Thread: ripping thin sheets on TS

Hi SteveMcM

to my mind this resawing is something best attempted on a small bandsaw not a TS.

do you have access to one?

James

Originally Posted by SteveMcM

Hi All,

I picked up a box of parquetry pieces for $20 from the tip. Not sure exactly what they are but dark hardwood.
They are about 19 x 50 x 200mm. I want to cut some into what would essentially be sheets (eg 4 x 50 x 200mm) using the TS.

What!!! you pay money to pick things up from the tip!!! You don't just squirrel them away into you car like everyone else?

Using a TS you will lose a lot of wood. To reduce 19mm into 4 mm you will be very lucky to get 3 slices since you will lose more than 3 mm from each TS cut ( 3 x 4 and 2 x 4) and then you will have to dress the slices. As JW2170 says - try for a band saw, for 200 mm long pieces it will also be a lot safer.

If you don't have access to a BS look under the home made rigs and jigs section and you will see a series of posts by Niki on how to make a sled rig to do it with a TS safely

I rip thin strips like this quite often.

Bandsaws are an absolute pain as you don't get a straight cut so then you need to plane them. Your boards are a bit short to run through a thicknesser afterwards.

I use a tablesaw, with a razor sharp blade of about 60 teeth. I can saw strips accurately to 2 1/2 mm thick or less.

I set the fence the required distance from the blade, in this case 4mm

You must use pushsticks and feather boards and feed the timber at an even speed.
Keep your hands well away from the blade. my push sticks are all about 450mm long.
I wear a facemask, keeps sawdust and chips out.
Do not stand directly in line with the timber.

If I want to do a large run I use a power feeder.

Thanks Bob, thanks Echnidna. Down here in Canberra there's a mob that stream anything potentially useful out of the tip and sell it off. I got a record number 4 jack plane for $10. Once I cleaned it I realised it was in better nick than I thought when I bought it. So $20 for a crate of hardwood bits. I am not too worried about waste because I have so many pieces. I will check the jigs by Niki and stand to one side when I try the cuts.

Steve

SteveMcM,

Whichever way you decide to go, lets see some photos of the results.

In any case, you have put me on to a source of hardwood timber for (attempting) making boxes.

Did you find the link to the jig mentioned?

James

Originally Posted by jw2170

SteveMcM,

Whichever way you decide to go, lets see some photos of the results.

In any case, you have put me on to a source of hardwood timber for (attempting) making boxes.

Did you find the link to the jig mentioned?

James

Hi James,

I haven't had time to find the jig. If you have ever looked at the posts by Niki you will know that they are numerous to say the least. They are really worth browsing because he has nifty ways of doing just about anything. What I am thinking at the moment is I might lower the saw blade and cut deep channels in each piece so that the "sheets" remain attached during the ripping. I can move the piece over 4mm with a spacer to make multiple cuts. Then I can liberate them with a crosscut where I can hold the piece against the mitre fence. I still need to use featherboards to hold the work safely of course.

WRT the wood. The upper surface of the pieces has some sort of plastic like coat that would be a bit of work to remove. That is one reason why I want to to cut the sheets. I can avoid that layer by using something from teh middle. I also pick up futon bases from teh tip as they are a great source of sized timber for outdoor furniture and the like. v. cheap and mostly uniform.

Steve

double sided tape. Stick it to an MDF board (say 300mm wide x 600mm long) and stick your timber to it. Set fence to 4mm and rip away, happy times. no digits any where near the sharp spinning thing.

Just be careful you don't break the timber when your pull it off the MDF it sticks that well.

As echnidna said

Niki is the table saw guru. Check out his threads.
If you feel nervous cutting small bits on the table saw then the band saw is safer.

Regards
John