Thread: Tried facing timber on bandsaw with long fence - method applied

I take it that you have a bandsaw & a thicknesser but no jointer?

If the stock board to be processed is thick enough to resist the pressure from the thicknessers drive rollers, simply flatten one face through the thicknesser by placing it upon a "true" board and wedging / packing the stock board so that it does not rock & roll as it passes through. Hot melt glue & CA glue are wonderful inventions. Take light passes initially to see how it performs then adjust if necessary. It works for me when I'm to lazy to move the jointer to use it, or the board is wider than my 150mm jointer.

Just keep the hot melt glue away from the cutter head. DAHIKT.

Hello Mobyturns

Have investigated that method - the timber to be sorted is 200mm wide, 70mm thick and 3m long- plus support board and glue is serious weight. A lunchbox thicknesser can handle a 1mm cut - given the twist maybe 20 passes each side for the faces. A serious workout. And then edge jointing still need going

A scrub plane is significantly easier to cleanup the timber (and quicker) , in my experience to date- but these boards are a challenge.


The bandsaw is for four passes- each return does not need to lifted over the thicknesser. Then couple of passes (of only the weight of the beam -minus the cutoff waste) to a near finish surface.


Also the thicknesser would fill the shop vac a couple of times - bigger dust collector would solve this but no space for that either and the copious amounts of dust needs cleaning and disposal of.

Regards

Sounds like those boards would've given even a shop level jointer a workout!

At those dimensions I suspect I also would've cut away excess waste, just to reduce the required number of passes over a jointer.

Originally Posted by MartinCH

the timber to be sorted is 200mm wide, 70mm thick and 3m long- plus support board and glue is serious weight. A lunchbox thicknesser can handle a 1mm cut - given the twist maybe 20 passes each side for the faces. A serious workout. And then edge jointing still need going

That's what electric hand planers were invented for, to attack the worst of it.

IF it is that warped that it requires 20 passes each side at 1 mm per cut then you ain't gonna have much of that 70mm thickness left! Sounds like a lesson in futility to me. More than likely will warp again after processing imho.

Yes - a large lump of twisted timber -partly an experiment to see what my bandsaw could do what is a "relatively" simple procedure.

Bubble levels are surprisingly accurate- can outperform fences (which can be be misaligned, interfered with by dust and so on). Bubbles levels are slow to react, but steady fixes.

Pleased enough with results to comment, didn't think at some stages this process would work out, without more effort. First time I cut the edge 1 iand 2 the process was not adequately straight. Added the level to better guide edge one cut and added watching the the bottom refine surface to correct issues in cut 2. I did try adding some guiding material for support but these came off too easily. Didn't try stronger guides because evidence suggest that watching/bubble level gave adequate accuracy in cutting off the waste.

Not it the 3rd an 4th cut that regard as the reference surface, as I think I noted above- the timber is relatively stable in cutting off the waste for these two surfaces.

Expansion consider and put on hold for now- making a "little ripper" style jig/variation. The above is easier to set up/down, reload and takes up next to no space when not in use and can stop pondering (for now) that a Martin T32 is " essential" for the workshop.

Hi Moby


20s pass on a small thicknesser is something like 18mm. The cut is slightly under 1mm. The other side is not taking timber at the same location - ends up at around 50mm maybe a bit under.

Was not sure that the band sawing would be a useful process for straightening twisted timber. Processed a problematic piece of hardwood that I didn't mind too much if I made balls up of it.
An electric planer is another way but my initial assessment is my bandsaw can potentially handle removing the bulk of the waste without an excessive setup/complex jig.

As an aside when the thicknesser was acquired I really didn't read the fine print - read the line it will cut 3mm but not the line for 120mm wide or whatever that limit is. A least with it helical head the little thing leaves good finish.

Whatever floats your boat. As an experiment I can understand the urge to play but as a practical exercise - still an exercise in futility imho. Loosing 18 mm plus from a 70 mm thick section is substantial waste.

It would have to be an exceptional "board(s)" for me to put that much effort into it, given that there is still a very high likelihood that it will move again after processing. The internal stresses in the wood that caused the warping / wind / twist / cupping after sawing, drying and storage tend to remain and then reappear some time later even after substantial processing to "correct" it.

As far as using a "lunchbox" style thicknesser for the task, you are a bit under gunned, especially with your WA timbers or our Aussie hardwoods. From your comments it sounds like the Sherwood thicky. I have the same machine and from my experience with it you would be certainly asking a lot from it. Their drive train is "fragile" from my first hand experience - it failed after a few minutes on very first use without a stick of timber in it!!!! Fixed (not replaced!!!!) under warranty and has performed well since repair , but I wouldn't even consider processing that size through it. There are times when it is worth the money to outsource certain tasks.

My guess is that most yards capable of processing (jointing / thicknessing) that size would not readily accept the job, because its a real PIA time consumer & they know the customer will most likely complain about the cost but more so will be back complaining about the poor job they did or telling everybody about it.

Using the bandsaw is one way to attack it - good luck with the movement after processing though.