Shades of pmcgee!

**IanW** · 4th February 2016, 07:59 PM

You seem to like a physical challenge, Paul, so I was thinking of you as I tackled this job this morning.

I wanted 4 planks 350mm wide. Of course you could laminate them up, but I wanted single boards, not joined. Bunnings don't stock what I had in mind, so it was a case of digging out a baulk of that big radiata I cut down a few years ago, and making them. Of course, my toy planer/thicknesser can't handle 350mm, and even the bandsaw only goes to 300mm (just!), so it all had to happen manually.

First, I cut out two planks of the required ~500mm length - this was an open-grown tree, so plenty of branches close together & only just enough clear wood between to get what I needed. Then I got out several planes: scrub, 2 jacks (one with rounded blade, other close to straight) and the jointer, levelled one face & made the sides square to the face so I could get it over the tablesaw and make two kerfs as deep as my 10" blade will go: block ready.jpg

Then stick it in the tail vise, haul out the trusty old progressive-pitch Disston, & have at it: Start sawing.jpg

I gave it about 100 strokes, then reversed the billet, sawing at an angle for another 100 or so, then levelled the triangle in the centre, then cut at an angle again. Sawing at an angle across the grain is more effective than straight across - you get shavings rather than dust, & more reward for effort. Pretty soon, it looks like we're getting somewhere: halfway.jpg

And before too long, I had a plank: first cut.jpg

After that, just clean up the face of the billet and repeat the process. I stretched the job out over the morning, but I have to confess, by the time the last plank came away my arms were telling me they'd had enough! Nevertheless, it was satisfying to see the results: Finished.jpg

I had a small mountain of sawdust & plane shavings to pick up: leftovers.jpg

And I still have to plane the other face of each board!

It's satisfying to see I can still get by on a job like this without using machines (though I would've used them if they'd been up to it!

). Now if you'll just pass me the Dencorub, I think I'll be ok to finish the planing in the morning.....

Cheers,

**Fuzzie** · 4th February 2016, 08:28 PM

Hi Ian, I take it you attempted this today and not yesterday? Otherwise I'd have expected to see the soggy sweat trail and small pools as well. At least it was like that down on the coast for the last few days. Maybe it's not as humid out west?

Good job

Cheers, Franklin

**Simplicity** · 4th February 2016, 10:23 PM

Nice morning exercise Ian
But I think we will see more of this soon yes
Matt

**Luke Maddux** · 4th February 2016, 10:33 PM

Wow, nice effort. I've made a couple of 300mm resaw cuts of similar length with the same (model) saw, so I know that making that many was no joke!

Did you consider using your homemade frame saw with the bandsaw blade from the post a few months back?

Also, did you have to sharpen mid-task, or did the old gal stand up to the abuse?

**IanW** · 5th February 2016, 09:03 AM

Originally Posted by Fuzzie

Hi Ian, I take it you attempted this today and not yesterday? Otherwise I'd have expected to see the soggy sweat trail and small pools as well. At least it was like that down on the coast for the last few days. Maybe it's not as humid out west?

I actually started it the day before, Franlin, and your're not wrong - it was pretty awful! I finished the sawing late Friday morning, just as the cool change that has been promied for the last 48 hours arrived!

In my late teens & early twenties, I worked at the sort of manual jobs that a high-school dropout could get, including two full seasons of cutting sugarcane. When you looked at a couple thousand tons of the stuff at the beginning of the season, you'd think "this is an impossible task", but you stuck your head down & thrashed away and eventually, you could look over your shoulder and see it was all done! Cutting those boards was a little like that.....

**IanW** · 5th February 2016, 09:07 AM

Originally Posted by Simplicity

...But I think we will see more of this soon yes ...

Right again, me lad. But you may have to wait some time to see the finished product, got a few other irons in the fire which are keeping me busy.

Cheers,

**IanW** · 5th February 2016, 09:41 AM

Originally Posted by Luke Maddux

...Did you consider using your homemade frame saw with the bandsaw blade from the post a few months back?....

Luke, I got that out first, thinking it was the ideal job to give it a proper trial. It worked ok, but as I expected, a 600mm blade is just too short for a 350mm wide board. I had to use short, choppy strokes & I kept banging the ends of the saw on the board. I reckon another 300mm of blade would've done the trick on the frame saw, and even considered scooting off and getting some, since I would only need to make a pair of longer arms. However, I was doubtful of my ability to control a longer frame on my own (and I didn't think any of my friends would be silly enough to spend an afternoon on the other end of a frame-saw in that weather!

), so I thought I'd give the old Disston a go and see what happened. The Disston isn't really ideal for this sort of job, I know, but the extra bit of blade I could bring to bear made a big difference to the stroke, and at least all of the teeth were exiting the cut one side or the other.

Originally Posted by Luke Maddux

....Also, did you have to sharpen mid-task, .....

Twice! I should have only needed to do it once, but when I started, I'd forgotten just how many bits of hard wood that saw has tackled since it last saw a file. I got about 100 strokes in, making very slow progress, 'til it finally dawned on my sweat-fogged brain that I should check its teeth. There were a lot of shiny points.

After sharpening, it almost fell through the wood! By the last cut, the saw seemed to be flagging, so I gave it another light touch-up. But it was really me who was getting dull, the touch-up didn't make such a noticeable difference!

I think I mentioned that when I first cut & stickered that Bluegum we used on your bench, I was entertaining a fantasy of building a bench with it, using only hand-tools and methods consistent with a few hundred years ago, just for fun. After my little dalliance with the radiata, which would have to be 40% of the hardness of E. teriticornis, I'm so glad you came along and we did the job a little more expediently. I don't think it would've been that much fun after all!

Cheers,

**pmcgee** · 5th February 2016, 10:01 PM

Should I put a 32" docking saw into the mail to be rejigged for a follow-up performance?

or DW might send a large frame-saw.

No, wait !

I am picturing something a bit more like an egg-slicer ...

I've seen a multi-bladed gangsaw video recently, but danged if I can find it again.

Paul

This will have to do ...

**Luke Maddux** · 6th February 2016, 01:25 AM

Paul, you have an incredible knack for finding cool, traditional methods videos online. Every time you post one, I find myself internally quoting Jack Nicholson's Joker from the original Batman film:

"Where does he get those wonderful toys?"

**IanW** · 6th February 2016, 07:58 PM

Originally Posted by pmcgee

......This will have to do ...

Yep, that'll do nicely, Paul - just pop it in the mail please.

On second thoughts, I presume it's water-powered, and things are so darned dry here atm, I wouldn't be able to set it up. So that's ok, I've finished my impersonation of a sawmill for now, anyway....

Chers,

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