Re-sawing on the table saw

[Karl]

I logged on to ask a question, and saw that Heath Robinson had posed a similair question in relation to re-sawing stock with a circular saw. Rather than hijack that thread I thought i'd start a new one.

I have some 2" thick oak which needed to be re-sawn. My bandsaw doesn't have the capacity. So I decided to re-saw it on the table saw. The boards were 8" wide, so I started by flattening one face and squaring 2 edges on the planer, then ran the board over the (unguarded) table saw blade, taking say 4 passes to reach the max depth of cut (just over 3") on each side. This left a 2" strip down the middle of the board which was easy to rip through with a hand saw as the kerf made by the table saw provided a nice guide for the saw. Big 3tpi Disston did the trick!

Anyway, it wasn't until after i'd done this that I wondered whether others do the same??? And does anybody have any tricks for avoiding the unguarded blade at the end of the cut?

It isn't a technique I would employ for thin stock, but for wider stuff it worked really well.

Cheers

Karl

 

[jlawrence]

Yes Karl, I do similar.
I use push sticks towards the end in order to try and keep my pinkies away from the blade.

 

[woodbloke]

I logged on to ask a question, and saw that Heath Robinson had posed a similair question in relation to re-sawing stock with a circular saw. Rather than hijack that thread I thought i'd start a new one.

I have some 2" thick oak which needed to be re-sawn. My bandsaw doesn't have the capacity. So I decided to re-saw it on the table saw. The boards were 8" wide, so I started by flattening one face and squaring 2 edges on the planer, then ran the board over the (unguarded) table saw blade, taking say 4 passes to reach the max depth of cut (just over 3") on each side. This left a 2" strip down the middle of the board which was easy to rip through with a hand saw as the kerf made by the table saw provided a nice guide for the saw. Big 3tpi Disston did the trick!

Anyway, it wasn't until after i'd done this that I wondered whether others do the same??? And does anybody have any tricks for avoiding the unguarded blade at the end of the cut?

It isn't a technique I would employ for thin stock, but for wider stuff it worked really well.

Cheers

Karl

Karl - I have done it in exactly this way and a big 3tpi Disston is the boy for the middle bit...but it's not something I'd recommend - Rob

 

[OPJ]

While it's not something I would recommend or consider doing, there are certainly a couple of precautions I think you could consider...

One is to use a taller fence, which should simply mean fitting a wider strip of 18mm ply or MDF to your saw's existing fence.

Secondly, I would still want some form of guarding in place. It isn't always practical to have an overheard guard but you could look at making an L-section from MDF - the taller it is then, like the sub-fence, it should at least keep your hands away from the top of the blade.

 

[Chris Knight]

Karl,
You say you used an unguarded blade - I don't know if you meant that it had no top guard or whether you used no riving knife. Top guard, no problems but doing without a riving knife would be extremely dangerous IMHO.

 

[Karl]

Chris - by unguarded I meant no top guard. The riving knife was still in place.

Cheers

Karl

 

[wizer]

I've done it on all three saws I've had. Always with the knife in place and never any problems. Until dragon blades, I had a lot of problems getting my bandsaw to resaw. Hence preferred the TS for this task. As long as you are aware that it's not the safest method, you should be aware of the risks and take precautions. It should be fine. Plan the cut and have your push sticks in sensible places.

 

[jlawrence]

Unfortunately I've had to do this with no riving knife as well - needing a well placed screw driver to keep the kerf open. I am in the process of altering the riving knife so that I don't need to remove it for this sort of operation. It's one of the major drawbacks of having the guard attached to the knife - the knife has to protrude above the blade.
Replacing my knife and guard with different types will sort this problem.

 

[awkwood]

I bought a spare riving knife and then cut the top off, so its full height of the cut
I then swap the over when doing this kind of work, usually the blade needs changing to one with chip limiters for deep ripping anyway

 

[Karl]

Unfortunately I've had to do this with no riving knife as well - needing a well placed screw driver to keep the kerf open. I am in the process of altering the riving knife so that I don't need to remove it for this sort of operation. It's one of the major drawbacks of having the guard attached to the knife - the knife has to protrude above the blade.
Replacing my knife and guard with different types will sort this problem.

I had to modify the riving knife on my table saw. Have a look here.

Cheers

Karl

 

[mailee]

Yep same here Karl, I too have used this method for deep ripping timber. I found the hardest part was actually pushing the heavy timber through the saw, with my push sticks of course. This wouldn't be possible with the crown guard on so yes it was removed. I think my bandsaw would have coped but the table is on the small side for big pieces of timber like this. :wink:

 

[ondablade]

My experience of that sort of deep submerged ripping cut is that it'll really struggle to clear the dust. A proper rip blade might sort it, but could bring other risks like kickback into play.

The dust seems to get down into the space between the cut and the side of the blade, and creates a lot of friction in this narrow space. Plus it's cutting at once over a very long length of circumference, which is a heavy load situation too.

The result for me (in iroko with a 10 in 3 hp saw using a fairly sharp combination blade) was that the saw was really struggling to keep on turning - reducing the feed pressure didn't help this much. There was some tendency to burning too.

I'd no kickback, but my guess is that it would be a prime situation for kickback (close to stalling while cutting off the top of the blade) too only that the blade was almost jammed in the cut by the dust.

I was making a honing fixture, and wanted the clean non through cut left by the table saw. That said i didn't fully realise how dodgy a cut it was. I got through it, but only just, and was on the point of diving for the stop button several times (i figured that trying to withdraw the workpiece wouldn't have been too safe a move)...

 

[Steve Maskery]

I'd just like to reiterate that this is not good practice. And yes, I have done the same myself, but the machine is not intended for it and there is a greater risk of kickback than for normal ripping, even with a riving knife and manouvring such a board with pushsticks is not easy, on edge.

If you do use this method, leave a substantial "heart" and cut it by hand with a rip saw.

Best to get a mate with a well-setup bandsaw.

S

 

[Digit]

I also have done it, I would not be happy without the knife though, I normally use a high fence and find, as mentioned by ondablade that the machine makes hard work of it, so I normally make several passes, and it is here that the tall fence pays dividends.

Roy.

 

[woodbloke]

My riving knife has been in place when I've done this...what also helps is a newly sharpened saw blade - Rob

 

[BradNaylor]

I hate doing this kind of thing, although needs must on occasion.

Next time Karl, please come and use my bandsaw!

Cheers
Brad

 

[PAC1]

As you all know you should not do this as the risk of kick back is very high. When I was an apprentice and resawing on the TS was not banned I made the mistake of standing directly behind the sawblade. It was not a big piece of wood but it floored me. As it left the blade it was travelling at something over 100MPH. It did no damage but we all learnt a lesson that day.

Anyone wanting to resaw timber up to 8.5 inches deep is welcome to come and use my bandsaw

 

[woodbloke]

I made the mistake of standing directly behind the sawblade.

One of the 'Golden Rules' when using a tablesaur...never stand in the line of fire - Rob

 

[PAC1]

Rob
Yep. Some of us just have to learn them the hard way! So that others can learn from such mistakes.

 

[Digit]

I'm suprised about that PAC. That was my second instruction as an apprentice. The first was how to make tea!

Roy.