Thread: Resawng wood

Can you give us an idea of how you are doing the resaw and the tools being used?

Hi Chris,

Probably using terribly technique and the wrong tools.

I start the cut using a veritas rip tenon saw around the board, but as this has a back i then switch to a cheap jack saw from Bunnings to do most of the work.

This second saw has a much wider kerf than the original.

Unfortunately this is the only backless saw i own at the moment.

Quarter sawn wood is less prone to cupping than back sawn IMHO. You can try orienting your cuts so your 7mm boards are back sawn.

Tony

Assuming your original boards are backsawn, it will be difficult to prevent some degree of cupping. There are two issues here: The timber being backsawn and a fresh face exposed to the atmosphere. If the fresh sawn boards are treated as you would green timber coming off the mill, that is stickered and strapped, the boards would have the chance to moisture equalise in a stable position.

Originally Posted by tony_A

Quarter sawn wood is less prone to cupping than back sawn IMHO. You can try orienting your cuts so your 7mm boards are back sawn.

Tony

Oops. had a seniors moment there, meant to say orient your 7 mm boards so they are quarter sawn. That may mean picking your 20mm boards so you can cut them with the right orientation.

Tony

Originally Posted by taz01

Hi Chris,

Probably using terribly technique and the wrong tools.

I start the cut using a veritas rip tenon saw around the board, but as this has a back i then switch to a cheap jack saw from Bunnings to do most of the work.

This second saw has a much wider kerf than the original.

Unfortunately this is the only backless saw i own at the moment.

If you want I will band saw them for you.

Hi all.

Thanks for the replies so far.


Tony - I've never considered grain direction when buying wood before, but I'm pretty new to all of this. I will definitely plan future purchases around the parts it needed for.

Chris - thanks for the kind offer. Woodworking is my sanity break from the office so it's more about the process than getting the task done.

If resawing ends up driving me crazy I'll drop you a PM but i am definitely interested in how i should be doing this if i continue to do this by hand.

Regards,

Adam

G'Day Taz

A bit late to this thread but thought I would offer some of my thoughts. As someone who has been working completely unplugged for a while now I have done my share of resawing by hand. It's not what I would call fun work but it is satisfying when you get it right.

As others have pointed out, if your timber is backsaw then you will have some cupping after the board is sawn. There is little you can do about this, it's just the way wood works. You can minimise cupping by stacking your sawn timber with battens between each board (as rusty suggested) but it is probably still going to cup. I leave my sawn boards for at least 4-6 weeks after working so that they stabilise (if I could get all quarter sawn timber it would help but I live very remotely and have to use what I can get). You just need to leave some room for working after sawing, which is probably a good idea anyway. For 7mm finished width you may need to leave an extra 1-2mm depending on how humid it gets there. Taking into account you are starting with 20mm stock, and cutting by hand, and are fairly new, mark your line at 8-8.5mm from one edge and cut from there.

For your method, I have never found much use in kerfing the board unless your kerfing saw and cutting saw are the same thickness. As yours are not you can save yourself a bit of time by removing that part. Equally your jack saw is more of a compromise saw and not ideal for resewing by hand. If you are thinking of doing this a lot then get onto whatever site you like to use and look for a sharpened rip saw, 5 or 7 poi at the most. The more teeth you have the longer this will take you. It can feel a bit weird at first using a great big vintage saw on relatively thin stock but it saves you time in the long run. Only mark from one edge all round the board, not both, and only cut to the line you can see. Tilt the board in your vice and start your cut until the back of your saw just goes through the far corner, then swap your board around and start again. As soon as the saw meets the cut mark on the back of your board it's time to switch again. E.g if your saw is cutting wood you can't see on the back of the board it's time to switch. If you keep pushing through you will end up wandering.
This means you are always swapping the board over, but it will save you in the long run. There is nothing more satisfying than getting through your board and having it part first go. You won't always get it right, but with practice the hit rate is a lot higher. Also don't rush, of you find yourself rushing or trying to push the saw too hard through the timber it's time to have a rest. This is not a fast process, especially in hard wood. My last piece of ash I cut in half took the best part on an hour and a bit to get through 1.2m. This includes a lot of breaks to rest up and move the board around.

If you would like some more info just let me know. Most of all practice makes perfect, and understand you will never get it all right 100% of the time.