Cutting deco rafter tails in 4" stock with portable bandsaw

[Gene Davis]

I know there are specialty portable bandsaws for just this kind of work. Timber-framers own them. Mafell, etc.

My question is whether one can do it with the $300 saws from the likes of Dewalt, Milwaukee, and (gasp!) Harbor Freight, if the right blade were available?

[Mike Cutler]

I think a person could do it if they set their mind to it, had patience, and practiced a little bit. Probably not as easy, but you could achieve the same result in the end.

[Jamie Buxton]

I remember an episode of This Old House in which a builder did exactly that. He had a garden-variety shop bandsaw, with casters under the base. The casters allowed him to drive the saw around on a sheet of plywood he'd put down on the ground. He had tall sawhorses to support the rafter a bit above the table of the bandsaw. He marked out his cuts on the tail, and then went after it with the saw. It looked very easy.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Like one of these? Looking at mine, I'd think it'd take some planning to now get tangled up with the stock and the motor. Mine is like the photo I borrowed from the net, they are made for pretty small stuff. Powerful little bugger. Runs quite slow.
http://www.milwaukeetool.com/~/media/Images/Power%20Tools/Corded/6236N/29972_6236Nv2-lg.jpg

[Larry Edgerton]

I built a house twenty years ago with 2 1/2" rafters cut in the classic S shape. I had somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 to make so I made a jig that slipped over the rafter with identical patterns on both sides. I used a 3 1/4hp PC router and routed in about 1/2" on both sides. Then I used a PC worm drive jig saw to rough cut the waste and finished the middle with a top bearing pattern bit in another big PC router. It went pretty fast and required no sanding.

Your stock is bigger but by adjusting the cuts you may be able to make it work.

Larry

[Larry Edgerton]

Holbren has a sale on 1 1/8"diameter, 1 1/2" cutting length top bearing pattern bits right now for $36. It is by far the bit of choice for that center cut.