Resawing - Hand saw

[Frank Carnevale]

Hi All. So I was at a Lie Nielsen event today in PA and while browsing the wood selection at Hearne Hardwood, my big dilemma hit me...I have no way of resawing any wood I buy. So I was thinking on my way home, what hand saw could I use to resaw? I wouldnt be buying large slabs so was thinking I could maybe use, for instance, a LN rip panel saw? Anyone actually use hand saws for this or do you use your bandsaw or borrow a buddies band saw? Thoughts? I dont have room, nor cash for the band saw I would want so its either keep relying on buying wood as close to thickness as I need or waste a ton of wood planing to size.

Also, any recommendations on the best saw for this?

[Chris Griggs]

Oooh. How was the event? I'm going tomorrow!

Anyway, resawing by hand sucks!!! Let me repeat that... IT REALLY REALLY SUCKS.

Now this is not true in all cases. I don't mind resawing drawer box size pieces by with a 26" rip saw, things that are generally less than a foot or so long and less then 6 inches wide. BUT resawing a larger board with a handsaw is not something I recommend doing. I do not find it to be an enjoyable, easy, or rewarding experience. I don't have a bandsaw either so if I needed a full board resawn I would either find someone with a bandsaw or ask the lumber dealer if they will do a resaw for you.


If you are going to use a hand saw to resaw I would not use the LN unless you are resawing very narrow pieces, since its only 20". Resawing with a handsaw is best done with something longer (~ 26") and courser 4-6 ppi.

[Zach Dillinger]

I agree with Chris on pretty much everything he said. Resawing does suck, but it isn't difficult. Use a good, long saw with coarse teeth. Sharp, well set, and did I mention sharp? Secure the board in the bench strongly so that no effort is wasted in moving the board. You can do it!

That said, I do buy a lot of my wood close to the thickness I want... living near a large, well stocked lumberyard has spoiled me.

[Steve Friedman]

I asked this same question a while ago and the answer is a frame saw. I have ripped large logs with a rip filed hand saw, but I'm not sure it would track well enough to split a 4/4 board in half. As I understand, there are at least two benefits to a frame saw:

1. The thinner "bandsaw-type" blade removes less wood, which makes less work; and
2. The blade is supported on both ends, which makes it possible for it to track straight when you're re-sawing a 10"+ wide piece of wood.

Steve

[Ryan Mooney]

When I was up visiting my dad a few weeks back we busted out the two man pit saw. Didn't use it but just poked at it some. He had some logs he'd slabbed with it (at over 60 still doing good I suppose :D). Pretty much like the one they show here:
http://thecountrytenant.blogspot.com/2010/09/mortices-and-tenons-and-pegsoh-my.html
I'm all for hand tools but dang I wouldn't want to do that for very many boards!!!

I would +1 a frame saw for a single person doing anything large but again you have to either be willing to deal with a pretty small output or be pretty ambitious.

Personally if I want to hand rip anything smaller than a log, I have an old Diston rip saw I got for ~$5 and resharpened (actually I have about 3 or is it 4.. its a disease as others have mentioned). Works plumb good.

[Frank Carnevale]

The event was good. You will enjoy yourself. Plenty of other vendors/schools there also, not just LN...acanthus workshop is there also...lots of guitar sets for sale...Lohr school of woodworking...etc.

[Jim Matthews]

I've done it.

It's a colossal PITA.
Frame saw or bow saw, it's still likely to wander.

I used a 12 TPI panel saw filed to rip.
It took forever to make the cut, as there's so much saw plate dragging.

This is a job to farm out to someone who owns a bandsaw...

[Robert Rozaieski]

It's not hard with the right saw. But you need big teeth. A standard rip saw will be pretty inefficient. Here's a comparison between a standard rip saw at 5-1/2 points per inch and a saw designed for resawing at 3-1/3 points per inch. http://logancabinetshoppe.com/blog/2011/12/now-thats-a-file/

heres how the saw works (fast and efficient)
http://logancabinetshoppe.com/blog/2012/01/episode-41-re-sawing-hand-tool-style/

[Jerry Thompson]

I was all gung-ho to hand re-saw wider boards tha the 6'' I could do on my BS. I tossed the subject out onto several wood working sites. All replies were from experinced folks and I determined it is pure folly. I am now damn good @ re-sawing on the BS and I can glue up flat panels with best of 'em.

[Alan Schwabacher]

If you want to resaw by hand, Roubo's saw looks good:
http://www.schoolofwood.com/node/59

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

What everyone else said; but in the end, I just kind of deal with it. I'm able to get stock close enough to what I want for my carcase sizes that I don't mind scrubbing it down if I want something a little thinner (mostly just to avoid the mass-produced look of everything being 3/4, even just thinning some parts down a bit really helps liven up the look of a piece.) Thinner stock is just harder for me to get; so for drawers and boxes and such, I've been resawing, but it's less of an issue because the pieces are smaller. It's a waste of wood, but if it's nothing special, I've scrubbed a 1/4" off of 3/4" stock to get something around 1/2". Not what I prefer, but it's an option some times.

I wouldn't want to do it all day, or make a whole kitchens worth of drawers with it, but on softer woods (poplar, pine, cherry, etc., although I have done maple) I can deal with resawing by hand for the sides and backs of drawers. While my lumber yard doesn't usually carry thinner stuff, there is a decent selection of 1/2, 3/8 and 1/4" stock at the local big box, and with careful selection (and a few trips sometimes) I've used this in the past too; but for anything wider, it necessitates a glue up, which isn't always nice.

About the widest I've done is about 7 1/4"- 8" for a guitar top. Took my time and sucked it up. This was a shorter length, so it wasn't so bad, as I continued working from each corner.

I've done all this with a couple 6pt 26" and 28" handsaws. Not ideal, but it's what I've got. Someday I'll figure out access to a bandsaw, or make a bigger handsaw for doing this.

If you don't mind wasting a bit of wood, you can do things like plow a groove, or kerf with a table or circular saw on the board, to give yourself less to work through.

In the end, it's not how I prefer to work, and I doubt I'll ever do a 12" panel like this - but for what I've got now, I'm willing to trade some drudgery for not being able to realize an idea at all.

You could always switch to green woodworking like Follansbee, and then rive your stock. . .

[Andrae Covington]

I don't really have anything new to add, but just piling in with everyone else. Long saw, big teeth. Preferably ludicrously big teeth like the "Roubo" frame saws that Siemsen and Rozaieski have built. At one point I made a shorter version of that saw, but I found it very difficult to steer. In my experience resawing with a handsaw is prone to wandering as well, so I'm not convinced there is a strong advantage to one type of saw over the other. The problem with a saw with big teeth is that it is harder to push, which makes you push harder, which makes it wander off the line. There is more finesse than one might imagine in letting a big saw "do the work" instead of trying to force it.

I have resawn cherry and alder with a 7ppi 22" rip saw. There was no joy though, except when it was over.:( But I don't have a bandsaw, or even a tablesaw, so that's how it gets done around here.

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When I was resawing cherry to make the sliding trays for my toolchest, I kept track of how long it took me:

~44" x ~1-1/2": 15 minutes
~44" x ~2-3/4": 30 minutes
~44" x ~4": 45 minutes
~33" x ~5": 60 minutes

and so on. It should be faster with a bigger saw.

[Jack Curtis]

I prefer froes and mallets to resawing; and I have to note that if you're physically at a lumber supplier's, most likely they'd be happy to saw it for you.

[Jim Matthews]

It should be faster with a bigger saw.

I found that a shorter saw worked faster - the larger saw had a higher sawplate, and generated more heat due to drag.
I believe that frame saws are faster, as there's less metal in the kerf.

Any way you slice it, this is a tedious job - the reason for apprentices, and the rare power tool.

[Pinwu Xu]

At one time I made a 8/4 African Mahogany into 3 slices (26" long, 7"-8" wide), with various hand saws (thumb-hole D-8, normal ripsaw, framesaw -- keep swapping, trying to find the least effort, most fastest
one). It took > 2 hours to re-saw (if saw into 3 pieces is still called re-saw).

None of the saws were sharp at the beginning, I had to use file to dress the saw teeth and it made a difference!
The frame saw (home made, Chinese style) is a bit hard to balance.
The western saws are comparatively thicker, even sharper, made more dust, produced more waste IMHO.

It's doable, but time consuming, and I'd either find someone with appropriate bandsaw or use my own.

[David Weaver]

If you have two people in your shop, a framesaw might work OK, otherwise a big one is a bit unwieldy. When you start resawing your own wood by hand, you'll start trying to figure out where you can use softwoods more.

I don't do a lot with power tools, but I think if you can afford a bandsaw and have somewhere to put it, resawing by hand is pointless unless you want exercise.

Bandsaw does it MUCH faster and leaves a better and more accurate finish unless you have a crappy or poorly set bandsaw.

[Steve Branam]

I just posted a blog post about this the other day with a link to video: http://www.closegrain.com/2012/10/resawing-by-hand.html. Back in February I did a resawing demo at WoodExpo at the New England Home Show, which is what's in the video, heavily edited for brevity. Like everyone says, a lot of work, not something you'll want to do a lot of.

BUT, having said that, it's quite doable when you need it. You'll notice the pieces I did in the video were small (I didn't want to completely bore people to death spending an hour on one board!). Certainly for small pieces it's no big deal. For bigger pieces you just have to pace yourself and be prepared to spend some time. Break the work up either by cutting the boards down to size first, or by doing a larger piece in several sessions.

[Tony Shea]

I have resawed far too many boards by hand with my 5point rip saw that I'm always on the look out for a coarser toothed saw. I made a frame saw about a year back and really haven't been all that impressed with it. It does buzz through stock a bit faster but isn't as accurate as a typical hand saw. It also requires you to have some very well set up bench vises as the stock always seems to work its' way loose due to the huge amount of force applied to it. 9 times out of 10 I just reach for my 5 point rip saw.

If I had the money I would not hesitate to buy a band saw. I am in envy of anyone I see with a decent one with a good size resaw capacity. In fact I was just looking at one today in an unexpected shop, the electronics maintenance technician at The Jackson Laboratory in Maine. Was working near his office/shop and noticed a PM drill press in passing. Took a look inside and he had a 17" Grizzly bandsaw as well as a Grizzly 3hp table saw. Not sure what he does would require such equipment but I checked the bandsaw out heavily. Looked to be very nice.

[Adam Cruea]

I would shy away from resawing, as I tried doing it to hickory and QSWO.

After much cussing, complaining, yelling, and "I quit", I decided to suck it up and use a power tool.

I've decided when I need to start resawing, I'll buy a bandsaw or have my sawyer resaw them (he's a nice guy anyway, so I wouldn't mind paying him to slim down some boards for me).

[Erik Manchester]

I have tried resawing using some excellent old Disston rip saws that were sharpened by experts, and while doable it really sucks. I don't mind ripping long stock by hand, but resawing a thick piece of hardwood is just a lot of drudge work.

I enjoy using quality hand tools to do many things, but resawing, like planing to thickness, is best left to machines if they are available nearby.

I have a 10" TS and a 15" BS and when I have the space I will get a much larger BS to use exclusively for resawing and ripping. I find that the BS can do many things a TS can and lots of things a TS cannot, and if I had to choose only one, I would take the BS hands down.

[Tate Harmann]

I actually really enjoy the process by hand, call me crazy lol then again I have no other choice but to do it by hand if I want to do it myself. I've been doing it with a $17 ryoba from Menards too! Of course, I'm doing wood that's relatively small but none-the-less hard. Here's some pics of doing a 6'' x 12'' x 1 1/2'' hunk of rock maple. You just have to mark the board up properly all around, establish the kerf and take your time while you flip the board a lot. It's kind of meditative, actually I've done some nice black walnut too. It's not perfect in the end but it's no problem that a bench plane can't handle. I have a Disston D8 rip saw too, but I prefer the Ryoba here because I feel it takes less effort and the kerf is smaller ;)

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[Jerry Olexa]

This is one time when the speed and accuracy of the band saw prevails...Resawing by hand (altho I've done it) is SLOW and cumbersome....Suppose I'm spoiled..

[lowell holmes]

Why not find a cabinet shop that will re-saw it for you?