Resaw Fence Guides on Band Saw

[Martin_S]

I recently acquired my first Band Saw. It's a 14" jet and came with a resaw attachment for the fence. I don't understand the why or how of this particular attachment. Any help or our sources of info would be appreciated.

Martin

[LCHIEN]

The one from jet looks like a cylindrical object standing up attached to the regular fence. Others are semi curved.

Anyway the thing about resawing on a bandsaw is that there's a certain drift, the saw does not cut parallel to what seems to be the blade angle perpedicular to the wheels and parallel to the miter slot.

So the r4esaw fence is what I call a single point (really a single line) of contact - you put it adjacent to the blades teeth the resaw distance away. You mark the line you want to cut on the wood and keeping the wood in contact witht he resaw fence you aim it so that the blade cuts down your cut line (which may or may not be parallel to the fence and miter slots.)

So now that we donated this free eduaction you should donate your unwanted/un-needed 93" blade(s) to some poor deserving bandsaw newbie instead of selling them for $20.

[Jeffrey Schronce]

Does the fence itself adjust for drift? I think that is an easier answer than trying to eyeball the single point. What do you think Loring?

Also, you may find that after properly tensioning a 3/4" resaw blade on there that you can use the fence without the single point attachment. I spent a fair amount of time setting up my saw making sure everything was set perfectly. I saw straight against the resaw fence and it is perfect. Of course I have a 3/4" blade which will change drift quite a bit from a 1/2" blade.

Do yourself a favor. Get a good resaw blade from Iturra Designs. Their knowledge is outstanding, their prices are half of Highlands and the resaw blades are supposed to be among the best.

[LCHIEN]

... What do you think Loring?

....

Well the point of that type of fence is that you can follow a cut line accurately, esp. with a 1/2 or 3/4" blade, more reliably than you can set a fence for drift. The hand-eye coordination gives feeback controlled correction, whereas there's no feedback to setting the fence and following it.

I'm talking purely theory here, I'm not an expert in resawing. But my feeling is that these factors affect the drift angle:

bandsaw blade itself (tooth set, width, thickness etc)

Tension

blade position on the wheel crown

Wheel alignment

thickness of the wood/

setting of the guide height

type of wood

feed rate

wear and gap on the 4 side guides and 2 thrust guides

So as you can see I think that not all factors are going to hold steady when pre-setting the drift angle of the fence with scraps of wood, then cutting a different piece, and even as the cut is made the feed rate varies and the blade tension releases some as it heats up, the guides wear, etc. Using human, real-time feedback would seem to work better.

I have the kreg/dugunski resaw fence and plan to use it when I do try some resawing (now that I have a Highland blade).