Resawing

[Don Henthorn Smithville, TX]

Yesterday there was a long thread on Wood Central about resawing problems and there were many very good replies. Got me to thinking about how I solved my problems. I don’t resaw much veneer and my old band saw’s maximum cut is under six inches. I have resawn quite a bit of walnut just under six inches for laminating the curved upper
and lower rails of the Lincoln rockers I build (or used to). I’m not going to repeat the advice given in the thread but wanted to show a lttle jig that was published in Wood magazine several years ago that I have found helpful.
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<img src="http://www.vocabularyplus.com/resaw002.jpg">
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<img src="http://www.vocabularyplus.com/resaw001.jpg">
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In the first view the shelf on which the wood rides is made of two pieces. Remove the
front half and the jig is slid in from the rear so that the blade is trapped on the little slit at
front of the second half of the ledge. Reattach the front half of the ledge and clamp the
jig to the band saw table.. The second view shows how the knobs can be loosened and
the fence slid back to the thickness needed for resawing. Tighten the knobs and you are
ready to resaw.

I can’t temember where I got the idea for the second jig but I have used it many times
over the years. I clamp the jig to the band saw table so that the roller is just at the leading
edge of the blade and close enough to the blade that the wood being resawn must be
forced to push the spring loaded roller back so that it exerts a steady presure agains the
fence. Hope it is clear.
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<img src="http://www.vocabularyplus.com/resaw003.jpg">
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<img src="http://www.vocabularyplus.com/resaw004.jpg">


Hope this helps someone.

[Chris Padilla]

Don,

That is a slick looking "featherboard" you have there. Looks well-made, too. It just goes to show that jigs can be made of high-quality lumber and look nice, too!

[Bob Smalser]

I didn't post my usual reply for small bandsaw users experiencing a lot of blade drift on WoodCentral, their format is difficult for me to follow, but I'll post it here.

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Get a new blade...the widest one you can find...tension it taut and reset your rollers for the bigger blade...set 3/4" X 3" board on edge and eyeball dead center as you resaw it right down the middle...with a light bandsaw you'll have to squirrel the board around to keep the cut centered, and a fence will just get in the way....then clean the rough edge to desired thickness in the planer....for 3/16" finished stock you have a whole 1/8" tolerance on the cut....and you can put the rough side down if you don't get it all.

Bandsaw blades in small sizes drift because of inconsistent set, and there isn't much you can do about it.

Easier to freehand it, giving yourself enuf starting thickness for tolerance, than to mess around with resaw fences....they only really work well with big bandsaws using real resaw blades.

The 5 3/4" wide stock for these 3/8" bookmatched panels was done freehand from 4/4 roughcut Red Oak...with a skinny blade, as I recall, too.

If you must have a fence, then the single point ones work the best....those that I have made have been a simple 5/4 X 6" block set on edge, ripped to match the height of and fastened to the saw's existing fence at 90 degrees with threaded steel inserts and machine screws.

You can slot the holes in the bandsaw fence to provide some fore and aft adjustment.

Taper and bullnose the blade-side edge of the block, and you have a resaw fence that's adjustable 4 ways.

If you are more comfortable with a fence, then make one....less than an hour's job. Don't try to fix the board so's ya can't move it, or try the existing fence w/o the resaw block attached....even the stiffest blade on a small saw grabs some grain and wanders and ya gotta have room to move the board to compensate.


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