Thread: Question about cutting small, thin strips by hand

I've done this using nokogiri with minimal waste. I prefer a kataba (single-edged saw) but a ryoba (double-edged) will do the job. Just so long as it's not a dozuki, which has a spine.

I make a jig, which is basically just a recess of whatever mm depth I want (ie. 3mm or whatever the strips width is), for the blank to snugly sit in tot use as a saw guide, cutting horizontally. Bit like a cheese cutter, really. Unlike a western saw this is easily done without the teeth 'chewing' into the jig as well.

With practice, the pieces can be cleaned up - if necessary - with just a card scraper in the same jig.

Mind you, buying another plane can be much less frustrating than learning a new sawying technique...

You could do it with a 1/16” router blade... but it would take rather a long time. The slitter on a Stanley 45 or Record 405 is primarily designed for cutting off mouldings such as astragals or sash bars; not really thin strips. You just score the timber deeply on both sides and snap off the moulding by hand.

How about a simple rip saw fitted with a fence to make a jury-rigged kerfing saw? You’ll need a strip of timber 2mm thick plus half the amount of set on the saw teeth; and a thin plank to use as the fence. This plank must be wide enough to cover the width of the strip and about 3-4 times the thickness of the material you’re sawing. Glue the thin strip to one edge of the plank fence, then clamp that to the saw blade using the smallest G-cramps you have available. If you Google “kerfing saw” you’ll pick up plenty of pictures along with the odd video of the proper tool so you should be able to figure out how this idea will follow the basic design.

Sawing them off would be my approach. I'm assuming you'll need the pieces to be about 50mm deep and around 3mm or a bit less in thickness? Whatever saw you use, circular, band or hand, you are going to lose some wood each time, cleaning up saw marks. No saw will give you a perfect surface, even the best will require sanding, at least. The finer the teeth, the better the surface should be, but the slower they'll cut.

To do the job entirely with hand tools, I'd square up my block, then use a marking gauge to mark off the required 'board' all around the block. Unlike normal setting out, I'd put the mark where I'm going to saw, and score it deeply. This will help keep the saw aligned while you run a kerf about 8-10mm deep all around the line. Once you have this kerf to guide the saw you can saw straight across the block & he saw should follow the kerf without wander. Clean up the block & repeat as required.

To plane the sawn surface of each strip, I would make up something like a 'sticking' jig (used for sticking the moulding profiles on glazing bars, etc.). You'll need a flat board that you can clamp in a vise or on your bench-top, with shallow cleats that contain the thin board snugly at each end, or better, all round. The cleats will also act as a reference to get the thicknesses consistent (make sure you punch the heads well below the surface if you attach the cleats with tacks!). I assume you are going to need to have each board pretty even to make the numerous halving joints to form the 'divisions.

Choose a wood that is evenly 'dry', but be prepared for such thin boards to cup & twist & bow a bit. Softer woods like Paulonia or Cedar or Hoop would be a good choice, imo...

Cheers,

Like the others say, saw then plane. As planeing thin strips is difficult then a thickness jig is what you need.
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Regards
John

You could use a mitre box or make one if the dimensions are too small Haron 300 x 100mm Wooden Mitre Box | Bunnings Warehouse

The approach I would take is plane the face in a shooting board and then use the mitre box or similar to cut to a scribed line allowing some extra thickness for finishing to the cut line. If you had a suitable plane it could be secured upside down and the unfinished side run over the blade which means making a small jig to hold the thin strip. If needed the strips could be made longer to fix them into a jig then cut to finished size.