bandsaw resawing fence

[joe zarnitz]

looking for ideas---homemade or commercial---tks,joe

[Jim Becker]

Either way works, commercial or shop-built, but unless you have a heavy, Euro-style saw that can tension a very wide and stable blade, consider a "single point" resaw fence style so you can manually adjust for lead during the cut. The Duginski design (now sold by Kreg) is a great example of this. I used this design on the Jet 14" saw I used to own with great success.

[Bill Arnold]

Joe,

For resawing, I made a tall fence from 3/4" MDF. As you can see in the photo, it's a saddle arrangement that I sized and sanded to be a snug friction fit over the factory fence. I keep the factory fence parallel to the miter slot and adjust for blade drift using the blade tracking control.

Currently, I'm using a Timberwolf 3/4", 3AS-S blade for resaw. I wasn't getting as good a cut as I thought I should, but a few minutes with tech support at Suffolk Machinery helped smoothe it out. I'm looking at some other blade options that might enable me to cut thinner veneers, but the jury is still out on that one. I have no problem cutting slices as thin as 1/32" with my current setup.

Regards,

[Ken Garlock]

Jim Becker, I thought you knew better than that :D

With a BS fence properly compensated for blade drift, all you need is a wide board attached vertically to the fence.

Jim, I agree with you 99.99% of the time, but this one time I must take exception. ;) ;)

[Jim Becker]

Ken, what you say is true for a new blade, but every blade requires readjustment for drift individually and as they wear, the tend to drift more, especially on saws with crowned tires that the teeth still come in contact with the tire. You lose a little set on one side and the drift increases over time. (Not an issue on Euro style saws that use flat tires and have you run the teeth off the edge of the blade) Proponents of the point fences say they are better at compensating for that.

Either way works fine; one requires constant adjustment of the machine and the other requires constant adjustment of the woodworker!! :D Pick your poison!! :)

[Ted Shrader]

Joe -

Here are some pictures of my resaw fence. Some features: It attaches easily to the edges of the saw table with knobs. Note on the bottom view it has a three point clamping system so you can compensate for blade drift. The fence slides back and forth on hardwood runners. There is a slot for the back side of the bottom gap for the blade to ride in providing a little extra support close to the work.

Attached are views of the Front, Back, Bottom and a close up of the blade slot in whatever order the SMC server decides they should be in.

Regards,
Ted

[Bob Smalser]

Keep the saw properly tuned, and you don't need anything more than a chalk line.


1. Make sure that the wheels are in line, and in plane.
2. Get good roller bearing blade guides, and set them up properly.
3. Use sharp, wide blades.
4. Make sure the tires are in good shape. A properly tuned saw with a sharp blade will have no "drift".
5. I regularly resaw 12" stock to 3/16".

And once the saw is set up well, any drift directly attributed to the blade set can be corrected with a carborundum stone just like you'd do with a hand saw.