Home Built Ship Saw

[Dave Richards]

I thought some of you might find this interesting. The traditional ship saw is basically a tilting saw with a statioary table. This guy has a couple of tables that can be rolled into place as infeed and outfeed. The saw tilts on that base. If you look closely you can see the curved track on which the saw tilts.

[Jim Becker]

Interesting...and it's used for what kind of operations?

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Interesting...and it's used for what kind of operations?
I was wondering the same thing. At first I though long pases on curved lumber - then I rethought it and am stil wondering.

Maybe the trunion on the table is busted??

[Ian Barley]

I did a quick google - article below explains it a bit more. Seems to have several reasons which potentially include the ability to vary the angle of the cut during the progress of the cut - sounds a bit scary to me. They say you learn something new everyday - I can switch off now!


http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3983/is_200306/ai_n9286286

[Dave Richards]

Cliff, no the trunnion on the saw isn't "busted".

A ship saw is used for making the cuts for the ribs of a ship or boat. The angle on some saws is changed during the cut to create a rolling bevel. Considering the mass of the timber being cut, adjusting the saw makes sense.

I've seen a shaper set up so that the cutter angle can be changed as it is cutting do do the same sort of thing. One guy adjusts the cutter angle while another feeds the work. It takes a lot of coordination.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Hooowwwweeeee doggy that sounds almost, sort of, kind of, maybe like what I need to do to get a good coopers jointed edge for barrel making.
Except I have no clue how.
I have been struggling with how to machine cut barrel staves (sans CNC) for a while.

[Dave Richards]

Cliff, you find yourself a good boy to run the tilt mechanism while you run the work through the saw or shaper and you'll be up to your neck in barrels. :D

[Steve Cox]

Where I learned boatbuilding they had made a tilting mechanism for smaller bandsaws (like 14"). This consisted of an arm attached to the table with a scale attached to the back of the saw. While one guy feeds and calls the angles out the guy on the lever adjusts it on the fly. Weird to see at first it's not too bad to use once you get used to it. What was really amazing was on the 42" saw with the tilting arbor (a true ships saw :) ) there was a hydraulic adjuster worked by an old steering wheel off a boat. My instructor would start the saw tilting and then feed the board varying his feed rate to account for how fast or slow the saw was tilting. Utterly amazing to watch. I never did try that one.:p