Resaw blade advice

[Ttrees]

Sorry been up all night, getting a bit dozy
It just appeared to me in post 12 that you might have had that idea.
I was unaware you had a planer thicknesser and got the impression you might have been doing the rest by hand.
That will certainly speed things up, and make one less concerned about doing a bit of extra planing.
More power to ya!

All the best Bjgodefr

Love to hear others experiences resawing steamed beech
Tom

 

[sploo]

What sort of fence would you suggest?

I'd use a point fence like this image (it's not my photo, though I have a similar fence):

A deep rip cut on a BS300 will be hard work (I have that saw), but with the right blade it should be possible (if a bit slow). I'd usually suggest emailing Ian at Tuffsaws as he's good with advice; though obviously if he's no longer shipping out of the UK then it may be a problem.

I'd echo Mike's comment about a 3/4" (19mm) blade - too much to tension on the BS300. I once spoke to a Record Power guy who admitted it was optimistic. Stick to 5/8" (16mm) max.

 

[bjgodefr]

Why is a point fence better than the regular fence with an extra guide? Is it because the point fence alows more movement for the blade?
But I'll have to actively guide the board along the point then, instead of keeping it just straight agianst a regular fence.
Might be difficult since the board is large.

 

[sploo]

Why is a point fence better than the regular fence with an extra guide? Is it because the point fence alows more movement for the blade?
But I'll have to actively guide the board along the point then, instead of keeping it just straight agianst a regular fence.
Might be difficult since the board is large.

A long board is unlikely to be completely flat, so when placed against a flat fence the centre line of the board will change with respect to the blade as the board slides along the fence. Secondly, you can get blade drift with a bandsaw (such that cutting straight can require a slight angle on your fence - the reason why many bandsaw fences can be adjusted with an allen key). With a point fence you ensure that the distance between the leading edge of the blade and the point on the board touching the fence is constant.

In theory, if you had an infinitely thin ribbon blade (i.e. a wire) then you could rotate the board left and right as you cut, but the wire would always remain on the centre line of the board. As the blade has some width (e.g. 5/8" / 15mm) you couldn't rotate the board too much without binding on the rear of the blade; but the point is that the leading edge that's doing the cutting will always be in the right place.

 

[pgrbff]

What sort of fence would you suggest?

There are several options, as I said I am not very experienced but have recently purchased a large cast-iron bandsaw so I have been doing lots of research.
A tall fence is often used but without the "box" structure you show in your image which I think might cause problems. Often a single-point fence is also used. Both are shown in the images.
There is an enormous amount on YT on resawing, it would be a good idea to have a look there.
I have consistently seen the advice that you should have as wide a blade as possible for beam strength to avoid a barrel cut. Unfortunately, the wider the blade the more tension is required to keep the blade cutting straight and you should go for one size smaller than the instructions from your saw says it can handle.
So if your saw should be able to tension a 5/8" blade, use a 1/2" blade. The thinner the blade material the easier it is to tension, so a thinner blade is better. By thinner, I mean the thickness of the metal rather than the width of the blade. 2 or 3 tpi would be best but maybe a variable pitch would cut better.
This is where talking to someone at a store like Tuff saws comes in so useful. They have far more experience than me.
Please contradict me if anyone thinks I am mistaken. I have a lot to learn.

 

[sploo]

Here's a (woefully poor) illustration of what I mean about using a point fence:

The left example shows the result of running an (exaggerated) bent board along a straight fence. The blade cut (the dotted red line) is consistent with the fence, but not consistent with the board.

The three examples on the right show the result of pushing the same bent board along a point fence; with the blade cut always remaining on the board centre line.

You could also add a small fingerboard on the other side of the board - preferably just before the blade; as that would prevent the board from wandering away from the point fence.

 

[stevek]

I know that this is the wimpy option but looking at those great big boards I think I would be chatting up the local joinery shop or timber yard and asking them to run it all through their band saw,,Did somone say you have a planer? and you could get it through that quickly before fixing it in place.
My last visit to Christchurch timber was to buy some wide pine boards, the cheap option was for them to slice down some boards around the same size as yours. Their bandsaw is housed in a big open timber store shed and was a massive lump of cast iron and the teeth seemed to be enormous, I think around 2 or 3 every foot though I didnt actually count them, and perhaps a power feed? but it was trully the biggest saw Ive ever seen. Well as you could immagine it made short work of the sawing but what I noticed was that the sawn face had quite distinct saw cut lines every inch or so, where those massive teeth had sliced it though..I cant help thinking about that then contemplating cutting even harder wood on your saw!
Steve.

 

[bjgodefr]

Yes, you're right. And at the price I paid for the new blade, and the time I'm investing, I could just buy an extra board instead. But for me - next to cutting wood - this is a learning experience. The answers in this thread alone taught me a lot already. Same with the bench: a lot of people told me to sell it as a vintage piece of furniture, but that's not what I want. I like using it and improving it and doing it all myself

 

[Chris Hawkins]

Would just like to echo Mike and Sploo. I have had the Record Power Sabre 350 for a few years and wasted too much money on trying to get 3/4 blades to tension correctly. I get perfect results with a 5/8 3tpi blade for resawing.

 

[--Tom--]

After years of wanting one I picked up a tension gauge for my bandsaws. It’s surprising how much you need to crank to get even narrow blades to the right psi. If you go for an m42 blade they’re a much thicker gauge and need even more tension. Pretty sure tuffsaws sell a thinner gauge carbon blade which give the benefit of being more able to tension it adequately, plus the thinner kerf would put less strain on the motor.

when I’ve resawn Beech it wants to move a lot afterwards. Put it in stick straight afterwards and add some weight.If you have a foot length to practice on I definitely would, and wait to see how it reacts before doing the rest.

 

[pgrbff]

After years of wanting one I picked up a tension gauge for my bandsaws. It’s surprising how much you need to crank to get even narrow blades to the right psi. If you go for an m42 blade they’re a much thicker gauge and need even more tension. Pretty sure tuffsaws sell a thinner gauge carbon blade which give the benefit of being more able to tension it adequately, plus the thinner kerf would put less strain on the motor.

when I’ve resawn Beech it wants to move a lot afterwards. Put it in stick straight afterwards and add some weight.If you have a foot length to practice on I definitely would, and wait to see how it reacts before doing the rest.

I'd like one too but they are incredibly expensive for what is at the end of the day a dial gauge.

 

[--Tom--]

Agree, I wouldn’t have paid the new price but was lucky to get one at a good deal. May just be placebo effect but does feel like it’s cutting better. I drop the tension at the end of every day so it gets used everytime I use the saw, and it’ll see me out. In the luxury tools category fo sure

 

[Hornbeam]

How much additional thickness do you want to add to the top as you will always lose more than you thin after deep sawing and cleaning up.
Could you not saw the beech the other way and use 39mm wide strips edge glued for the top

 

[Wildman]

why not flatten the top and add risers to the legs? ha ha

 

[Doug N]

I have a Record BS300, fitted with a Tuffsaws 5/8" premium blade - 3/4 Varitooth which I use for resawing mainly hardwood. I used to do the accounts for a fireplace shop and the fitters often took out nice hardwood mantles which ended up on the skip, and I managed to rescue quite a few which I have been cutting down to more useful sizes, and find that the premium blade goes through 6 or 7 inch pieces without any real bother. The attached pics are actually of a 5" cill from a neighbours old door frame which I have cut down to make some 3/4" boards. Yes you can see some saw marks, but they soon plane out with my Record no. 7. 2nd pic shows a small piece that has been planed. I have no idea what type of wood this is but it is very heavy and comes up nicely from the plane. It actually darker than it looks in the photos.

Cheers

Doug

 

[bjgodefr]

I have a Record BS300, fitted with a Tuffsaws 5/8" premium blade - 3/4 Varitooth which I use for resawing mainly hardwood. I used to do the accounts for a fireplace shop and the fitters often took out nice hardwood mantles which ended up on the skip, and I managed to rescue quite a few which I have been cutting down to more useful sizes, and find that the premium blade goes through 6 or 7 inch pieces without any real bother. The attached pics are actually of a 5" cill from a neighbours old door frame which I have cut down to make some 3/4" boards. Yes you can see some saw marks, but they soon plane out with my Record no. 7. 2nd pic shows a small piece that has been planed. I have no idea what type of wood this is but it is very heavy and comes up nicely from the plane. It actually darker than it looks in the photos.

Cheers

Doug
View attachment 103949View attachment 103951

Remarkable, thanks for the info.
Maybe it's the varitooth that makes the difference? My 5/8" Fastcutt blade stalls in the 7" beech I threw at it. Or my blade is getting blunt? On the other hand : it just has too many teeth to be cutting this wide a board I think.

I'll certainly report back on how the 3tpi blade I ordered handles. Should arrive next week. I'll go shopping this evening for some in- and outfeed support

Thanks again for all the feedback. This really helps and is giving me other ideas for when the cut I'm planning doesn't work.

For now I'll clean up the board on the table saw first. The faces are flat, but the sides are bowed. Since I'll be preparing for a quick glue up, I'll saw it straight first. And that will also make the board loose half an inch or so, can't hurt the resawing.

 

[Ttrees]

If the plank has a crook (bowing of the edge) then it might be worth trying to settle it on the surface planer, instead of rigging it up with a straight line jig to ride against the fence on the tablesaw.
Unless you have huge a sliding panel saw, that is.
Jack Forsberg (JackEnglishmachines) has a video on instagram doing this, not sure if it's safe practice, as I never seen the technique used before, but it makes sense to me, if you want to maximise the use of your stock.

I think Hornbeam's suggestion is a good'un, which is worth consideration if possible.
I consider a bandsaw of that size as a curve cutter, or small box makers saw.
Not a machine for resawing really.
Risky business regarding your stock.

Tom

 

[sploo]

FYI I needed to resaw some oak a few days ago, so had to dig out my DIY point fence. Only 4" wide planks, and oak, but the point fence was critical as the blade on my BS300 (one of Tuffsaw's M42 blades) has taken some heavy abuse and there was a lot of drift so I had to angle the plank to keep the cut straight. In fact - you can see by the line of sawdust behind the blade just how much I was having to angle the plank . Time for a new blade I think.

 

[bjgodefr]

Great example , thanks!

Since the blade I'm going to be using will be new, I'll try with a big fence a some sort of tall feather block first.

I've now flattened the edges of the board, and that narrowed it to 16,5cm wide (6.6").
First made a cut on the band saw and then I've used the jointer and planer:

I'm a bit at maximum capacity in my smallish workplace with the board

Already preparing clamping cauls for the gluing part of the job.

 

[bjgodefr]

OK, this evening was D-day!
The saw I bought worked well (Flexback- 13mm wide - 0.65 thick -3tpi). (The board was now a bit narrower at a height of 16,5cm.)
I did have to use point fence though. The most difficult part was following the middle line I drew.

As predicted here on the forum , the result was two bowed boards...

Here arranged on the bench, they look like a mess:

Planing the boards equally was difficult because of the bow. The one board I didn't resaw stayed nice and true though.

I did a dry clamping and then went for it:

(a bit blurry - sorry)
I counted all my clamps and calculated how many I needed and tought that I had enough, but no... You're going to laugh, but I wished I bought some more...

I now have blisters on my hands from clamping

It didn't go perfect, but I think it'll be allright and I'll hopefully have a nice flat surface after some light hand planing.
(there was a nice glue line almost all around and in between the boards)


Thanks for all the advice in this thread, it really helped me and it is appreciated!!!