In woodworking, a rip cut is a cut made parallel to the wood grain. Rip cuts are commonly made with a table saw, but other types of saws can also be used, including hand rip saws, radial arm saws and band saws. Unlike cross-cutting, which shears the wood fibers, a rip saw works more like a chisel, lifting off small splinters of wood.
As a general rule, tools which work well for rip cutting do not work well for crosscutting. Most woodworkers thus have a table saw, which is used for rip cutting, and a chop or miter saw, which is used for crosscutting, which should never be used for ripping a board because it is very dangerous. Circular saw blades designed for rip cutting have a smaller number of larger teeth than similar blades designed for cross cutting. There are combination blades for table saws that can be used for ripping and cross cutting but should not be used for non through cuts such as dados and rabbits. If you use a radial arm saw to rip you need a blade with a negative hook angle for the teeth to keep the saw from lifting the board off the saw and kicking back.
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