Sandal Woods - Fine Woodworking & Cabinetry

Ralph wrote today:

I just got back to bandsawing yesterday. I tried your recommendations which were the same as proposed by the (Manufacturer’s name deleted) people. I did change the blade from the carbide 1″ blade to a “regular” 1″ blade with 3 tpi. It worked. I ran the 10″ board through the table saw cutting a 3″ cut on each edge, so i only had to band saw 4″; but it worked. so next time I’ll try to cut the full thickness.

Thanks for your help. I think the major issue was the tensioning, so I’ll go back and try again with the carbide blade. If that doesn’t work, then I’ll know its the blade that was the problem. Again, thanks.

Many of you will remember Ralph was having trouble resawing some 12-inch wide hard curly maple. He had pretty much exhausted his possibilities, and wrote to me requesting help beyond what the band saw manufacturer suggested. The links to his original request, and a follow-up, are:

1. Original request: Band Saw Adjustment: Question of the Day
2. A follow-up: Band Saw Adjustment - A Follow-Up

My reply to Ralph’s update today was:

Your results are VERY interesting! I have to wonder why the carbide blade gave you so much trouble. Could it be the tooth pattern? I never use carbide blades, so I am not familiar with the kinds of problems they could cause. But I am certainly glad that it seems that tension seems to have been the culprit in this case. I look forward to hearing from you on any follow-up work you might do with the band saw, Ralph.

I will post all additional updates, as everyone can benefit from his experience. Thanks for sharing this with everyone, Ralph!

.

The results? It worked! I think I will keep this vacuum press.

I did the following using new shop-resawn veneers; previously resawn panels will be used for the doors (i.e, the “wing”, and “Don Quixote”). Before doing any serious work with the vacuum press I wanted to assure myself it worked properly, and that I was indeed familiar with the process. The system did the job well. But not all was perfect, as you will learn toward the end.

Now, some details of the first veneer panel done with the vacuum press:

	Notice the glue line. This is the show side of the glued-up veneer panel; no blue tape, no tape of any kind on this side. I scraped off the “gooey” glue after 45 minutes.
	Bricks become clamps. They are needed strictly to hold down the glued edges of the veneer pieces. The tape pulling the panels together is underneath.
	The spalted maple veneer panel, after coming out of the vacuum press. It might become the inside face of the back, visible when the doors are opened.
	The cherry veneer panel, following vacuum pressing. This will be the back face of the cabinet.

As I did the quality control of this first veneered panel I noticed a slight bow as I sighted down the top and bottom edges. To measure the amount of the bow, I placed the panel flat, with the concave spalted maple side up. With a straight edge placed across the surface I measured 0.030″ concavity (this is 30 mils, or 30 thousands of an inch).

I was puzzled about this amount of distortion, as I expected the veneered panel to be perfectly flat. One obvious area to look was the platen I fabricated, and showed earlier:

In retrospect, I now feel that the platen should not extend too far beyond the edges of the package being pressed. This is especially true if the “sandwich” is thick, as this one was (about 4 inches). I now believe what happened was that the outer edges of the platen lifted slightly during the time that vacuum was on, lifting them and causing the slight deflection I measured.

I must run one additional test, to determine if my thinking is correct. That is, unless anyone reading this can confirm my theory in the next 16 hours or so. I would appreciate your feedback, especially if it will save me doing another test glue-up.

The bottom line of this test: I achieved absolutely perfect adhesion, with no gaps anywhere along the visible glue line between the veneer panels and the substrate. In addition, the entire surface of the veneers is perfectly flat, totally free of bubbles or areas of poor adhesion.

As a follow-up to Ralph’s band saw question in my previous post (also just below this one), I sent him the following e-mail:

“One more thing, Ralph: Don’t push too hard on the board you are resawing - let the blade do its thing. In other words, start really slowly, then increase the speed slowly. You can pretty much tell if you are going TOO fast… Speed of feed is most important if the tension is not set properly.”

Regardless, if the tension is not set properly, even pushing slowly and letting the blade “do its thing” still may not result in good resawing results. But, if the tension is really close to properly adjusted, resawing results might improve dramatically at the slower feed speeds.

Ralph responded to my e-mail as follows:

“Thanks Al… I also got similar recommendations from the Laguna people regarding improper tension. I pushed the blade in 12″ below where the blade leaves the wheel, and it shouldn’t go in more than 1/4″. I did and that’s about how far it goes. We’ll get it right. I’ll keep you posted.”

I wanted to post this update because the Laguna people mentioned something I had overlooked: Sometimes, but not always, measuring the amount of deflection of the blade gives some assurance that we are close to the proper blade tension. All we have to do is make certain we always measure at the same distance below the upper wheel - this could be, as Ralph was told, about half way below where the blade leaves the upper wheel. I don’t quote an exact figure, as this distance is a function of the size of the band saw. There is a caveat to the blade deflection test: Narrower blades may have to be over-tensioned to give only 1/4-inch deflection.

This question came from Ralph. He wrote:

“Al, I read your comments regarding band saw adjustment but have something a little different. I just got a 2004 Laguna LT 18 and got the guides set per instructions, and the tension is per the scale on the saw, and I’m having problems with drift. I’m using 1″ carbon tipped resaw blade that came from Laguna. I’ve done a number of test cuts preparing to resaw some 12″ hard curly maple. But the blade runs to the right in a slight curve on the top of the test piece, but cuts straight on the bottom of the test piece. I’ve got the blade opened up all the way up, 12 inches. the piece I’m practicing on is about a 5″ thick piece of hard maple. What am I doing wrong. This is the first real band saw I’ve had so don’t really have any experience. Thanks for any advice.”

My reply was:

“Hi, Ralph. Thanks for writing to me about this issue - it CAN be somewhat difficult to resolve on your own, it is also frustrating, and it can get quite expensive if you are using expensive wood. I am wondering what you mean by the following: …maple. But the blade runs to the right in a slight curve on the top of the test piece, but cuts straight on the bottom of the test piece. I’ve got the blade opened up all the way up, 12 inches. the piece I’m practicing on is about a 5″ thick piece of hard maple… Do you mean that the cut surface on the test piece is slightly rounded, as opposed to flat? It sounds like the blade tension is the issue, if I read your statements properly. The tension adjustment scale on most band saws is WAY off. I find that I the flutter method is the best way to adjust the blade tension, as I explain in the write-up. BUT it is sometimes difficult to tell with such a wide blade when it flutters. How many teeth per inch (TPI) does the blade have? I would highly recommend using a blade with no more than 3 TPI. Also, you might want to try the following:

1. Increase the tension by 1/4- to 1/2-turn increments, and do a test cut.
2. You can do this on the same piece, by simply cutting a distance of a few inches each time.
3. Then look at the surfaces you just cut, and select the one that gives you the best cut
4. You will likely have to replace the blade - the stock blades that come with the machines are usually not the best, and are intended for “normal” cutting, nor for resawing wide boards.

Please let me know if any of these suggestions help you in any way.”

I have a request for any of you reading this: I have not heard from Ralph again. If I missed something about the Laguna 18, please leave a Comment, or drop me a note via e-mail. Thank you, friends!

. .

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):

1. Photo (1): The original Euro-style disc guides.
2. 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.
3. Photo (3): Photo of the upper Carter guide, head-on.
4. Photo (4): My resawing setup, with the home-made resaw fence and the upper guide retracted to allow resawing a 10-inch board.
5. 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!

This post is a continuation of the previous post, to answer Neil’s question in its entirety. In the previous post I used new, resawn veneers, not the original panels I showed in “wing” book match that Neil requested me show in slip match arrangement.

I decided to follow up with this post, because I failed to mention, and to show, that it is possible to obtain more than one book match for every set of panels. This photo illustrates what I mean; for the alternate “wing” book match I simply swapped the position of the boards, as I tried to suggest with the arrow (this is a large image-please give it a few seconds to open):

I hope you can notice the differences in color for the two panels shown on the left-hand side of the photo above. These reflect the color/brightness differences I see in the shop. The photo on the right shows the outer surfaces of the board; these surfaces show dramatically different spalting patterns, and much of the symmetry is lost; this is the main reason that slip matching will not work very well for these two boards, as shown in the photo below:

I hope this exercise helps in the visualization of panel or veneer matching. In this instance it helped me to decide that the slip match for these resawn panels will not work very well; this was due to the differences in the spalting patterns of the front and back surfaces of the original board.

When resawing veneers, which are much thinner than these resawn panels, it should be quite easier to achieve slip matched patterns that are pleasing to the eye.

Neil wrote two days ago:

“I was wondering;…. What the 2 panels … would look like if they were slip matched?? What do you think in comparison to the match you’re showing us????”

Part of my reply read: “…This is a great suggestion, and a terrific opportunity to share with the readers the differences it *can* make to try different things…”

In the photo below I have placed side-by-side a new set of spalted maple boards I resawed today, to obtain 1/8-inch thick veneers. I photographed the pair immediately after finishing the resawing, so they still have some blade tooth marks. For resawing I selected a new board that showed strong “ink lines” demarcating the spalted areas; the original boards I showed earlier would not have produced the results you see below.

The photo shows the striking difference that results when the boards are slip matched (Option 2), vs. the more traditional book match(1). The following are immediately apparent:

1. The book matched pair has a nice balance and feel to it. This is the pattern that results when we resaw a board, keeping the resawn boards in sequence and then we open these two boards like the page of a book; growth rings, spalting pattern, etc., form symmetrical patters about the contact edge.
2. The slip matched pair results in a panel that could show tension or imbalance, in sharp contrast to the book matched pair. This pattern is created by slipping, in sequence, successive pieces of the resawn veneers; the veneers are not turned over as they are slipped over each other. In the repeating figure that results, the grain pattern does not match up at the joints.
3. The book match option may work better in the case where symmetry is paramount. On the other hand, when finished, each veneer may have different light reflection.
4. One advantage of using the slip match option is that the finish will have a uniform color, because the exposed faces have similar light reflection.

I trust this will help you in selecting a matching option when working with resawn veneers. I would like to hear your opinion on these options, any advantages or disadvantages you experience as your work with these matching options, and how you are likely to use each one.

Edit to add: Now, to answer Neil’s question.

Neil: I really like the slip match pattern I get with these particular veneers; in fact, I will use this option on some projects. But, for my Krenov-inspired cabinet, at this stage I think I might stick with the book match option. What actually happens will depend more on the actual look of the doors on the carcase, and with the whole thing assembled and on the base. Who knows? I might even make two sets of doors, and a selection process based on viewing the real thing in person. With this type of cabinet I usually stay fluid until the last moment, while always keeping the target in mind.

Thanks, Neil, for suggesting that I evaluate and share the slip match option!

JET 708115K JWBS-14CS 14-Inch 1 Horsepower Woodworking Bandsaw with Graphite Guide Blocks, 115/230-Volt 1 Phase

The boards for the Krenov-inspired cabinet and for the door frames are already milled. I have set them aside for a few days to stabilize, after milling them to 1/8-inch above the final thickness.

Now I turn my attention to the spalted maple door panels. The following examples were cut from one board, and show quite different results. Photos 1 to 3, below, show:

1. Two of the remaining 8-foot boards; I may have to resaw some more specimens cut from these two boards, to see what wonderful treasures might be hidden within.
2. Resawn board; the two halves placed side-by-side resemble a skeletal, ungainly Don Quixote, from the neck down.
3. Resawn board; this one has an ethereal quality; maybe wings?

I wanted to share these with you, to show how resawing different parts of a board can yield dramatically different results. Each of these resawn pairs has its own character, its own personality. In the end, final bookmatched pair selection might give the cabinet wider appeal, or no appeal at all. This is one reason I prefer to evaluate several resawn pairs.

Which bookmatched pair would YOU select, and why? I would be interested to hear your opinion.

(1) (2) (3)