Resawing

Resawing: Mastering your fears and your bandsaw

By: Josh Brower

Josh Brower looks at pushing your bandsaw to its fullest potential in a multipart series.

Intro

Learning how to use your bandsaw can be the single best things to aid in your woodworking. The bandsaw can accomplish more tasks than any other tool in your shop by using a variety of jigs.

Here is a short list of things you can use your bandsaw for:

1) Cutting out turning blocks from solid boards or logs

2) Creating 3d models and cabriole legs by cutting on 2 adjacent faces

3) Ripping/Crosscutting rough and twisted stock safely

4) Cut any size circle (with a shop built jig)

5) Prejointing bowed boards to save on jointer blades

6) Cutting out curves for legs

7) Resawing for laminations, saving wood, and creating your own lumber

Maximum Usage

Your bandsaw can not only help you save valuable wood, or create your dimensioned finished lumber, but can save you a lot of money by turning your firewood or expensive wood into some of your finest project lumber.

A Diamond in the rough

A firewood pile or downed tree can be the source of some of the most unusual and figured wood you will ever have. Many exotic woods can’t be produced in large enough quantities to make them commercially available. However, a bit of time and a good chainsaw can make your bandsaw a very profitable and fun machine.

Woodturners are the most frequent users of secondary wood (wood not available commercially) as they often turn the wood green and wet from the tree. Here are some simple tips for harvesting and using your own wood:

First find a suitable log, limb, or branch that interests you

Look for these woods as they are some of my favorites…Catalpa, buckthorn, lilac, apple, pear, apricot, and boxelder

Determine what diameter of piece you can cut on your bandsaw. Typical 14” bandsaws will allow you to cut 6-8” under the guides when pushed all the way up. That means you will have to use a chainsaw to trim the wood first to fit under the guides, or install a riser block (see part 2 of this article on installing aftermarket upgrades) Most Taiwan produced 14” saws like Delta, Jet, and Craftsman will accept a 6” riser block which changes your blade length from 93 ½ “ to 105” and your resaw height to 12” under the guides. Note: The 14” designation on the saw is the distance from the blade to the cast iron support arm, or the maximum crosscutting ability of the saw.

From there it is a matter of deciding if you want a turning blank (pic) or some thickness of lumber for a project. I find it very useful to take high spots off of bowed boards before jointing or rip highly twisted stock before additional machining on the bandsaw, as the wood is held fairly stable against the table from the downward force of the blade.

It is essential to have a tuned machine and the appropriate blade for the cutting you have in mind. Tuning up the machine takes a couple of minutes and is well worth the effort. Look at the sidebar for blade guidelines, and follow these simple steps on tuning your machine and find out just how easy it is!

Sidebar

1/8^th blades (avg 14tpi)-for tight curves (outside scroll saw work), smooth cuts, thin woods.

¼-3/8^th blades (avg 4-10tpi)-all purpose blades used for 90% of your work. Use fewer teeth per inch for harder or thicker woods. If you only buy one blade get this one!

½-3/4 blades (avg 3-6tpi)-best for resawing mild curves or straight lines to turn rough lumber and logs into usable boards and veneers. Most 14” saws work best with a ½” blade with 3-4tpi for resawing.

Definition (tpi= teeth per inch)

Step by Step

1) Unplug the machine

2) Take the tension off your blade till you can flex it ¼” by pushing on the flat side of the blade

3) Move the guides away from the blade on the back and the sides as far as they will go. Make sure you do this to the top and bottom set of guides!

4) Rotate the blade by hand as you adjust the top wheel tilt knob until the teeth hang off the front edge of the top wheel(pic)

5) Retention your blade to manufacturer specs plus or minus 1-2lbs based on intended usage. A little less tension for small blades and tight curves, more tension for hard woods, thicker stock, and maximum recommended tension for resawing.

6) Square your table to the blade by placing a square on the table and tilting it until it touches the blade from top to bottom and set your stops for 45 and 90 degrees under the table top for good (pic).

7) I like to set my top guides next, but your could also do the bottom first. Bring the rear thrust bearing to the back of the blade first. I like to leave about .003” gap which is the thickness of a sheet of typing paper between the back of the blade and the front of the rear bearing. Rotate the blade again by hand to make sure tensioning hasn’t changed the position of the teeth on the wheel. Adjust as needed to bring the teeth off the edge again.

8) Bring the side guides in next and leave the same gap of .003” on each side of the blade. Folding a piece of paper around the blade and snugging up the guides while the paper is still present works well.

9) Clean out any dust left in the bottom of the saw, hand rotate the blade so you can see that it doesn’t bind on anything and plug the saw back in after closing the doors.

10) Turn on your saw and start cutting! Once you’ve done this or changed blades a few times you’ll have this whole process done in less than five minutes.

Now that you have a tuned machine and know what you can do with your bandsaw it is time to try resawing.

Why resaw?

Perhaps you want to make a one of a kind board stretch as far as you can, or you need multiple bookmatched pieces to push your big project over the top. There are simply too many reasons why you need to know how to resaw effectively.

It is rewarding to be able to produce different thickness of veneers that are easier to work with than the commercially available 1/42^nd that is now standard in the United States. In Europe they use 1/50^th! You can be a little more daring with your sanding if you know you have 1/8^th of thickness to go through before you are out of veneer. The frightening part is when you miscut that one of a kind board that you can’t replace. Avoiding mistakes takes good preparation and a few simple accessories for your saw to make it both an enjoyable and reliable experience.

Bonus Material (Sidebar)

While the bandsaw remains one of the safest remains one of the safest woodworking tools it still has to be respected. With the blade pushing the wood down into the table it is possible to leave the blade spinning through the wood without any movement to the wood at all…which isn’t something you want to try with this or any other power tool. Many times it feels natural to push the wood all the way through the blade from the rear with your thumb for pressure. Avoid doing this as stitches in the end of your thumb hurt and can lead to permanent numbness at the tip!

Options to consider for resawing (Sidebar)

1) Riser Block

2) Roller Guides

3) Zero Clearance

Essentials for Bandsaw resawing (Sidebar)

1) Tuned Machine

2) Appropriate Blade

3) Fence

See part II for

Skill building while resawing (finding blade drift, and adjusting for it)

Shopmade and commercial jigs for making the process simple and effective

Plans for making your own shop jigs