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Band saw adjustment – Question of the day

February 19, 2008 By

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!

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Filed Under: Blog, Resaw, Shop tools

My setup for resawing boards with the band saw

February 5, 2008 By

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 band saw: I always recommend you tune your band saw, 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
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.

Grizzly Euro-style disc guides 1-carterguide-1.png 1-carterguidefront-2.png

1-myresawsetup.png 1-myresawsetup-2.png

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!

Filed Under: Blog, Resaw, Shop tools Tagged With: ,

Solving a mortiser puzzle

January 20, 2008 By

I am still working on the prototype doors for the Krenov-inspired cabinet. I know – when will I get this done? Soon, I hope. Took some time out to fix the slop in the tenoning jig on the table saw; then I was unable to machine square mortises on the rails using the Delta hollow chisel mortising machine. It was one thing after another, and then the weekend arrived.

Weekends are a time to relax and to get the body batteries recharged. I took care of recharging mine this weekend, but maybe not fully.

Something was nagging me, subconsciously and, at times, very conscioulsy. On Friday I was unable to get the stiles perfectly aligned to the rails, using mortise and tenon joinery. Friday night I left the shop after cutting the first set of mortises on the rails, and the tenons on the stiles. A little background: For this cabinet I reversed things – the rails extend all the way to the edges of the doors. And it looks terrible when the edges of the stiles are not perfectly aligned to the edges of the rails, especially since I have designed the stiles to be inset about 0.030″ on the outside of the doors, to provide a shadow line.

Nagging… Something had changed with this machine, and I could not figure out what. Time to step away. Late Friday afternoon is not the time to start fooling around trying to solve this.

delta14-461deluxemortiser.png

Over the weekend, I engaged myself with family stuff, plus some reading and computer work. As I did this, I kept adding to my mental list of things to look for in the mortising machine on my return to the shop. Of course, I could have had the doors and the cabinet box built, had I just forgotten about the machine. But I will be needing it for several other projects this year; so, it was OK to take the time to solve the puzzle. And, besides, it WAS the weekend.The key turned out to be Edge #1 and Edge #2 in this photo.

THE LIST:

  1. Remove the riser block, and start with the column on the table, as shipped from the factory several years ago.
  2. Check that the chisels are square to the base. And check that the alignment does not change as the chisel height changes.
  3. Check that the table is flat.
  4. Check that the fence is flat, and square to the table.
  5. Check and double-check all bolts, to make sure nothing moves when plunging the chisel into the workpiece.

I had (just about) exhausted all possibilities, so this afternoon I went to work on THE LIST. The riser block came off, and I replaced the column back on the table. The chisels were perfectly square to the table on all sides. The table was flat. Both sides of the fence were flat. But Edges 1 and 2 were not aligned perfectly! BINGO!!! Sliding the workpiece left to right was smooth; when I was sliding it right to left, the edge of the workpiece “caught” Edge #1 – son of a gun!!! Had something happened to the fence, and now it was not perfectly flat? More importantly, WHAT to do to fix the problem?

Solution: Install a sub-fence that straddles both sides of the fence.

Cutt-off rack to the rescue: I had a piece of red oak the same width as the prototype rails and stiles, so I simply screwed this to the fence. Delta has thoughtfully provided one hole at each end of the fence – or maybe THIS was the reason for the holes, i.e., to allow installation of a sub-fence, to correct misalignment problems? I probably will never know.

I do know one thing: My rails and stiles ARE perfectly aligned now. I don’t have to sweat THE LIST any more. Problem solved. Now, to build the cabinet. But, finish the prototype doors first, to make sure the dimensions look alright in this cabinet. THEN build the real thing. I guess I just prefer to build prototypes, to work out the kinks in the joinery, etc. But, recently, I have had to work out more kinks in my machinery than in anything else.

I promised myself there will be no more kinks this week. I hope I can keep this promise.


Filed Under: Blog, Cabinetmaking, Shop tools

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