slicing wood

[Jeremy Butler]

I was wondering about cutting 1" thick alder down to 1/4-1/2 thick and having both pieces, not just planing it down :) how is the best way, what kind of saw is best/ cheapest to do this?

[Chris Padilla]

Jeremy,

This is known as resawing wood. How wide is the lumber? A bandsaw is the best tool to use but a table saw can be used as well. If you're good with a handsaw, it could be done that way, too.

[Prashun Patel]

Having wrestled with this myself recently, here's what I can offer:

When you resaw, you'll lose the blade kerf + there's a possibility of releasing some stress in the wood that can cause wider boards to cup upon being cut. This means you might have some additional planing to do. So, you have little chance of getting very close to 1/2".

IMHO, resawing makes sense if yr cutting veneers or you have a special piece that you want to maximize the surface use for - not for economics.

The more efficient soln would be to get another piece of 3/4 or 4/4 and plane both of yr pieces down to your final thickness. If yr taking a LOT of wood off, try to take it off of both sides evenly.

[Lee Schierer]

From a 1" piece (actual dimension) you will never get two pieces at 1/2" thick. The saw will remove some material. A band saw will make a kerf of about 1/16-3/32" wide. The best you can hope for after clean up is two pieces 3/8" thick. A table saw or hand saw will remove even more material.

If the wood is actually 3/4" thick the best you can hope for is two pieces 1/4" thick.

As other have mentioned, cutting errors, clean up, cupping and bowing may reduce your yield even more.

I resaw 3/4" (actual dimension) wood all the time on my bandsaw to get 1/4" material for small boxes. I rarely have problems with cupping as my lumber comes from a quality supplier and it is all kiln dried and free of knots and other defects.

[Jeremy Butler]

ok thanks for the input, Im glad Im finding this all out now. Ive started my share of jobs thinking I can do it all one way then finding out its not as good as it was in my head :) so thanks for your help.

[David Winer]

[quote=Jeremy Butler;...what kind of saw is best/ cheapest to do this?[/quote]
Best: Bandsaw
Cheapest: Don't go there.