Ripping tapered cylinders in 1/2

[Don Carkhuff]

I have a job for a sports bar. I have to rip ,lenghtwise of course, 200 baseball bats and cover the front of a bar.
Got any suggestions on a tool preference or jig? :confused:
Thanks,
Don

[Bob Smalser]

I spose you could cut the profile out in plywood and tack that to a batten for ripping on the TS....but I doubt if all the bats are exactly the same.

Otherwise I'd just freehand them on my BS, eyeballing center, followed by a pass thru the jointer.

Stone that BS blade with a carborundum stone like you'd do to a hand saw that is wandering off track, and you don't need a fence.

Then I'd screw them to the panel with three centered screws each, countersunk and bunged. Cut the bungs from the backs of the bats and line up the grain so they match.

[James Boster]

My choice for this job would be a bandsaw. V-groove a 2x4 to hold bat while ripping. Naturally when you rip bat you are also going to rip 2x4, so make your 2x a little bit longer and before you make your first rip drill a couple of 3/8" holes all the way through 2x from side to side on each end. After ripping first bat put a couple of 3/8" dowels through holes to make jig "re-usable". You could just do this on one end and not cut all the way throug the other end. after cutting first bat shut saw off allow blade to stop and pull jig back but not all the way off saw put in next bat and start saw. Repeat till done. Not complicated just don't know if i explained it very well. Good luck.

[David Wilson]

Don
The first thing that comes to mind is a modification of a cross cut sled. You could build a jig that would hold a bat with a cut along the bottom. The two sides of the jig would be supported at the top of the jig and you could rip the bats on a table saw using the fence to guide the jig. You might want to drive a wedge into the cut to keep the bat halves from closing up on the blade.
That what first comes to what is left of my mind.

[Carl Eyman]

In a recent program on how to use a lathe Norm turned a baseball bat. If you'd do the same, but with a blank that was already split down the middle and glued together with a paper shim, You could split the two halves apart and voila as the French say. Except, what do they know about baseball bats.

[Keith Christopher]

I agree the safest way is to glue up two pieces with aq piece of paper between them and then turn the bat on the lathe. ripping on the TS should be out of the question as most are made from ash and it is tough to rip let alone an odd shape.

[Mark Singer]

Determine the "lead"of the bandsaw. Cut a wedge and run it along the fence. Adjust the wedge if necessary after the fist cut. It should split them right down the middle...

[Bob Smalser]

If you'd spend some time adjusting your guides and tuning your blade, your bandsaw won't have any "lead" or "drift" to compensate for.




If the blade doesn't cut dead straight then with a fence like that you can get a cut with a cup in it. Tuning the blades so that they don't pull to the side is essential. The wide(1") blade helps to keep the cut straight but if you get cupping in the cut then the blade is pulling off center. There are probably other ways to reduce this but I just touch the side of the blade with a fine oil stone on the side that forms the cup. Not too much! because you are taking some of the set out of the blade.








Resaw? Almost every day. You want a wide blade with a low tpi count. This old WO Navy Yard 4X7 bearer is about to produce some replacement frames:

http://pic3.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/6771586/87361524.jpg


Basically, I find any fence is a waste of time if the saw and blade are tuned. Any long fence must be adjusted to match the blade track and readjusted with every blade change. Blades track in one direction or the other away from your layout line because their tooth set isn't perfectly matched on both sides of the blade.

I generally fix the blade track and use a chalk or pencil line followed by the thickness planer and have little trouble, tho I don't go thinner than my small planer will handle. I might make myself a point fence if I had a large run of thin stock to get out, however.

One reason I don't like gluing anything but a perfectly-planed surface, besides not liking to be so fussy (and slow) resawing exactly to a mark, is that it takes a whole lot more glue to fill those saw marks. And with a glue that doesn't fill gaps well (which is just about all of them short of thickened epoxy), there may be trouble ahead for that lam.

A hand saw that wanders off track is tuned by lightly removing a tad of set on the side it wants to wander using a carborundum stone.

A bandsaw blade is tuned basically the same way. Reset all your guides first by the book to make sure they are set to that particular blade. Instead of stoning the teeth, try stoning the rear corners of the blade first...taking a little sharpness off the rear corner on the side the blade wants to wander may straighten the cut out without touching the teeth.

Set the height adjustment to match the stone and lightly touch it to the blade with the machine running.

Some folks round their new blades off at the back corners as a matter of routine....spose to make them less prone to breakage during a turning movement...on blades set up that way you touch the stone gently to the side of the teeth just like with a hand saw.