Non turner question?

[Jebediah Eckert]

Ok, I know turners do it all the time but.....

What do I need to do....considering cutting green wood on my bandsaw.... I don’t want to buy another blade, I just want to rough out a few spoon blanks. My concern is rust or gumming up the saw and any other issues I haven’t thought of. I just had some walnut milled the other day. I grabbed a few chunks from the scrap pile and want to rough out maybe a dozen spoon blanks and try carving them green.

Can I just do it and wipe down the table when I’m done and be fine?

[John K Jordan]

Ok, I know turners do it all the time but.....

What do I need to do....considering cutting green wood on my bandsaw.... I don’t want to buy another blade, I just want to rough out a few spoon blanks. My concern is rust or gumming up the saw and any other issues I haven’t thought of. I just had some walnut milled the other day. I grabbed a few chunks from the scrap pile and want to rough out maybe a dozen spoon blanks and try carving them green.

Can I just do it and wipe down the table when I’m done and be fine?

I cut green wood often on a shop bandsaw to make turning blanks. I have literally cut thousands of blanks from 12"x12"x15" down to pen blank sizes.

Most green wood will do nothing harmful to your saw. Some that is gummy might stick to the blade if you cut a lot of it and some might get transferred to the blade guide bearings, but that is rare and easily removed. For removing buildup on the blade I hold a piece of small square brass tubing against the side of the blade while it's running. If any remains you can spray some cleaner and brush with a brass wire brush (with the lathe off). Anything stuck to the guide bearings can be scratched off with a fingernail or wire brush. (with the lathe off). But as I said, any buildup at all is rare and dependent on the wood. I usually do nothing special.

I've cut dozens of species and don't remember any special issues with walnut.

One thing - don't leave wet wood on a cast iron bandsaw table over night. Do that with a piece of oak and it will rust and discolor the cast iron. This is easily cleaned off with a scotch brite pad and some cleaner. But normally, I do nothing when done cutting green wood except brush or vacuum away any sawdust on top the table. Some people have reported getting stringy buildup around the lower guides and in the lower cabinet but I don't. I suspect that's because my dust collection is good.

I do occasionally (read: rarely) spray on a metal protecting compound, let it sit for a few minutes, then wipe it off.

BTW, I use 1/2" 3tpi blades for almost everything I cut on the bandsaw.

From one smallish log section:
434006 434007 434008

JKJ

[Bill Boehme]

.... If any remains you can spray some cleaner and brush with a brass wire brush (with the lathe off)....

And also the bandsaw off. :D

[Jebediah Eckert]

Thank you John, appreciate it. I pretty much keep the same blade on my bandsaw as you use.

[William C Rogers]

One thing - don't leave wet wood on a cast iron bandsaw table over night. Do that with a piece of oak and it will rust and discolor the cast iron. This is easily cleaned off with a scotch brite pad and some cleaner. But normally, I do nothing when done cutting green wood except brush or vacuum away any sawdust on top the table. Some people have reported getting stringy buildup around the lower guides and in the lower cabinet but I don't. I suspect that's because my dust collection is good.

JKJ

John, mind sharing your dust collection on your band saw? I struggle with the bandsaw and miter saw dust collection.

[John K Jordan]

And also the bandsaw off. :D

Ha, caught me there! And it wasn't even late enough for my brain to have shut down.

(I would not suggest someone do it since I don't want to be responsible but I do confess to using a short-bristle brass wire brush on a rare occasion for light blade cleanup with the bandsaw running. Maybe twice in three years.)

[John K Jordan]

John, mind sharing your dust collection on your band saw? I struggle with the bandsaw and miter saw dust collection.

My bandsaw is a Rikon 18". It has a port in the bottom of the bottom cabinet and an angled port just below the table. The dust collector is a 5hp ClearVue cyclone with a lot of suction.

I split a 6" duct into three 4" ducts. One goes to the bottom cabinet. One goes to the angled port on the side. The third is a piece of flex that I can position on top the table as needed, held in place with a magnet. This helps catch dust from skimming cuts that otherwise ends up on the table.

All this works fairly well but I still got a lot of sawdust on the floor around my feet. It was spraying off the blade near the guides under the table. I made a little "shroud" prototype from cardboard to fit around the guides, held on with a magnet. The back and left side is open so air moves sideways and picks up the dust in this area. This also helps keep dust from even making it to the lower cabinet. The cardboard piece worked so well I used it for years before finally making one from plastic!

434044 434045

The plastic one:

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The clear plastic would let me see if the duct got clogged. It's held with two magnets at the bottom and I slide two more magnets up to it at the top. With all this I get almost no sawdust in the lower cabinet.

I attached a strong magnet to the flex tubing. It normally lives on the side of the table and does nothing. (To keep from robbing suction from the other two ducts I usually cover it with a piece clear plastic with some steel wire on the edge which sticks to the magnet.) When making cuts which might throw dust on top the table I position the flex and hold it in place with the magnet. The flex tube/duct is the type that is not springy but holds the shape you give it. From Woodcraft.

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BTW, that angled port on the side of the bandsaw came with an internal steel guard in an "x" shape. I couldn't decide if it was to keep large things from getting sucked into the duct, which didn't make sense, or to keep someone from sticking their hand up inside the port when not connected to a duct. I cut the guard out since it occasionally collected long stringy shavings and clogged the port.

I solved my miter saw dust collection problem and don't get one spec of dust in the shop. I only use it rarely so I cover it with a tarp outside under a roofed area! My oscillating drum/belt sander is outside too, on a porch, covered with a big plastic bag. I carry the portable planer outside when I use it. Is that cheating? (I do very little flat wood working.)

JKJ

[William C Rogers]

Thanks John, I have a older 14” Jet (raised) the only port with it was a 2 1/2” at the front. I cut a 4” port on the side and need to do something like you did for the guide area. I do have a separate port with a vacuum hose attached to my DC to clean the table.