Resawing

[Greg in Maryland]

Good evening,

I am going to attempt to resaw some 4/4 quilted maple for a jewelry box I am working on. I have never seriously tried to resaw anything important and have a few questions before I sacrifice some expensive wood.

I am hoping to get a finished product as close to 1/2 inch as possible. I realize that after finishing the wood on all 4 sides, resawing it in half and accounting for kerf the math just isn't with me on this. Presuming that all goes well (Mr. Murphy, stay away!) what is a likely thickness I would end up with? I am thinking that 3/8 inch would be taken away by refinishing and resawing (If I am lucky), leaving two pieces 5/16 inch each. The plans call for 1/2 inch thick lumber and I just don't see that happening. Would 5/16 inch suffice? The box isn't that big -- in fact it's the same plan as this one http://www.bt3central.com/showthread.php?t=44483 BTW, Don, nice work! Thinking this through, it seems to me that I should have purchased 5/4 or 6/4 instead of 4/4 lumber. What you do you think?

How much surface preparation should I do before resawing? I am thinking that at a minimum I should finish two sides -- one side that rests against the table and the other against the fence. Alternatively, should I go ahead and finish all four sides and then resaw, knowing that in either case I will have some more finishing to do. Any thoughts?

I have a 14 inch Craftsman 1 hp bandsaw http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_1...Name=Band+Saws and I am thinking of getting some bandsaw blades from either Iturra or Timberwolf. The maximum stated blade capacity is 3/4 inch. However, I understand that blade thickness and the tensioning ability of the bandsaw all impact the maximum blade width the saw can run. Has anyone had any experience with this brand/model of bandsaw (or similar) and a 3/4 inch bandsaw blade? Am I being overly optimistic with the blade size? Anything I should be on the look out for before I go out and buy blades?

Any thoughts or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Greg

[LCHIEN]

you don't discuss several improtant factors. Like how wide is this piece of wood?
The wider it is the harder it is to resaw perfectly parallel to the face an thus you may have to lose some on the thickness planer.
Also you don't say how rough the surface is now.
I suspect you have already realized you are not going to make it (Two 1/2" thick finished boards) and are just hoping someone will come up with some idea...

Probably a good Highland Hardware or Iturra 1/2" Woodslicer blade will do for your bandsaw an save you some kerf. 3/4" is usually right at the successful limit for a 14" bandsaw.

[drumpriest]

The wood slicer is very very good. I have not tried the Iturra version, but the Highland Hardware version is well worth the money, especially for resawing on less powerful saws. 1/2" is a good size for resaw, with 3 tpi, one of the reasons the HH blade is so good is that it's thinner and removes less material. Another thing is to spray your blade with a dry lubricant (teflon), it'll help cut down the friction. Keep the feed rate fairly slow and you should be good, I had a 1hp craftsman and did some veneer resawing on it before I upgraded to my 18" Jet. Test your setup for blade drift on some inexpensive wood, cut some stuff up, adjusting the fence for drift until the saw is cutting straight. I would joint the 2 sides you suggested, and not bother with the other 2. You should easily be able to split a 4/4 board into 2 3/8" boards, and maybe even into 2 7/16" boards if all goes well.

[Bill in Buena Park]

I'm using a Timberwolf 3/4in low-tension 3tpi hook on my 14" Delta, and getting very good results at about ~.045in kerf. However, BS kerf is seldom smooth, and when I resaw for 1/2in rough thickness, my boards finish at circa 3/8in (.350-.400in) thickness after jointing and planing. YMMV. I'm including some photos of some Manzanita I resawed on Sunday (again, at 1/2in rough thickness, fininshed at just a hair over 3/8in (.380in)

Not knowing the flatness of your stock, I'd consider jointing on two adjacent sides, as you suggest, and then planing the two opposing sides - this should help ensure you have truly flat, square and parallel stock to resaw against the fence and table (you'd have to do it later anyway, and doing this first should help minimize material loss if material is not flat and square/parallel). Then resaw in half, and plane the two rough-cut faces, thicknessing to uniform thickness.

[Uncle Cracker]

If you talk to the folks at Iturra, they can give you excellent suggestions about which blade would give the best results in your particular saw. What these people know about band saws could (and does, actually) fill volumes. They use the exact same blade stock as the Woodslicer, and their welds are as good as any I've seen. Cheaper, too.

[Tom Miller]

How much surface preparation should I do before resawing?

I suggest doing as little prep to either side as possible -- just enough to get it to ride the fence and table without too much trouble. Here's why:

When you resaw, the resulting pieces will undoubtedly take on a new shape due to relief of internal stresses and variation in moisture content of the new surface. Any work that went in to surfacing the sides will be lost, along with the material that you planed and/or jointed away.

I used to face joint and plane before resawing, thinking I'd have a good reference surface on each piece. I can't remember a reference surface ever staying flat.

Regards,
Tom

[atgcpaul]

I started looking in the Woodslicer blade because of your question. I stumbled
on their resaw guide which is a good read.

http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/i...n=Custom&ID=19

[BrazosJake]

When you resaw, the resulting pieces will undoubtedly take on a new shape due to relief of internal stresses and variation in moisture content of the new surface. Any work that went in to surfacing the sides will be lost, along with the material that you planed and/or jointed away.

Regards,
Tom

Ditto that. I usually joint one edge and face, then make a cut. If I'm getting reasonably straight, flat cuts, I don't bother jointing the face again, unless I'm cutting really thin pieces.

I've gotten very good results with plain ol 1/2" Starrett 3TPI hook blades from BCSaw.

[SARGE..g-47]

I will join Tom in jointing one face an one edge. You say you have 4/4. That could mean many things as far as thickness. It could be rough slightly over 1" or it could be S2S straight line rip? It could be a lot of things but.. if what you indeed do have is anything under 1".. you are not likely to end up with a pure 1/2" piece to begin with.. much less after you clean up the kerf marks on the surface.

If I were you and I wanted 1/2 which I think you should go with.. I would take the 4/4 down to 9/16" or even 5/8" and then get my pure 1/2". If that means burning the remainder or using it for thinner veneer elsewhere.. so be it. Your best bet would have been to find a local who sells the stock in 5/4 and you would end up with two pieces slightly over 1/2". That should have probably been the plan before you purchased 4/4.

Good luck...

[Rich P]

The Iturra version of the Woodslicer works great and it's a lot cheaper. I ordered one of their springs for my Delta and the blade, so shipping cost was not too painful. It's almost worth it for their "catalog" which is actually a fantastic treasure trove of usefull BS and other woodworking info.

[atgcpaul]

usefull BS

This is the oxymoron of the day.

[DonHo]

Is your wood rough or S2S? If it's S2S and 4/4 or even 15/16" you should not have a problem getting 2 3/8" pieces, even after you sand out the blade marks. Of course that's if you cut right down the center and square. Take some time with your setup and check it on some cheaper cuts of lumber first. I have found that if I get my blade tracking on the center of the wheels that I don't have to worry about "drift". I use a tall fence and I made a feather board for resawing by stacking two regular feather boards with a spacer between them to hold the board square and tight against the fence. Another variable is how wide the boards are. It's much easier to get a "square" cut on a board of 2 1/2 to 3 1/2" than it is on a board of 5 to 6". I've used both the Itura and the woodslicer and they both work well. The Itura is cheaper but I'm not sure you can get it in 1/2" right now, I've had a couple on order for over a month and they are waiting for 1/2" stock to make them from.

Good luck and post pics of the box when it's finished,
DonHo

[tribalwind]

This is the oxymoron of the day.

double entendre of the day