Thread: The best way to resaw...

I've had some trouble with resawing. Convinced it's down to the blade. I know about blade drift but your jig looks as though it has aome possibility of overcoming my problem.

How wide is your timber?

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My timber went to the bandsaw (after dressing) at 23.7mm thick, and I got two pieces after another dressing down to 10.1mm thick and no jigs used.

Good blade, and 15 minutes setting up bandsaw with some scrap timber to get the saw ready for its main duty.

Dont practice with the piece you are going to need for the project.

the type of timber you're cutting has an influence.

Timbers like oregon & pine with alternating hard/soft grain tend to wander into the soft parts,

Two 10mm boards out of 25mm material is pushing it.
It can be done but not easily for an inexperienced bandsaw operator.
Normally you need to allow 6mm for cut and dressing, with shorter boards you can get away with less as the board will not need to be flattened.

Did see a bloke who recommends strongly you do most of cut with tablesaw, then cut final strip with bandsaw. What you lose with wider kerf, you gain with better cut.

Originally Posted by artme

I've had some trouble with resawing. Convinced it's down to the blade. I know about blade drift but your jig looks as though it has aome possibility of overcoming my problem.

Just a comment, the fact the timber is constrained does not necessarily guarantee success!

If you have significant blade drift in either direction, this will still happen with the jig. Then all that will happen is that with the timber constrained, the blade will still TRY and drift. The resulting side force will then cause the blade to bow within the timber, leaving you with a barrel cut. Blade tension will help resist this, but not eliminate it.

For me there are 2 options:

Adjust the blade for zero drift. I do this by altering tracking to the front or back of the wheels until I get a neutral cut. Any change in blade tension will also have an effect. Once blade drift neutral, can use a single sided resaw fence, or your version if you prefer.

Second, compensate for drift. This implies having a resaw fence which can be adjusted in angle to match the "natural" drift characteristics of your current blade and bandsaw setup.
Alternatively use a single point resaw fence, as described by in the bandsaw forum, and adjust for drift, and resaw by eye!

regards

The method that works most reliably for me is to run a kerf around the board to be resawn, on the tablesaw. I then freehand the cut through the bandsaw. The tablesaw cut guides the bandsaw blade nicely, as a rule, & since I have a thin-kerf tablesaw blade (<2mm) the waste is minimal after cleanup, usually comfortably less than 4mm lost overall. (Minimising loss is particularly important when resawing for a good bookmatch, for e.g.)

For best results, appropriate (sharp!) blades & good saw set-up & a bit of practice as advocated above is essential. Also square up the board to be resawn, of course.
Cheers,

I have the H&F BP-300, so not the best but not the worst. I adjust the blade on the wheels so that it runs true, and then I resaw, in one case down to about a 5mm veneer. No wander. I only use a high false fence made out of Melamine chipboard scraps on the bandsaw fence to keep the timber vertical.

I'm sure it's also that easy on more expensive bandsaws and shouldn't need captive jigs etc.

I tested the theory today, just using a straight normal fence.

Bandsaw ran true, no drift of any concern, lost about 2mm in the cut. I dressed both faces and sides prior to run, and will need to dress the middle. The cut was rough but I was pretty happy. I'm thankful for an old but well looked after bandsaw.

Started with 25mm rough, and I think I'll get 9mm good.