Thanks once again for all the suggestions on how to stop that burning sensation in my Western Red Cedar.

I went under the saw and decided to torque up the trunion. Now my saw is brand new, a Ridgid from the Home Depot. This is my first piece of advice for readers of this BBS - if you've just bought a Ridgid, tighten the trunion as soon as you get it. Your's may already be tight enough, but just be sure. I zeroed the blade per the instructions and thought everything was O.K., but after a series of cuts the trunion must have shifted. Not much but the 2/100 it was out seemed to do the trick. Now I'm not going to say that the trunion bolts were sloppy, but I was able to run them in further with a socket wrench.

I ended up spending several days (after work) trying to set up my 10" hollow ground planer to the mitre slot. I always had the rear of the blade closer the fence. Out went the 10" in went the 8" DeWalt I had used to rip the pine. Partial success. The rear of the blade was now less than 1/100" out from the front, and stepped away from the fence. (Complete success would have the blade fully parallel to the mitre slot - I will be going to Lee Valley to get the blade truing disc for the next project.) I then set up an aux. fence that came in to the blade centre then left the rear half of the blade open.

I now have nice, cleanly ripped cedar planks. Mimimum burning, all my fingers.

Now for a question. My planks vary by about 1/100" over their widths, from 24/100" to 1/4". On one of my previous posts, Nick suggested the uniformity of thickness was of importance to achieving nicely machined stock. How uniform is uniform? Will I still be O.K. if I C&B these boards without planing them down? Or is 1/100" nothing that will be noticed? I'm a bit AR here - I seek perfection (illusive maybe, but I must try . . .).

I'm frugal too - can I use those burnt boards? (Sand 'em down, dress 'em with the planer setup I created - per Nick - on my router table?)

Thanks for the previous assist, and for your responses to this question. I'm about to join the ranks of builders . . .