smoking cuts

[Marcellarius]

I stacked two  1/2" pieces of the jatoba hardwood. UR#3 blade
the orange wood sawdust is really fine and on one time i noticed smoke coming underneath my saw....
first I thought it was my saw engine but luckily not,  it was  the sawdust.
it's was a bit sticky (due to the wood type i guess) and didn't fell down well, so it cumulated at the bottom of the stacked wood between the project and the saw-table and started smoking...
the little round metal plate of my Hegner has became dark brown.

nothing bad happened but I was thinking/wonder  could this smoking sawdust eventually start to burn?
did some of you ever had that this to a phase that it became dangerous?

[scrollgirl]

Jatoba is not only oily, but it is really a hard and dense wood.  I don't think it would ever flame up, but you do have to really be cautious when working with these exotic woods in regards to breathing in that fine dust.  Even if you don't see it, it will get into your lungs and can possibly cause problems.  I have heard from people that have had severe allergic reactions to different types of wood dust.  I am not trying to be the "scroll saw police" but you really need to take care when using these. 

Stacking the jatoba to an inch high is probably why so much heat is building up.  You could try using packaging tape on both sides which will help things run cooler, but you may have to just not stack it at all.  Slowing down the saw a little bit may help too, but that means you will have to be more patient when cutting. 

I am also interested in seeing what others advise for this. I hope this helps a bit though.

Sheila

[dgman]

I think Sheila is spot on. I would never stack cut 1" thick, especially exotic hardwoods!

[ChuckD]

I would never stack anything an inch thick.

[Marcellarius]

Thanks for your advice!

I already expected that the dust was bad so I used a mask, but thanks for the advice.
I also covered the wood with painter tape, glued on the pattern and covered that with transparent package tape.
so thats was no problem, I know 1" is thick, but the wood is self didn't burn at all.
it was purely the sawdust that got black and smoking. guess the oil in the sawdust must Be the problem then....

[GrayBeard]

Is there any way you could attach the nozzle of a shop vac under your table to try and draw that dust away?
I 'engineered' a wide mouth collector nozzle under my saw table and connected my shop vac to my foot pedal so it only runs when I am actually cutting.
Of course I also had to remove my CI and turn off my hearing aid to keep from going crazy with the noise!!!

~~~GB~~~

[IBMer]

I get the same effect from Olive Wood..     Any dense, oily wood will smoke a little.   You may want to switch to a #5 blade to help with the dense wood, although it will probably still smoke a little.

J.