First I sharpened my bets on a simple kitchen knife
diamond stone... it is getting pretty worn down anyway.

Then I did incremental cuts which improveds things
immensely.

The peduliar thing I noticed was that the cut would
consistently be uneven-- one side higher than another.
It must have been my technique so I just worked
from the opposite side of the piece so the pressure
was evened out.

Result: a smooth even cut which I was able to edge
sand to get the tear-out smoothed.

No smoke this time. ;-)

lon@athenet.net