1st time resaw questions

[Mark Versprille]

I've got a nice old 12 ft. 8x8 of VG Fir. I have never reduced a chunk of wood this large on a band saw before. This a pretty piece of wood that I don't want to screw up or waste too much of.


Three things I know I have to do are design and plan what I want to build, make a good cut list of the materials needed for the job (add 25%) and most importantly practice with some scraps/logs/other not so valued pieces before this beam ever sees a cut table.

Any procedures , techniques, warnings, set-ups, or whatever's you can give me are most appreciated. I am starting research into resawing on this and other sites. Maybe I can start working on it before summer is done. The beam is over a hundred years old. It can wait a few more months.

[Chris Padilla]

The first question you need to answer is this:

What is the longest piece I will need?

Let's assume it is 8 foot. Be sure to cut it down because handling a 12 foot beam will cause you great pain. I know it may seem sacrilege to cut that beam down but if you don't need the length, then don't deal with it. I learned this the hard way on a ~10' chunk of 8/4 walnut. I should have cut it roughly in half right from the start but I did not and ended up (likely) wasting a bit more wood than I needed to. I also wasted time and effort making up support tables for my bandsaw and jointer/planer in order to handle the wood. Read through my Tansu (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=92396) project and you'll see what I mean.

[Tom Veatch]

As Chris said, cut it as close to length as circumstances allow. Not only will it be easier to handle, but with shorter lengths, you'll get a little better yield from the surfacing operations to follow. The better yield may not be significant depending on what the wood does when you resaw it and what your specific thickness needs might be, but better is ... er... ah ... better.

[Howard Acheson]

What kind and size bandsaw do you have? What size and type blade do you have?

[Pete Bradley]

That's a bear to work with. Got an 8" jointer? You're going to need a good flat side, preferably two adjacent. If necessary you could probably sled it on a good board, but that makes a difficult piece more so. You're going to need a helper. You mention this is a first time resaw, I'd save it until you've got some good experience with logs and the like so you know what the pitfalls are.

I think if it were me, I'd be looking for someone with a band mill, horizontal resaw, or at least someone with a monster band saw with a feeder.

Pete

[Pat Germain]

Building and installing an auxiliary fence for your band saw would be helpful. If you really want to get serious, you could build a torsion box resaw fence like David Marks uses. It will stay dead flat for future use. The auxiliary fence should be as tall as the stock you're cutting, or a little taller.

A feather board on the infeed side, to keep the stock tight against the fence, would also help.

Be sure to use a high quality saw blade. I like Timberwolf blades. You can call Suffolk Machinery and tell them what you want to saw and they'll tell you exactly the right blade for the job.

And I assume your band saw is well tuned, right? :)

[Bill Houghton]

As others have said, you're tackling a BIG project. No way would I attempt anything even half that length alone, so you need an alert helper or, preferably, two, and two roller supports (or similar - you could make some with high sawhorses topped with half-sections of PVC pipe) that will level with your table.

Although it wastes a lot of wood and requires more surfacing, ripping as high as your table saw will go, top and bottom (that is, run it through the table saw, flip end for end in a way that will let you run the same face against the rip fence again but with the original top side down, so that you wind up with two cuts reaching toward each other), and then finishing the cut on the bandsaw would be less intimidating, but you still need the two helpers and roller supports.

[Mark Versprille]

I just got the pile of lumber off the 8x8 fir beam and there is good news and bad. Bad: there is a fair bit of cracking and checking in the middle of the timber. Good: It's not 12' long it's 22' long.

[Bob Cooper]

search locally for someone with a woodmizer or visit a local sawmill. they will do a much better job