Cutting veneers on a band saw.

[Elisha Nichols]

Hi there, I'm a student completing her DT a-level and I'm doing my project on designing and making an object/item/tool that will assist in the easy making of veneers and boards on a band saw. I was wondering if you have any existing products that help assist in this area, or if you have any knowledge on ways and methods to complete this process easily, including the kerf in the measurements, meaning you don't have to re-measure every time.
Thank you for your time.

 

[sams93]

You could design some kind of sprung feed rollers to keep pressure on the board against the fence as it passes through. Could be powered or non-powered.

Would remove a hand from the operation that you would usually need to apply the side pressure. Most machines have cast iron tables so you could use strong magnets i.e a magnet base or two to keep in place.


Basically would be a posh version of a featherboard

 

[Ed Weber]

One thing to consider is, what is already available and how yours will be different.
https://bow-products.com/product/guidepro/

 

[Tortoise]

Relative novice here, but I do use my b/s for cutting veneers (my b/s an entry level model). Didn't do much research, just tried until I got an acceptable result. The requirement is for use on antiques, so varying thicknesses are needed, consistency of thickness not always critical (as it can mimic "age" or being hand made), and for me, relatively small pieces required (say up to 12" x 2.5"). Timbers used have been pear and ebony. Some comments (based on my needs and limited experience):
1. Ebony trickier than pear. Ebony best air dried as kiln dried is brittle.
2. Air dried ebony can have twists, so one good "resting" surface is needed. Horizontal bows can be accommodated with a simple jig (so I'm not pressing the timber against the fence in those circumstances, but against the jig which is a simple convex curve placed at the cutting point).
3. Sharp blade essential, but a fine blade can bind / clog on ebony, so a coarser blade is used.
4. Front surface of veneer can be smoothed by hand or machine and then hand finished. Improving even thickness can be done by hand or with a drum sander (I don't have a p/t). "By hand" can be a toothed plane which provides reassuringly quick progress.

Very easy for the final veneer to become too thin for use on antiques and fully admit my approach can have a fair amount of waste.
Putting warm glue on ebony is a separate challenge as the veneer then "cups" the wrong way, so preparing the clamping is essential.

 

[Ttrees]

Interesting challenge to come up with something simpler than the Laguna driftmaster,
or even for other solutions like the Accu-slice, or little ripper which might inspire, though seem to mainly account for a less than stellar setup of the machine, or indeed whats not requiring the work to be surfaced.
For regular cutting, and something a bit simpler than the Laguna...
Jack Forsberg's fence on his Speedax machine might inspire.

 

[Hornbeam]

Normal approach when cutting veneers is to use a high auxilliary fence. This can be a a full length or a point fence
The key issue is slow regular feed speed and pressure against the fence. This can be achieved using a small power feeder.
It should be possible to design a small hand cranked power feeder that would then provide consistent sprung pressure and feed speed

 

[pulleyt]

I recently made a jig based on the very expensive AccuSlice product
(Accu-ish Slice)

It involves a sliding fence to which the timber is fixed with double -sided tape. Setting the jig so that the veneer is the piece that remains stuck to the fence means that the next pass will be the same thickness. I haven't incorporated a measuring element to the jig but it would be possible to do so.

 

[Elisha Nichols]

You could design some kind of sprung feed rollers to keep pressure on the board against the fence as it passes through. Could be powered or non-powered.

Would remove a hand from the operation that you would usually need to apply the side pressure. Most machines have cast iron tables so you could use strong magnets i.e a magnet base or two to keep in place.


Basically would be a posh version of a featherboard

Thank you so much for your super helpful response, I was wondering if you yourself have done any research on this or any sketches to help me understand what exactly it is that you mean! No worries if not, thank you so much for your time, you've been a great help. - Elisha.

 

[Elisha Nichols]

One thing to consider is, what is already available and how yours will be different.
https://bow-products.com/product/guidepro/

Thank you! I will do some extended research on this.

 

[Elisha Nichols]

I recently made a jig based on the very expensive AccuSlice product
(Accu-ish Slice)

It involves a sliding fence to which the timber is fixed with double -sided tape. Setting the jig so that the veneer is the piece that remains stuck to the fence means that the next pass will be the same thickness. I haven't incorporated a measuring element to the jig but it would be possible to do so.

Wow! Impressive, I will be sure to look into this. Thank you for your time - Elisha.

 

[Elisha Nichols]

Interesting challenge to come up with something simpler than the Laguna driftmaster,
or even for other solutions like the Accu-slice, or little ripper which might inspire, though seem to mainly account for a less than stellar setup of the machine, or indeed whats not requiring the work to be surfaced.
For regular cutting, and something a bit simpler than the Laguna...
Jack Forsberg's fence on his Speedax machine might inspire.

Fabulous! I will give this video and watch. Thank you for your time - Elisha.

 

[sams93]

Thank you so much for your super helpful response, I was wondering if you yourself have done any research on this or any sketches to help me understand what exactly it is that you mean! No worries if not, thank you so much for your time, you've been a great help. - Elisha.

Not at all, I was only thinking of basically the same product that Ed Weber suggested just using sprung wheels rather than a rubber strip.

 

[thetyreman]

an extremely sharp brand new blade makes a big difference as well, don't use a very low TPI and feed it quite slow, get a tuffsaws blade just for the job if possible.

 

[pgrbff]

Here is another fence for riping veneers.
https://www.mag-tools.eu/collection...agswitch-bandsaw-featherboard-diy-kit-8800946

 

[Ttrees]

Apologies, here's the one I was thinking

 

[Jacob]

Hi there, I'm a student completing her DT a-level and I'm doing my project on designing and making an object/item/tool that will assist in the easy making of veneers and boards on a band saw. I was wondering if you have any existing products that help assist in this area, or if you have any knowledge on ways and methods to complete this process easily, including the kerf in the measurements, meaning you don't have to re-measure every time.
Thank you for your time.

The normal way is to run your workpiece past the fence with the veneer being between the blade and the fence. Then repeat.
With two push sticks.
Quite unproblematic and the kerf measurement doesn't come into it.

 

[sams93]

The normal way is to run your workpiece past the fence with the veneer being between the blade and the fence. Quite unproblematic and the kerf measurement doesn't come into it.

If you read through the other thread (third point made here https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/threads/jig-to-cut-veneers-on-a-bandsaw.146999/post-1727190) I think it is evident where the confusion lies. As I understand it now they were originally trying to make their cuts with the desired veneer dimension on the off-side of the blade, hence why they were coming across the problem of having to re-measure things and also account for kerf. As you say, the standard way of cutting veneers (in the same way you would cut any piece of wood on a bandsaw/tablesaw between the blade and the fence), does not make kerf a problem. You can have whatever kerf size you like and once you have set and locked the fence it gives you repeatable veneer thicknesses.

This jig does provide an alternative way to cut veneers if you so wish, of repeatable thickness, where the desired veneer is produced on the off-side of the blade, away from the fence.