Thanks for your comments - Denis, Grant, & Mark.
I wondered what my chips really looked like. Maybe they look "powdery" because they're so small & I can't see their real shape. So I took a pinch of chips & looked at them with a magnifier. Well, they aren't all powdery. Maybe not "stringy", but a few are:
formatting link
Wondering about the feed pressure, I leaned on it for a cut & it did seem better. But I didn't look at the chips closely. The CTS site Denis' referred to cautioned about excessive distance between the blade guides, as it will allow excessive bending & possible cracking at the back. That would be more so with small (1/2") blades & excessive pressure.
That site also recommends feed pressures in terms of "Medium light", "Medium", etc. Anybody ever see specific pressure recommendations? I.e., in lbs?
BTW - my blade is actually 15 tpi. 15??! Yeah - I counted it 3 times. It's a blade that came with the saw. After all these years of counting teeth with a scale held beside them, I finally found an easy way: press a piece of paper into the teeth, mark off a inch, & count the holes:
formatting link
Bob