Flaking

[jpillivant]

Steve,

I have the Dewalt 588 and when cutting for example Christmas ornaments that have writing on them, pieces of the wood will flake off on the backside.  Any idea what might be causing this?

[spirithorse]

Greetings,
You failed to give us any relative information to help but, normally, this is caused by poor quality wood.
Perhaps using something like luan rather than Baltic Birch Plywood.
I'm sure others will chime in when they see your post.
God Bless! Spirithorse

[KCSteve]

I've also seen that happen when a blade is getting dull, when the wood isn't tight to the table (so the bits get ripped off the bottom), or when using a coarse blade.
Try an 'R' blade and/or put some blue tape on the bottom.  Both of those reduce the 'fuzzies' and the flakes are just an extreme version of those.

[jscott2]

You could also try attaching a sacrificial board to the bottom.  Then the flakes are torn out of the waste board.  Be sure to tape the two together well.  If the flakes are not to big, more like fuzzies, then a sanding mop can remove them from the work piece.
Good luck,
Jim

[crusty59]

may be old dry plywood