First time resawing....any advice?

[Brandon Ketchum]

I am making my first go at resawing for a couple of boxes that I am going to make. I have not done this before and wanted to try and get a little insight/advice before doing so. I have a very small bandsaw, a Delta 28-150, which only has 4" of clearance. I have a piece of cocobolo and chechen that are 3" x 3/4" x 24", but am unsure which type of blade would produce the best results. Thank you in advance for any help.

[Rich Enders]

You will get lots of input on your question, but in the simplest of terms you want a blade that has few teeth (probably 3 tpi), and lots of space for sawdust (gullets). You also want to use an easy feed. Forcing will not improve anything.

If you Google re-sawing it will bring up lots of hits including many from here, and one of the most recent (3-5 days ago) Sawmill Creek topics came up with a good (UTube I think) video covering re-sawing.

[Brandon Ketchum]

Thank you Rich. I did a few practice cuts on some pine, but pine does not compare, at least the way I see it. it is so much softer. I have a hard time keeping a straight, uniform cut, but i was also using a blade with with many more tpi, so hopefully your advise will make much needed difference. do you have any suggestions on where would be a good place to look for a larger band saw, without having to purchase a new unit, which I cannot afford right now? I live in the midwest and resources are rather limited in my area(eastern iowa) and I have taken a liking to the finished products I have seen on this forum that are made with quartersawn wood. That being said, where does a guy without any "connections" locate quartersawn wood?

[Kevin Godshall]

Just my 2 cents (worth about 1 cent really......):

On locating quartersawn oak, or any other wood: Try looking up WoodMizer owners. A lot of these guys do custom sawing and have some inventories on hand, or know where to find what you need, or will make what you need.

On re-sawing: Fine tune your saw and have it running perfect. Then, as you feed material, "feel" the cut and only give what the saw can take and is ready for. Takes a little practice and some experience, but once you get it, it's super easy and super rewarding.

Best.

[Richard Coers]

Use a table saw if the stock is only 3" wide. You need a band saw blade with around 3 teeth per inch to resaw, and horsepower. You can get neither on a 9" bandsaw. You are not going to get much of a cut with any blade on that saw, and by the time you clean up the cut, you're going to be taking 1/8" out of the wood anyway. Nothing saved by using that bandsaw.

[Prashun Patel]

Other thing to note is that resawing 3/4 will not result in 3/8 final thickness. You'll end up likely with ~1/4" after surfacing. Is that thick enough for your boxes?

If you had to do it on that saw, I'd use a 1/4" or 3/8", 3tpi blade.

[Stephen Cherry]

I haven't tried that particular saw, but I've used small saws like that. In my estimation, it would be hard to get it to cut strait. Maybe you could, but I sure would experiment on scrap first. Maybe some hardwood pallet material.

Speaking of pallet material, a friend of mine has a whole collection of veneer from interesting looking pallet boards.

Is there a woodworking club in your area? Or a woodcraft store? It seems to me that many people who have a nice saw that is capable of tensioning a blade would be more than happy to let you give it a try. You may need to put in a little effort to find them though.

[Tai Fu]

Use the widest blade your saw can tension properly, with the fewest teeth available at that width. With a smaller bandsaw you are going to have to go slow... don't expect to plow through the stock. If it's a 10" saw you might try 3/8" 3TPI blades.

[Gus Dundon]

Find a straight fence. Feed at the right rate.

[George Gyulatyan]

Use a table saw if the stock is only 3" wide. You need a band saw blade with around 3 teeth per inch to resaw, and horsepower. You can get neither on a 9" bandsaw. You are not going to get much of a cut with any blade on that saw, and by the time you clean up the cut, you're going to be taking 1/8" out of the wood anyway. Nothing saved by using that bandsaw.
I am with Richard on this. Use the table saw. If you have a thin kerf ripping blade, even better. You'll get a much cleaner cut.

[joseph dake]

If your up for a drive. I live in Des Moines and would be happy to help you out. Let me know i am on vacation this week.

[Myk Rian]

I am with Richard on this. Use the table saw. If you have a thin kerf ripping blade, even better. You'll get a much cleaner cut.
Don't cut through it with the TS, but get most of it, from both edges. Finish the cut with the BS.

[Tai Fu]

I saw on mythbusters one of the guys attempting to "resaw" a board on a tablesaw, and the thing smoked like crazy...

[Rich Enders]

Brandon,

I have been playing at woodworking for about 20 years now, and until I got a bandsaw 5 years ago I did resawing by hand. It sounds crazy, but it works if you are not in a hurry.

I use Japanese style handsaws that cut on the pull stroke and as such the blade can be very thin leaving a very small kerf. With practice you can learn to control the cut reasonably well. My biggest hand resaw was 5 inch wide alder 1.5 inches thick which was split into two book matched halves. The length of the cut was 64 inches. It took about a week, but I was only good for short spells before the muscles cried wolf. A lot of effort, but satisfaction also.

Today I use (a 14inch Ridgid) bandsaw for resawing (mostly bent wood laminations), but would get out the handsaw again if only I hadn't grown so damn old.

Just another option for your project.

[Jim Matthews]

I've seen excellent resawing done on small Inca Bandsaws, not much larger than your little Delta.

If you can properly tension the blade, and set things square (research "drift" and how to manage it) - you should be able to resaw.
That said, you've taken on a difficult task with one of the hardest woods available in North America.

Cocobolo is from the Rosewood family, and is extremely hard and oily.
In combination, those characteristics are likely to foul any bandsaw blade, regardless of the saw's size.

You could get everything right, and still not get a satisfactory cut from this material.

I gather these species are often used in turning, as you can generate tremendous forces on a lathe.

[Myk Rian]

I saw on mythbusters one of the guys attempting to "resaw" a board on a tablesaw, and the thing smoked like crazy...
I saw that also. They just weren't doing it right, as in much of their "testing".

[Tai Fu]

Yea, "We got years of experience that keeps us safe" and they get hurt like every other episode...

[Georg Zudoff]

Probably better results will be with bandsaw blade with thickness of 0.5 mm. Small bandsaws tensions these thin blades more than next thickness - 0,63 mm. Also, as I understood after reading this forum, small bandsaws have small wheels, so if we have thick blades on small wheels we will have cracks earlier.
And take a new blade for resawing, especially resawing of such hard woods as all rosewoods (dalbergia?).

[George Gyulatyan]

I saw on mythbusters one of the guys attempting to "resaw" a board on a tablesaw, and the thing smoked like crazy...
They were probably using the wrong sawblade, and likely an underpowered saw.

I resaw on my tablesaw from time to time as I don't have a bandsaw with a Freud TK ripping blade and never have issues.. Good point by Myk Rian. Leave a little material in the middle so the pieces don't completely separate. This is more for safety so the cutoff doesn't collapse on the sawblade and kick back.

As I don't have a bandsaw, I just finish the cut with a hand saw and then pass the piece through planer to clean it up.

[Tai Fu]

To be fair, those guys are more actors than tradesmen, so they appear to know what they are doing but in fact aren't good at it. Not sure what "30 years of special effect experience" means.