How fast should I be able to resaw?

[Ralph Barhorst]

I have just finished resawing some 1-3/4" thick birch that was 6" wide. The final product was pretty good. I was able to plane the two pieces down to 3/4" thick without any problem.

I have a the recommended blade from Timber Wolf.

My problem is with the speed of resawing. I have a 14" band saw that was manufactured in Taiwan. The brand is "Buffalo" and it has a 3/4 HP motor on it. It is in fair shape for its age. The saw would bog down when I tried to feed it at what I thought was a reasonable speed. The best speed I could get was about 2" per minute. That means that it takes a half hour to resaw a 5 foot long board.

Is this the speed that I should expect from this saw? How fast can you guys resaw with band saws and what HP motor do you have?

[Cecil Arnold]

In my limited experience feed rate is one of those things that "takes as long as it takes". By that I mean it depends on too many things to give you a set rate. Obviously it will take longer to resaw hard maple than pine. Other variables are HP, blade, wet or dry wood, and I'm sure someone else will chime in with some things I have forgotten. Again, in my limited experience, I thought I would never finish resawing some 9" mahogany on a 14" Jet, and bird's eye maple (8") for veneers seemed to take an eternity. I moved up to a MM16 and now zip through 10-14" wet Mesquite using a 2-3 tpi 1" blade. The power differenc is about 3 hp, and I can't seem to bog it down. The one thing I will pass along is that if you try to over feed you will get bows in the stock and it will be almost useless.

Hope that helps, even though it isn't definative.

[Jay Knepper]

That sounds really slow. I have a 16" Laguna (about 2HP) and would expect more like 1"/ a second or two. I prefer the Woodslicer to Timberwolf blades, but I have used Timberwolfs for resawing and did not notice much difference in speed. I like Woodslicers because of their smoother finish, not a speed advantage.

Although you said you had the correct blade (perhaps 2 to 3 teeth/inch) chip removal is the other issue affecting cutting speed. Is your blade speed particularly low? I can't imagine that 3/4 HP itself necessitate such a slow cutting speed.

There was a review in the past 2-3 years that measured resaw speed of a number of smaller bandsaws. Sorry, I cannot remember which magazine. I don't believe that any of the saws were as slow as you are reporting.

[Dennis Peacock]

Ralph,

Resawing on the bandsaw is effective and SAFER than trying to resaw on the TS. However, the speed to achieve resawing? It is slow when compared to most of what we do in the shop. From all I've read and tried, slow and steady feedrate is best for the saw, blade and material. It does try one patience though!! :rolleyes: ;)

[James Carmichael]

That's a little disconcerting, I have the same blade from Suffolk (the 3/4" AS-S, I believe, whichever one they recommend for veneer sawing), but haven't used it yet.

I currently use the 1/2" Starrett 3TPI hook from BCSAW as general purpose blades and have resawed 4"-wide birch with one. I was able to feed about 2-feet per minute on my 14" Ridgid, which is also 3/4 HP. I was probably overfeeding a bit, but the saw never choked and the veneers came out fine.

I'm no expert, but I don't think I'd do anymore resawing till I figured out what's going on. Taking that long to feed is probably building lots of heat, which is not good for the blade, or anything else. I'd suggest giving Suffolk a call, if that's who you bought the TimberWolf blade from.

[Ralph Barhorst]

WOW! Two feet per minute would be outstanding. I do have the 3/4" AS-S blade from Suffolk. I have been working on the problem all day and I have the speed up to about 4" per minute. I made a new fence and re-aligned the fence so that it was better aligned with the direction that the blade wanted.

I will call Suffolk tomorrow and see if they can help.

Thank you and everybody else for the advise.



That's a little disconcerting, I have the same blade from Suffolk (the 3/4" AS-S, I believe, whichever one they recommend for veneer sawing), but haven't used it yet.

I currently use the 1/2" Starrett 3TPI hook from BCSAW as general purpose blades and have resawed 4"-wide birch with one. I was able to feed about 2-feet per minute on my 14" Ridgid, which is also 3/4 HP. I was probably overfeeding a bit, but the saw never choked and the veneers came out fine.

I'm no expert, but I don't think I'd do anymore resawing till I figured out what's going on. Taking that long to feed is probably building lots of heat, which is not good for the blade, or anything else. I'd suggest giving Suffolk a call, if that's who you bought the TimberWolf blade from.

[Dennis McDonaugh]

Ralph, resawing is one of those tasks that is really dependent on horsepower so your motor may be the culprit. Are you using a very coarse blade? A blade with too many teeth and small gullets will be slower than a saw with few teeth and large gullets.

[Brad Olson]

I had 3/4 hp on my Ridgid and resawing 10" maple was about 1/4" per second or less. I took that same bandsaw and converted to a 1.5 hp motor and increased blade speed to 4000 SFPM and now I am only limited in feed rate by what is safe to push the wood through.

If you plan to do a lot of resaw work, you should consider the following...

A) increase the blade speed, to make the resaw a bit smoother
B) Increase the HP of the motor. It is pretty easy to do for most bandsaws.

[lou sansone]

there are a number of factors that effect the speed of the cut. One is FPM (feet per minute ) which in most modern BS that are designed for resawing are in the range of 4000 to 6000 fpm. Most of the smaller saws run even slower than that and so your feed rate is going to be slower. The other problem is the saw it self. Please do not be offended by this comment, but your saw is on the "light" side to be doing what you are trying to do. As others have posted a more reasonable feed rate is in the 2 feet per minute on a 6" wide board as you have described, if you have a larger and more powerfull saw.

[Dee Dee Martin]

I get about 6 feet per minute on my saw, with 8" wide stock.
But then, I've got a Minimax MM24, with 5hp.

[jim mckee]

I vote get a little more power.

2" per min will cook a blade.

Check belt tension also.
Any burn marks on the wood (kerf side) would indicate miss-tracking and slow the feed rate.
jim

[Keith Christopher]

I always listen to the wood and machine as you do it. It will tell you what you need to know about feed rates. A lesson learned from my grandfather, "Let the saw do the work, not your arm."

[Tom Sontag]

You have gotten nothing but good and accurate advice so far. What you are experiencing is horsepower envy. Still, while I know birch is hard, you're experience still strikes me as extreme for 2" material. Maybe I am simply forgetting how exasperating my underpowered bandsaw experiences where. Heck, it would not be too hard to imagine a neanderthal beating you with a sharp handsaw. If I were you and had more than one or two to cut like that, I would toss it on the tablesaw. Unless that too is puny - I forget how frustrating that was too.

Tom
hoping to stay with his second bandsaw and third tablesaw