Thread: Violin angle resawing for top/back double images

I would do it on a bandsaw with the table tilted to the required angle to go corner to corner.

Angling the fence of a bandsaw as suggested would be a bit tricky, methinks, the blank will be riding with just the corner on the table & will be wanting to slip down under prersure from the blade (a coarse blade produces considerable down-thrust when sawing). It might need a piece of angled scrap clamped to the table to prevent that.

Given that a chunk of instrument grade spruce probably cost a large amount, I'd saw it by hand so I could keep a close eye on both sides & be sure the saw is tracking as desired. For me, hand sawing would be far safer & probably take a good deal less time than mucking about making a safe setup for the bandsaw. For a single piece, that is, different story if you need to saw 10 of them....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Angling the fence of a bandsaw as suggested would be a bit tricky, methinks, the blank will be riding with just the corner on the table & will be wanting to slip down under prersure from the blade

I think you misunderstood what I was trying to convey; I meant to tilt the table on its trunnions not to try and tilt the fence. By tilting the table the wood will ride along the fence and table as normal with the full width of the edge in contact.

I’d approach it as the Chief suggests.

Depending on the height of the material and the height of your bandsaw fence you may like to consider whether a taller auxillary fence (posh name for a piece of MDF) would help support the whole of the workpiece.

If this were my piece I’d be looking for a friend/club/Shed/business that has a proper resaw blade on their bandsaw to minimise the risk of a thinner blade like mine wandering.

I’d be interested to hear back on how you go.

Good luck,

Brian

Originally Posted by Chief Tiff

I think you misunderstood what I was trying to convey; I meant to tilt the table on its trunnions not to try and tilt the fence. By tilting the table the wood will ride along the fence and table as normal with the full width of the edge in contact.

Yep, I did, thanks to my usual jumping to conclusions. Of course, tilting the table so the fence is parallel with the diagonal angle required would be the logical approach.
And as homey says, a decent resaw blade reduces the risk of a mis-cut. You can get away with a thinner blade if you are used to your saw & feed it at the right pace - I do it all the time 'cos I'm a lazy git & can't be bothered changing the 1/2" blade that I mostly use. It's usually fine, especially with a fresh blade & making non-critical cuts, but I wouldn't risk it on a valuable piece of wood, it would be sure to go off-course & wreck the whole thing!

I'm quite happy pulling out my D8 ripsaw every now & then (good exercise now the weather is cooler.. ). In fact I gave it a good workout yesterday preparing some stool legs for turning - my bandsaw is in dry-dock atm, waiting for a new tyre to arrive....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

I'm quite happy pulling out my D8 ripsaw every now & then (good exercise now the weather is cooler.. ). In fact I gave it a good workout yesterday preparing some stool legs for turning - my bandsaw is in dry-dock atm, waiting for a new tyre to arrive....

Yep. And sometimes you just need to take the saw to the work rather than t'other way around.

If I was cutting down a board of valuable or short supply timber (valuable to me, that is) I'd be doing it by hand with a jap-style handsaw, probably a ryoba or kataba.

Should I want to process a lot of it, I'd use either bandsaw or tablesaw. With the bandaw skill dictates quantity and quality of output and typically has a much thinner kerf.

The tablesaw can be easily jigged, etc. to make it an almost idiot-proof procedure. Key-word being "can." But the wider kerf means ya need to start with a bigger blank to get the same sized output.