New to resawing - I like!

[Rob Luter]

Historically I’ve been beholden to the lumber retailer for whatever thickness he had available. That usually meant 4/4 rough sawn or 3/4 S4S. That’s rather stout for smaller scale projects and planing half of it away seemed a terrible waste of time, money, and good lumber. Dimension lumber in 1/4 and 3/8 thicknesses was stupid expensive and rarely straight.


Since I acquired my Rikon bandsaw this past summer, I’ve been experimenting with resawing. What a game changer. I’ve resawn 4/4 and 3/4 stock so far and had excellent results both times. I enjoy making boxes and other smaller scale projects, and the thinner stock is much easier to work with and more appropriate for scale. Bookmatching and grain wrapping is simple. Lumber just got much more economical too.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Rob, now that you have a band saw you mill small pieces of lumber and dry them at home for free.

If you're making small boxes it will also widen your available species list.

All you need to do is make a sled for your saw. Here's the one I made for my saw.



regards, Rod.

[Nick Lazz]

I think I resaw something on nearly every project....well, maybe not every project, but a lot. That is 90%+ of what I use my bandsaw for.

[Phil Mueller]

Well, I’m a bit jealous. But then again, aren’t you just going to miss resawing a large board by hand? At least I can try to justify working off the left over halloween candy bars.

[Rob Luter]

Well, I’m a bit jealous. But then again, aren’t you just going to miss resawing a large board by hand? At least I can try to justify working off the left over halloween candy bars.


I tried resawing a couple times with my Thumb Hole D8. It wasn't pretty :o

[Brian Holcombe]

I have done a lot of resawing by hand, the bandsaw makes life much much easier. :D I resawed a 16” wide piece of ash recently, took about 20 seconds. That would be a mountain to climb by hand.

[Jim Becker]

There are no "rules" that state material "must" be a certain, common thickness for a project, so by re-sawing your own, you are able to not only create whatever thickness you want, but also whatever thickness will actually look best proportionally for a given design/project. I learned that a long time ago when I built Norm Abram's wall clock project which specified material thicknesses that were not increments of a quarter inch. It would have looked terrible using "common" material thicknesses! Now, I use whatever thickness I want or need and often re-saw not just to get that thickness, but to also preserve material that otherwise might go into the cyclone's bin as dust and chips.

[Rick Potter]

Nice sled, Rod. Much better than the 'temporary' one I cobbled up a few years back.

I might just have to copy yours.

EDIT: I think a new post on resawing sleds might be a good idea.

[Rob Luter]

Just following up. The ability to resaw continues to yield benefits. I'm working on a small QSWO taboret with 1" thick bottom stretchers. As luck would have it, I had a piece of stock 1 3/16' Thick. Back in the day I would have milled it down to an inch on my lunchbox planer. Yesterday I set my resaw fence up and peeled 3/16" off one face. A few strokes with a plane cleaned up the surface and I also have a great piece of 3/16 stock for future use. I'm wishing I would have bought a band saw long ago.

[Alex Zeller]

Just following up. The ability to resaw continues to yield benefits. I'm working on a small QSWO taboret with 1" thick bottom stretchers. As luck would have it, I had a piece of stock 1 3/16' Thick. Back in the day I would have milled it down to an inch on my lunchbox planer. Yesterday I set my resaw fence up and peeled 3/16" off one face. A few strokes with a plane cleaned up the surface and I also have a great piece of 3/16 stock for future use. I'm wishing I would have bought a band saw long ago.

That pretty much describes almost every piece of woodworking equipment I've bought. But I usually plan it out in detail long before making the leap.

[Bruce King]

I’ve started using 1/2 inch thick pieces where the thickness doesn’t show. I have some 5/4 that ends up being two pieces exactly a half inch after running through the planer. I resaw without a fence, just draw a line across the top and follow it. I’m using a one inch blade that eats up some wood so thinking about trying a smaller blade.

Rod, your bandsaw looks like my Grizzly except some different colors.

[Jim Matthews]

I’m using a one inch blade that eats up some wood so thinking about trying a smaller blade.


Narrow kerf = more wandering?

David Charlesworth recommended a blade intended for processing frozen fish: tough and sharp, with little set.

I prioritize straight and plumb for resawing, lest I lose thickness in planing anyway.