Suggestions for getting thin exotic hardwood stock

[Andrew Schaefer]

I have been thoroughly enjoying my new scroll saw, and have about gone through all of my stock of 1/8" to 3/16" cocobolo. I found the original pieces at Rockler, but the small stock is very expensive. I visited my local exotic hardwood store and picked up some 3/4" thick wenge, lacewood, and bloodwood boards. They were able to resaw them on their bandsaw into 2 3/8" boards (roughly.) I am making buttons out of these small pieces, so anything thicker than 3/16" or maybe 1/4" is too thick and I need to figure out a way to reduce the thickness of these boards again.

It would be perfect if I could resaw them in half again, and get 4 usable pieces out of the 1, but I'm not sure what I would use to do this (bandsaw / tablesaw.) Does anyone know if I can even successfully resaw boards that thin? Looking at the pieces which have been resawed once, the cut line is definitely not straight and looks like it would need to be planed first.

Would I be better off getting a planer and just taking the two halves down to the 3/16" thickness? If I was able to resaw the 3/8 boards in half again, I'm guessing I'd have to plane the rough sides first anyway, but I'm not positive. I've been through forum posts about which kind of planer to buy and am wondering if I need to get a small bench top model, like the Rigid, for the thickness of boards I'm working with, or if the larger planers would work too?

Thanks for any input you can give me!

[Paul Symchych]

Easy with a bandsaw. A tablesaw would do it but the expensive sawdust waste is considerable and cutting small wood is more dangerous.
The cut surfaces can be cleaned up by hand or with a lunchbox planer.
Bandsaws can be costly. For what sounds like a 15 minute job, it would make economic sense to find someone in your area with a bandsaw to make the slices for you.

[Jamie Buxton]

Compared to the cost of a planer or a drum sander plus a bandsaw, paying high prices for already-prepped thin lumber would be cheap. Many suppliers besides Rockler offer it. For instance http://www.woodcraft.com/Family/2005181/Thin-Stock-Hardwood-Packs.aspx and http://www.constantines.com/18thinwoods.aspx

[Andrew Schaefer]

Compared to the cost of a planer or a drum sander plus a bandsaw, paying high prices for already-prepped thin lumber would be cheap. Many suppliers besides Rockler offer it. For instance http://www.woodcraft.com/Family/2005181/Thin-Stock-Hardwood-Packs.aspx and http://www.constantines.com/18thinwoods.aspx

I agree, in the short term it will definitely be cheaper to buy the already prepped lumber, but I was just thinking if i was going to be doing this for a while, it may make sense to invest in some of the tools. I may have access to a wood shop in Houston to resaw the existing pieces I have, which means I may just need to pick up a planer. Am I going to need to look at a lunchbox planer as opposed to a floor model? I was thinking if I was going to buy a planer, I could look a combination joiner/planer to kill two birds with one stone, but after reading about the larger planers not doing as well a job on thin stock, I was reconsidering.

[Paul Symchych]

If you can get it resawn a hand plane and/or a belt/palm sander would do the surface prep. A lunchbox planer works well. No need to go any bigger. A floor model planer sounds like massive overkill for your needs.

[Eddie Darby]

Easy with a bandsaw. A tablesaw would do it but the expensive sawdust waste is considerable ....
... it would make economic sense to find someone in your area with a bandsaw to make the slices for you.

http://www.totalsawsolutions.com/

This would cut down on the expensive sawdust, by replacing it with an expensive blade!lol

I agree that finding someone with a bandsaw might be a good first step, and then later who knows.

[Andrew Schaefer]

Yeah, I think the first step will be finding a bandsaw to use, then we'll see. I may find something on CL, or at the woodworking show, coming up soon, that I like. Thanks for the replies.

[Brad Shipton]

Depending on where you are located, you might want to try Advantage lumber. They sell many different species in what they call thinwood. They have an amazing planer and they guarantee no tearout. Making it yourself is a good option, but you might be a little surprised about the loss due the blade kerf and set.

Brad

[Mike Cutler]

Andrew

How wide are these pieces of material? Depending on the width you may get by with some less expensive machine purchases.
From your description I don't see a need for an actual planer. A used Performax/Jet/Delta/Grizzly/ Harbor Freight 16-32, or even a 10/20 will do very nicely. Couple this with a used 14" Bandsaw, or maybe even a 12" benchtop and you're set.

[Andrew Schaefer]

Mike, the pieces I'm currently working with are anywhere from 3"-6" wide. I hadn't thought about using a drum sander before, but it looks like it would do the job as well. After checking a few prices, it looks like the Jet 10-20 is still around $699. If the planer and drum sander were around the same price, is there one which would do a better job? Would the drum sander be something that I could use for other tasks?

[Mike Cutler]

Andrew

Those drum sanders are available used also. I've seen plenty of them for sale on various sites. I recommended a drum sander over a planer simply because of the material thickness need you spec's. Anything under a 1/2" thick is pushing it on a planer without a purpose made sled.
They're all pretty much clones of the Performax design, so I don't really think there is much difference between all of them across the board.
You will find lots of uses for a drum sander. Just about every piece of material is sanded at one point or another. They can do some "light" dimensioning of the material too knock the bandsaw marks off the wood. You'll just have to change abrasives a little more.
If you're wondering about future capability, I used a Performax 16-32 to prep the material for a 10' long, 8' tall, 30" wide book case system, made from 5/4 brazilian cherry, prior to getting my current dual drum sander. I used that same 16-32 to make two solid 8/4 hardwood doors.
Point being is that they aren't a waste of $$$.