5 Feb
My setup for resawing boards with the band saw
Posted in Blog, Resaw, Shop tools by Al (Sandal Woods)I have been showing resawn panels and 1/8-inch veneers cut by resawing spalted maple boards. This prompted several questions about HOW I do it, to get consistent thickness. Unlike other woodworkers, I don’t have a power feeder for my band saw; as a result, I had to improvise, as I show below.
Edit, to add the following items on tuning / adjusting the bandsaw: I always recommend you tune your bandsaw, to get the best results possible. David Marks, of Woodworks fame, has a systematic procedure, found here. Things I have done to get good results when resawing a board (and one item to do after finishing) are based on David Marks’ procedure:
- Adjust the blade to track in the center of the wheels - it might require installing new wheel tires; they are available in more than one material, but it seems that the urethane tires are best.
- Use the best blade guide system you can get, and change it as needed - the better the blade is supported, the better resawing results you will get.
- For a new blade: Use a blade tuning stone to remove the hard edges from the back edges of the blade.
- Balance the wheels, as needed. Use small pieces of wire.
- Adjust the angle of the fence to correct for blade drift; with the 3/4-inch resaw blade I use (below), this correction is 2°.
- Always release the tension on the blade when finished using the bandsaw.
My band saw is a 17-inch G0513 Grizzly (it is available through The Sandal Woods Store - buying here is one way to help support this blog):
Grizzly G0513 17″ Bandsaw - 2 HP
One other choice that is said to perform very well, but is not available in my Store, is the 14-inch Rikon band saw. It may not save you much over the Grizzly I have, but it might be worth looking at it, too. I will stick with the Grizzly, though.
The blade I use is a 3/4-inch, 3 TPI (teeth per inch) Timber Wolf blade. I use the “flutter” method to adjust the blade tension, which works well for me. When I received it, this band saw had Euro-style disc blade guides. These performed well for normal band saw use; but I was not totally happy with them when I used the saw for resawing operations. After a while I swapped the Euro guides for the Carter Guides, and have not looked back. Today I feel I made the right decision, as the Carter guides (also available at The Sandal Woods Store) give me much better performance in resawing operations; they provide better blade support, while allowing the blade to run cool. In the photos below I show the following (left-to-right, and top-to-bottom for the photos below):
- Photo (1): The original Euro-style disc guides.
- Photo (2): Rear photo of the upper Carter guide, highlighting the groove in the bearing; the bottom guide, below the table, is identical in configuration. Notice I had to cut the blade guard, to allow the new guide to fit properly.
- Photo (3): Photo of the upper Carter guide, head-on.
- Photo (4): My resawing setup, with the home-made resaw fence and the upper guide retracted to allow resawing a 10-inch board.
- Photo (5): This shows the rear of the fence; The vertical ribs are a must, to hold the fence at a true 90°, and to keep it from deflecting as pressure is applied on the front of the fence during resawing.
I recommend the use of the screw clamps to hold the huge “featherboard” in place. I don’t even bother cutting fingers on this board, as I prefer to have full support from the 5-inch wide red oak board against the fence. This helps to get nice, even-thickness resawn panels and veneers.
Let me know if you need additional information. Thanks for your questions - keep them coming!
aronson
on February 8 2008
Great description of the resawing, thanks! I also have a Grizzly — a 0555 with a 3/4″ Highland Hardware blade. I am curious about the “flutter” method of tensioning… Can you describe your technique a bit or point to a reference? Thanks!
Al (Sandal Woods)
on February 8 2008
aronson,
That Highland Hardware blade should perform very well for you.
To use the flutter method, make sure the blade is tracking i, the center of the wheels. Also, make sure you don’t have either of the blade guides in contact with the blade (only for the duration of the flutter test).
Suffolk Machinery, the makers of the Timberwolf brand blades, provide a good summary of the flutter test or method - the way it is written, it is for band saw mills, but it works for the shop band saws you and I are using.
You can locate their procedure at: http://www.suffolkmachinery.com/six_rules.asp
In the flutter method you reduce the tension until you see the blade vibrate quickly side-to-side, in a blur. This is the “flutter” of the blade. You then start to slowly increase the tension, until the flutter stops; once the flutter stops, add no more than 1/4 turn 9and maybe even as little as 1/8-turn more. You should now have the blade tension set properly.
Admittedly, this can be a hard test to conduct properly, especially with the wider blades. But, once you become used to seeing the flutter, you will *know* when you reach that point.
Let me know if you have any trouble using the flutter test. And, enjoy!
Stuart
on February 11 2008
Hi Al,
Will definitely have to try out that flutter method, and see how it compares in choosing a blade tension to the more traditional (and somewhat arbitrary) methods.
I can understand what you are saying about the ‘featherboard’ and it is obviously working well for you, but I was of the impression that the fingers provided a bit of give, and therefore would allow greater pressure to be applied to the board. Also allows variation in thickness of the board, as there is a bit of give in the fingers.
From all the rave reviews I keep seeing, I think that Timberwolf should start exporting their blades down under!
Stu
Al (Sandal Woods)
on February 11 2008
Stu,
Please let us know how you like the flutter method once you try it out.
In a featherboard as large as the ones I show in the photos, the pressure would have to be huge in order for the fingers to give at all.
So, instead of fingers, I rounded off the corner that is normally in touch with the board being resawn. This (very slightly) increases the surface contact area with the board. That is why you can see the lighter surface on the featherboard, at the “corner” closest to the blade.
I do like Timber Wolf blades, Stu. When I call them next, I will ask if they plan to export them your way.
Stuart
on February 11 2008
Interesting stuff. BTW - what is the timber you are using? Looks like something I’d pay good money for to get over here! I’d take a stab, but wouldn’t want to embarrass myself!
One other question, and it’s more to do with technique - how do you deal with blade tracking (I tend to find that bandsaws don’t cut straight, and you have to angle the work to the blade to get it to effectively cut straight) - given the thickness of the veneers you are able to cut I’m guessing you have some strategy for working out the tracking angle so the fence can be set to compensate for it.
If you are talking to the Timber Wolf dealer
(blades), ask em to send a couple down under for a ‘review’ *wink*Cheers,
Stu
NOTE: Minor editing by Al…
Al (Sandal Woods)
on February 11 2008
Stu,
The timber you see is spalted maple.
The procedure to adjust for the blade drift angle is quite simple, and was covered very well by David Marks in his write-up at
http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/wk_tools/article/0,2037,DIY_14429_2278285,00.html :
1. Find the drift angle by cutting free-hand.
2. Adjust the fence to that angle.
3. Confirm the adjustment by resawing with the fence in place.
This adjustment for blade is drift is good until you change blades. Then you should check it again, and correct for the drift angle.
On the topic of Timber Wolf blades: I contacted Tom, at Suffolk Machinery, the manufacturer of the blades; he will look at my blog entries and read the comments. We discussed shipping of 3 of the 3/4-inch blades to you. Shipping alone should run about $40 (U.S. dollars), via the U.S. Postal Service. I suggested he contact you directly.
Stuart
on February 11 2008
Glad to hear that what I’ve come across is still the accepted method for setting the fence angle. Thinking about it, I probably came across it on Wood Works (David Marks) or from Mark Duginske or Lonnie Bird (or a combination of the three). Given how successful you are with slicing a veneer, I thought I’d ask in case there were some other secret methods out there.
The Timber Wolf blade you use - is it carbide tipped, bimetal or something else? Do you use ones with a positive rake, or a regular tooth form?
Al (Sandal Woods)
on February 11 2008
Stu,
You are using the accepted method to correct for blade drift. No secret method(s) here at all .
I should have mentioned that I use the regular blades. I am quite certain that many who use power feeders are using bi-metal and carbide blades. But, at $150 each (I think), I am willing to replace the blade 5 or 6 times. This might change when I get a vacuum press, as I will be doing a lot more veneer work then.
If I recall properly, the blades I ordered some time ago were the 3/4 X 3PC (3/4-inch, 3 TPI, Positive Claw). When I talked to Tom today, I believe he mentioned that now he recommends the 3/4 x 3AS-S (their Alternate Set Special) for resawing. We have ice on the ground tonight, or I would go to the shop to check. I will confirm the info on Tuesday morning (Central U.S. time), Stu.