Bandsaw Skills? How to start the cut straight without a rip fence???

[Adrian Anguiano]

So cutting a straight line is easy with a rip fence after you set the blade drift.... but thats not my question.

Say for instance I have a square 2ft by 2ft piece of wood. I then want to cut each corner off at a 45 degree angle... making a hexagon shape.

For 2 of the cuts you cant use the rip fence. So you have to do it freehand. My problem is the first few inches of the cut. I never can start the cut straight cause its hard to tell the direction to push to cut a straight line until after a few inches of cutting. At that point I have a good push angle established and keep pushing that same angle and im fine. That first few inches is the problem and i never know what to do.

How do you all deal with this issue??

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Could you use a miter gauge to guide it or make a quick and dirty miter sled to ride over the edge of your bandsaw table?

[Anthony Whitesell]

I doubt the table is large enough to accomdate the miter gauge in the usual way (ie., pointing in the feed direction). But as I've recently seen on a WW video, the miter gauge can be used on the leading edge (ie., turned around backwards from typical) to allow the angle to be set and get the cut started.

[John Lanciani]

Practice. Even if your saw is not cutting "straight" (straight in this context meaning parallel to the band) it should be cutting predictably. If the lead angle is different every time you use the saw either it needs a tune up or the blade is junk.

[Adrian Anguiano]

Practice. Even if your saw is not cutting "straight" (straight in this context meaning parallel to the band) it should be cutting predictably. If the lead angle is different every time you use the saw either it needs a tune up or the blade is junk.

On a 1/4" blade, which is what i usually just leave on there for most cuts, its hard to tell what parallel to the band is. It does cut straight and a tuneup is not needed. Like i said originally, once i get the angle i need to push it will cut straight as an arrow.

And predictable is tough cause i use my bandsaw what seems once every week or so... remembering each time is tough. memory fades. And sometimes if the piece is large, like in this example, u have no reference marks on the table cause its covering basically the whole table.

[Prashun Patel]

I love cutting all kinds of tapers on the bandsaw. I lay out my line, then cut within 1/8" on the waste side of the line as best as I can. Then I chuck the piece in a vise and use a handplane to work to the line. It comes out perfect, jointed, and smooth every time. Even a block plane will work.

If the piece is large and stable enough, you can run it over a power jointer. If yr taper comes to a point, then make sure that's the trailing point thru the jointer...

[Van Huskey]

For odd cuts that I can't support on the BS correctly and must do free hand I mark the lines well and start a kerf with a handsaw .

[Adrian Anguiano]

I lay out my line, then cut within 1/8" on the waste side of the line as best as I can. Then I chuck the piece in a vise and use a handplane to work to the line. It comes out perfect, jointed, and smooth every time. Even a block plane will work.

If the piece is large and stable enough, you can run it over a power jointer. If yr taper comes to a point, then make sure that's the trailing point thru the jointer...

I like the idea of using the handplane or jointer. Thats a good technique. I know some people deliberately cut outside the line and use a spindle sander to then go back and get up to the line. But thats a lot of work for something unless its a template or when needing a smooth curve.

The way ive been doing it has been to start 1/4" outside the line then get the correct angle after an inch or 2, then go right up to the line. Then ive been going back and putting the blade against the straight part i cut, then cut the rest of the 2 inches i didnt cut exact at the start. Only problem with this has been that you can always tell that it wasnt done in one smooth cut. I have to go back and sand it flat.

[Prashun Patel]

This is a great excuse to get a good plane! It'll make quick and perfect work of truing up that line/joint. Much better than sandpaper.

In fact, you don't even have to be all that careful about staying parallel with the line. As long as you knock off the humps near the end, you'll find that the 'average' variance from the line tends to result in planing perfectly parallel to the line (at least, perfect enough)...;)

[Mike Cutler]

Make a carrier board jig on a table saw, or an accurate miter saw.
You will have some math to do though.

The most accurate way to cut to a line on the bandsaw is too look past the blade. Your hands go to where your eyes tell them.
Draw three lines to start. One to the left, one to the right, and one in the middle to cut too. After awhile you won't need but the one line.
It takes a little practice and trust in your hand to eye coordination, but you'd be surprised how accurate and straight you can cut.

[Chris Parks]

Get rid of the blade drift and the cut direction issues vanish. The most common problem is the blade not sitting on the crown of the top wheel correctly. There is a thread about it somewhere.

[Keith Westfall]

Draw a line where you want to cut and tack on a small board that is wider that the corner you want to cut off, (board must have parallel edges!), along the line and then run the other edge along the fence of your table saw. Done, square, smooth - all in one.

[Adrian Anguiano]

Draw a line where you want to cut and tack on a small board that is wider that the corner you want to cut off, (board must have parallel edges!), along the line and then run the other edge along the fence of your table saw. Done, square, smooth - all in one.

Yes I agree. But the example I gave was just the simplest example I could think of to explain the issue I'm having. I'd most likely use my crosscut sled to make the cut I described, or my straight rip jig with clamps that slides on a miter slot runner.

[Gerald McGrantham]

I clamp a board 1 to 2 inches wide (however long) under and to the board I want to cut so that it rides the right edge of the bandsaw table. The table edge is now used as a fence.

Gerald

[Keith Westfall]

The table edge is now used as a fence.

As long as your blade drift is the same line/direction as the edge of the table...

[Guy Belleman]

Not sure why there is blade drift. You say the wood piece is 2' by 2', but not how thick. With a good blade, I cut up to 1" with no drift at all. Angle cuts are done with the sled with the angle set with one of those plastic drafting triangles. Sets 30, 45, 60 and 90 degrees perfectly.

[Adrian Anguiano]

Not sure why there is blade drift. You say the wood piece is 2' by 2', but not how thick. With a good blade, I cut up to 1" with no drift at all. Angle cuts are done with the sled with the angle set with one of those plastic drafting triangles. Sets 30, 45, 60 and 90 degrees perfectly.

Blade Drift and Blade Cutting Angle are 2 different things. Blade drift is when you are cutting along a fence or a straight line, the cut doesnt stay straight. Blade Cutting Angle is when it cuts straight but not perfectly parallel/perpendicular to the table or miter slot.

My blade doesnt drift, its the cutting angle that I have a hard time with. Also every blade tends to have their own cutting angle. Pretty similar but slightly different. All of them the blade doesnt drift.

[johnny means]

+1 on Practice. No need to build jigs or come up with little work arounds for something you can simply learn to do. Make yourself a bunch of featherboards on your bandsaw, then cut some 8th inch edge banding for your next project, then find some other reason to cut up stuff on your bandsaw. Eventually, staying on your mark will become second nature.