Resaw question

[Randall Houghton]

How often do you resaw a piece of wood greater than 12" in width? Shop made veneer? Wood movement or stability issues due to size, moisture content, and wood movement? Does wide lumber sell for more money where you live? Were any of things a consideration the last time you purchased a new bandsaw? Just curious if people are using their bandsaw to it's full capacity.

Regards Randy

[Dan T Jones]

I'm probably not the one to ask because not one tool in my shop is used to any thing even approaching capacity. Its mostly, "well I might need to do that sometime".
Dan

[John K Jordan]

...Just curious if people are using their bandsaw to it's full capacity.


Thank you for your concern about me getting good use from my bandsaw. :D Just curious, or thinking about a new purchase?

My primary shop bandsaw, an 18" Rikon, opens to 12.5" and I very often use the full height, sometimes trimming the wood a bit with a hatchet to make it fit. I process a lot of wood into turning blanks. I often wish I had a bandsaw that would give a couple more inches of height. But when I need to resaw something wider I take it out to the Woodmizer behind the barn - it will cut up to 22" I think although the cut may not be as pretty. I rarely buy lumber so I can't answer that.

I cut this up the other day, more since then:

373807 373808 373806

This is green ambrosia maple but I also cut a lot of dry wood. I mostly use 1/2" 3tpi Lennox blades.

JKJ

[Tom Trees]

<p>
Its more a case of buying a machine that can handle the blade ..frame stiffness wise They say you should aim for 3 to 4 teeth in the stock at all times, this often means a 3 TPI blade for me, and a 3 TPI blade means that the band needs to be close to inch(ish) ... That means you need a brick****house of a frame that can take it. Dont take manufacturers wild claims on max blade capicity...they probably dont even state the thickness of the band on their maximum blade width Good luck Tom</p>

[Nick Decker]

Randy,

My saw is the Rikon 14" 10-326. It's advertised capacity is 13", and I regularly resaw 8-9" hardwood with it. Maybe someone else with that saw can comment, but I would have some trepidation trying 13" hardwood with it. Unlike JKJ, I don't work with raw logs, just lumber, so it's pretty rare to see hardwood boards that wide anyway.

[Randall Houghton]

Mostly I was interested in finding out how many people who have saws with a resaw capacity greater than 12" make use of that capacity on a regular basis. John if you lived in the West you be hard pressed to find any hardwood that size. Nick I've resawn 11" hardwood lumber on my 14" Powermatic with good results right of the saw for veneering but I would like to find something with a bigger table. Seems like dealers are pushing resaw height as one of their main selling points.

[John TenEyck]

As with most things, no one ever says "Geez, I wish I had bought a BS with less resaw height.". My BS has 16" resaw height. It scares me just looking at it with a 1.3 tpi blade on it. I've only had the saw for about 2 years, but I've resawn and cut veneer from quite a bit of 12"+ stock, though nothing over 14" - yet. I have a 14" J/P, so I wanted a BS of at least that resaw height. Most of the lumber I buy is less than 12" wide, but I can and sometimes do buy much wider stuff. Price is almost always related to thickness, but only sometimes with width, and is somewhat dependent upon the species and cut at least where I buy lumber. The price I pay for Sapele, for example, is the same regardless of thickness, width, or cut, up to at least 20". On the other hand, the price of QS white oak depends upon both thickness and width.

You didn't ask, but I'll offer this anyway. If you are shopping for a new BS, get at least 1 HP for every 3 -4 inches of resaw height. I have 5 HP on my BS with 16" resaw height. It's pure joy running 12 - 14" lumber through it.

John

[John K Jordan]

I was interested in finding out how many people who have saws with a resaw capacity greater than 12" make use of that capacity ...John if you lived in the West you be hard pressed to find any hardwood that size.


I would certainly use more capacity if I could afford it. Most of the chunks of green wood I get are too big for my saw so I have to do some creative wrangling to cut them up, sometimes [gasp] with the help of a chainsaw.

We live in the hard heart of hardwood country. That particular maple was about 30" in diameter, quartered for handling. I have big oak, hickory, sassafras, and ERC on the ground at the moment with a big maple and cherry coming. There are trees on my property up to about 40" in diameter. If I lived in the west and played with wood I might consider moving!

As for resaw, for years I used an older 14" Delta with a riser block to give 12" height. Besides processing tree sections I did quite a bit of resawing, the most challenging was when a friend brought a 12' long 2x12 douglas fir board that we sliced into four thin boards. I also cut a lot of thin pieces (thick veneer) on that small saw but usually not over 8".

I personally wouldn't consider bandsaw today unless it had at least 12" resaw capacity. I'd really like some old iron like I used when I worked in the woodworking at Berea College. I don't remember the name or capacity but they told me the blade was 20' in circumference. That was a saw.

JKJ

[glenn bradley]

My saw is 12" max and although I have gotten close a time or two the bulk of my resaw is under 12". I would not want to have 10" max as I would trip over that quite often. Height isn't everything; depth of throat can also come into play. With the sweeping curves I use a 14" saw that had a 12" resaw height would be a handicap as much as a 16" throat machine with a 10" resaw height. There is always a sweet spot depending on what you do and even the availability of materials. Another example from me is that a 6" jointer was a non-starter whereas my 8" is adequate at least 80+% of the time. I use an alternate method for the remaining 20%.

[Robert Hayward]

The resaw capacity of my Powermatic 1500 is 14" and I routinely max it out when doing bowl blanks. I wish I had waited and bought a bigger BS.

[Brian Holcombe]

I’ve nearly maxed out the height on my MM20 a few times, it seems absurd but actually pretty handy to be able to resaw material that size.

Wood does weird things sometimes and sometimes it does nothing weird at all. I’ve had 18.5” wide flat sawn white oak that behaves like plastic and ‘calm’ woods that turned into firewood.

[Derek Cohen]

How often do you resaw a piece of wood greater than 12" in width? Shop made veneer? Wood movement or stability issues due to size, moisture content, and wood movement? Does wide lumber sell for more money where you live? Were any of things a consideration the last time you purchased a new bandsaw? Just curious if people are using their bandsaw to it's full capacity.

Regards Randy

Hi Randy

If you are working with machines, the resaw height of the bandsaw is limited by the width of your jointer - can your jointer flatten the width of the board you have just resawn? For this reason, my rule of thumb (when choosing equipment) is that the jointer needs to be wide enough to plane the maximum width of boards that you usually work with. I have a Hammer A3-31 combo, which has a maximum width of a smidgeon over 12". My bandsaw is a Hammer N4400, which has a resaw of a smidgeon under 12". They are well matched. When I have rough sawn boards wider than this, I can use hand tools.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Steve Demuth]

If you are working with machines, the resaw height of the bandsaw is limited by the width of your jointer - can your jointer flatten the width of the board you have just resawn?

No doubt having a jointer that is equal to your resaw height is useful, but whether you need that is a matter of what you're resawing, and what other machines you have. I regularly resaw thick veneeers up to 12", notwithstanding I have only a 6" jointer. The fact that the end product is veneer makes this much different than resawing boards, and a drum sander provides all the flattening authority I need.

[Mike Cutler]

How often do you resaw a piece of wood greater than 12" in width? Shop made veneer? Wood movement or stability issues due to size, moisture content, and wood movement? Does wide lumber sell for more money where you live? Were any of things a consideration the last time you purchased a new bandsaw? Just curious if people are using their bandsaw to it's full capacity.

Regards Randy

Not often, but when I want to do it, I want to be able to do it.
I buy boards as long and thick as I can get them, within reason. I resaw for book matching, and to get the board close to it's final thickness. The bandsaw is part of the milling process for me.
I would rather buy a 16/4, 10"-12" wide and pay the premium. This allows me to control the tone and texture of the grain better than trying to sort through individual 4/4 boards matching grain.

I bought my Rikon 10-340 many years ago specifically for resawing specifically. That is all it is set up to do, and all it has ever done. I have a Jet 14" for the other bandsaw operations.

[Brian Holcombe]

Why not just buy boles of lumber kept in sequence?

[David Kumm]

My Oliver 217 has a 14" resaw and it gets used fairly often if I'm building cabinets as I like resawn veneer on end panels if not covered up. My 116 has 20" of resaw but i've never needed it. Hand feeding becomes a problem as does the tension and frame stiffness. When bandsaws started increasing their resaw capability it was primarily a marketing gimmick and the frames were not reinforced properly for twist, nor were the spring assemblies re engineered for the extra tension needed. That has improved on the MM and Laguna 24x24. I was happy when the old 24" saws had a 14" resaw as that was appropriate for most usage. I had an ACM 18" in the late 90s with 12" of resaw and it would only handle pretty soft wood at that height. You can do occasional 12+" resawing with a smaller machine but it isn't efficient and you will need a drum sander to clean up the inconsistent thickness. Dave

[Brian Holcombe]

This board is 15.5” wide, it was for another Woodworker who wanted to finished it at 1/4”~. Goncalo Alves. I marked a line and basically eyeballed it as I cut at the top while maintaining the bottom with the fence. It was a little hairy but overall he was quite happy with it.

https://brianholcombewoodworker.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/img_8260.jpg

https://brianholcombewoodworker.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/img_8261.jpg

I cut these 18.5” white oak veneers for myself, unfortunetly the client hated them, so they wound up as the back of the drawer fronts :o

https://brianholcombewoodworker.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/img_71871.jpg

I did not own a machine jointer at the time when I worked these boards, the oak I prepped by hand, the Goncalo I checked with winding sticks and sawed it.

[Mike Cutler]

Why not just buy boles of lumber kept in sequence?

I did this for the first time a few years back.
A flitched trunk of a tree takes up a lot of space. ;)


I'm not a big fan of oak personally, but what did the customer not like about that oak. It would have looked fantastic when done.
Those are nice re-sawn pieces. Great work!

[Brian Holcombe]

I can understand that, it’s ok if you are fine with one or two species or have tons of space.

They did not like the flatsawn-ness of it :) I replaced with quarter sawn and they enjoy that currently. A bit of rework but a happy client is invaluable.

[Jim Becker]

My older MM16 only has 12" re-saw height. I personally haven't found it to be limiting other than a number of years ago, there was this one hunk of log that I would have liked to be able to refine on the bandsaw before putting it on the lathe. But that was a one-time deal. That said, when I've visited with woodworking friends who have the newer machines with 16" re-saw height, I see distinct advantage in having a much better view of the workpiece in some cases.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

How often do you resaw a piece of wood greater than 12" in width?

I've got a 24" MiniMax and wouldn't even try it.

[John TenEyck]

I've got a 24" MiniMax and wouldn't even try it.


Well that's a shame. All it would take is an appropriate blade and tall fence.

John

[rudy de haas]

If I can interpret part of the OP's question as "when is it worth having a big enough machine to resaw 12"+ boards?" I would argue would be that it depends on what you do. Speaking only for my own case, my answer is "never" because (a) I'm a beginning home hobbyist; and, (b) big resaw is what I think of as batch job - something that comes up rarely but would normally have multiple boards to be cut and can therefore be most sensibly handled by having someone else do it.

For example, I have about 180 board feet of santos mahogany in 6/4th thickness and an average of 10"+ width self-adjusting to our local climate right now. This spring and summer that wood will become our new kitchen cabinet fronts (among other things) and will need to be cut to about 5/8ths before finishing for that. To make that happen I will either pay a friend to do it on his 5HP General bandsaw or cut the boards to 6-7" width and use my table saw. Either way my little 14" bandsaw (CX104) does not get used because it's simply inadequate for the job.