bandsaw resawing fence setup for drift.

[Perry Schmidt]

Anyone see David Mark's 'shop tour' episode of Wood Works? He went through his tools too quickly....

BUT he did show how he tune-up his bandsaw - very interesting. And how to setup a fence to compensate for drift. The short of it – He basically stated that a blade will drift, but for the life of the blade it will drift the same. So once the bandsaw fence is set, it will be set for that blade ‘forever’. How? You draw a line on a 2x4, cut it by hand following the line, see what angle you’re cutting at and copy that angle (using a sliding bevel guage) back to your bandsaw fence. Then you can use that fence for cutting veneer slices off of whatever you’re cutting. (He proceeded to do a 3/16” veneer cut off a 12” wide board. Very impressive! And a nice cut!)

So my question – I’ve never heard this technique talked about before in discussions on drift. (Maybe I just didn’t read the right discussions before.) Even articles on wood magazines don't talk about doing this. Has anyone else tried it? Or setup their saw the same?? If so how does it work? The pros like Mr. Marks always make it look easy – how easy is it for amateurs like me. :)

Thanks,

Perry

[Dan Bussiere]

I saw the show also and I have nerver heard anyone discuss the setup. Looks pretty easy to do and made quite a differance on his cut. Amazing the "tips" we get from the masters from time to time.

Dan



Anyone see David Mark's 'shop tour' episode of Wood Works? He went through his tools too quickly....

BUT he did show how he tune-up his bandsaw - very interesting. And how to setup a fence to compensate for drift. The short of it – He basically stated that a blade will drift, but for the life of the blade it will drift the same. So once the bandsaw fence is set, it will be set for that blade ‘forever’. How? You draw a line on a 2x4, cut it by hand following the line, see what angle you’re cutting at and copy that angle (using a sliding bevel guage) back to your bandsaw fence. Then you can use that fence for cutting veneer slices off of whatever you’re cutting. (He proceeded to do a 3/16” veneer cut off a 12” wide board. Very impressive! And a nice cut!)

So my question – I’ve never heard this technique talked about before in discussions on drift. (Maybe I just didn’t read the right discussions before.) Even articles on wood magazines don't talk about doing this. Has anyone else tried it? Or setup their saw the same?? If so how does it work? The pros like Mr. Marks always make it look easy – how easy is it for amateurs like me. :)

Thanks,

Perry

[Mike Johnson - Chicago]

In my experience, drift is as much about tracking as it is the blade. If you think about how most bandsaw tires are crowned, and then think about how the blade will "angle" if it is not running perfectly on the center of the crown, then you will understand how it can induce drift.

So, the part that I'm not so sure about, is whether you end up tracking a blade the same way, each time you put it on the bandsaw. Now if you do, then the described method probably works. I guess that I'm just skeptical that you would have the blade tracking exatly the same on a subsquent installation.

My 2cents,
M.J.

[Don Farr]

I saw that also and did not find it to clear.
But here it is. I hope.http://www.diynet.com/DIY/article/0,2058,10576,00.html

[Perry Schmidt]

Of course I should point out the reason I don't just go out and try it is b/c I don't have a bandsaw...yet :( Hoping this year around Xmas Santa will be very very good to me :)

And re: Mike's reply about tracking...in his tune-up of the bandsaw he replaced the tires then sanded them down so they were uniform thickness (and flat too). Would that make a difference? Sounds like it might.

Perry

[Don Henthorn Smithville, TX]

Yup. That is the standard way of establishing drift that I have always heard. If a saw is set up properly the thing that most causes drift is the blade itself. A blade that is shrpened correctly will not drift. Most commercial as well as home style blades are cut and sharpened in such a way that there is more metal on one side of a tooth than on the other and this is primarily what causes drift. I learned the importance of proper sharpening when I was running my bandsaw mill. New blades would rarely cut perfectly. I made a sharpening device that used a chain saw sharpener to file the teeth and it operated at a true right angle to the blade. The little burr that did form was the same on either side and the blades would cut straight enough to cut 1/16 inch veneers from a fourteen inch log. When the very tips of the teeth lost their edge, even thought the blade still felt sharp, the blade would stop cutting so precisely. I learned that when I needed precision cuts I needed to have a freshly sharpened blade no matter how sharp the blade I had been using felt.

[Joe Tonich]

Thats how I set my fence every time I change blades. Set the 2x4 on edge and draw a straight line down the center. Cut 3-4" following the line, stop the saw and trace the angle of the 2x4 on the BS table. Then I set my fence to the line I've just marked. Fence is set for the drift. I don't like using those rounded re-saw fences as they're not the easiest for me to cut a straight line with.

Joe