the #5). It feels like I've traded in a dog for a cat. Bonus question: Is it normal to switch between say a #5 and a #2 for different parts of the pattern?