Resaw Problem

[Greg Caputo]

I'm having a really bad time trying to resaw. Doesn't seem to matter whether it's cherry or poplar and whether the width is 4", or 5", or more. And I'm only trying to split 4/4 wood in half. I finish all four sides of the wood, set up the band saw with a relatively new 1/2", 3 TPI blade which has seen limited use to this point, set the tension using the flutter test recommended by Timberwolf, set the fence to correct for drift, and have at it. The problem is that after the first few inches of the cut going well, the cut begins to curve inside the wood producing one side with a concave side and one with the matching convex. I'd appreciate any thoughts and advice. Thank you for your help.

Greg

[Michael McCoy]

I'd increase the tension first of all. I personally don't care for the low tension setup.

[Brent Dowell]

What are you using for the fence?

Not all bandsaw blades track the same. I've got a kreg bandsaw fence with a rounded resaw fence attachment. I draw a straight line down the edge of the board and will use that to guide the angle that I feed the board into blade.

If I just use a flat fence, and a feather board of some sort to hold the board against the fence, I'll almost always see the cut wander somewhat.

[Josh LaFrance]

I had the same problem with the timberwolf blade when trying to resaw a big piece of 3" thick cherry. Blade curved in the middle and I ruined it for what I was planning. I've heard good things about the Highland Hardware woodslicer. I'm going to give those a try.

[Ron Williams]

The Resaw King by Laguna is the best Resaw Blade I have ever used. I have never gotten good results from Timberwolf blades
Ron

[glenn bradley]

I do what Brent does. My re-saw fence is a quick shop made rig with a sharpened 'spline' of hardboard dadoed into the vertical. I draw a line as Brent has stated and just follow it with the leading edge of the blade.

I think of the cutting edge of the blade as a string rather than as the leading edge of a 1/2" band. I find this allows me to focus on the line and adjust as I go and get pretty acceptable results.

I resaw 5 and 6" oak. Slowly, mind you but, no burning and good quality. Pretty surprising for a older 12" C-man with a Timberwolf 1/2" 3tpi.

[Greg Caputo]

Thank you all for the thoughts. I should have mentioned it, but I'm having the problem whether I use a straight fence corrected for drift or whether I use the rounded "resaw fence" similar to the Kreg set-up. Bought mine a few years ago from Mark Duginski's company. Same problem with both methods producing a curved cut. Perhaps the answer to my problem is what Michael said....maybe I'm not putting enough tension on the blade. The flutter method works well for me when doing other work on the bandsaw and I figured it would work as well for resawing. I'll give that a try.

Greg

[Roy Wall]

Greg,

I agree - more tension will straighten things out......well, it will help!

[Pete Bradley]

I use that exact band for resawing regularly and it's worked fine for me at 13" resaws. Ordinarily I'd say your band is dull but it sounds like you've checked that. You sure you didn't hit something hard with it? Assuming the band is good I'd try a little more tension. You might also checkthat your guides have square faces, match top and bottom, and are running the appropriate distance from the band.

Pete

[Doug Murray]

I had the exact same problem cutting some 16/4 walnut - about ruined the blank. The blade bowed about 1" to the left in the center of the blank creating an arc in the cut itself. On research, I discovered that the barreling effect is caused by too little tension for the blade in use. As it heats up in use, it starts to bow and then heats up some more, bows more, etc. It has nothing to do with the fence and is entirely a tension issue. I think I saw that solution in Mark Dugenski's book on the bandsaw. If you don't have that book, get it!!! If the blade is dull to begin with, you may not be able to put enough tension on the blade with a typical 14" bandsaw. With a new quality blade, however, you should be easily able to resaw 8" or more.

Doug

[Homer Faucett]

I agree; I tried to resaw using the flutter tension method as taught on my T-wolf blade (1/2", 3tpi) with my PM 14" bs with riser. Even when new, it wandered quite a bit. I tensioned it substantially more, and was able to resaw some 10" spalted ambrosia maple for a humidor for my dad. The blade cut nicely after being put under tension.

However, after using the blade to do some more resawing, it seems it has dulled quickly, and I've had trouble getting it to track properly again. I'm thinking of investing in a carbide blade, but am having a hard time pulling the trigger based on the price.


Greg,

I agree - more tension will straighten things out......well, it will help!

[Lawrence Smith]

I've been using the one half inch Wood Slicer from Highland Hardware for some years now and have had excellent results with it. I use a flat fence with a piece of MDF attached to it to increase the height of the fence to six inches. The MDF does not extend beyond the end of the band saw blade. I also use a featherboard to hold the blank against the fence as well as a clamp on the end of the fence to anchor it and prevent any movement. With this arrangement I have made 1/32 inch thick veneer sheets that are eight inches wide.
I have never had the blade "wander" using this method. Try it and I think it will solve your problem. I saw this setup in Fine Woodworking some time ago and have been using it ever since.

Lawrence

[Andrew Williams]

If you are just dividing the stock in half try an experiment:

Use a marking gauge and pencil to draw a line down the middle of the board.

Holding a square board edge against the side of the workpiece (instead of the fence), right before the cutting edge, freehand the resaw. You will be surprised at how well you can cut to the line. Finish up with jointer/planer.

[Mark Duginske]

If it is a new blade it should resaw fine. With some saws the blade will flutter with rather low tension. The curved cut is usually an indication that the blade is undertensioned.

For resawing I crank the tension to the 3/4" setting

[Eddie Darby]

I have a 14" Delta with a 6" extension. On it I have used TimberWolf 1/2" blades with 3 TPI, and I have had no problems.

What I have noticed, perhaps it is only with the 6" extension, that you can get two flutter free zones when cranking up the tension. When I am putting the saw through a heavy work-out, I choose to go with the higher flutter free zone.

The first zone is just below the 3/8" mark, and the other is above the 1/2" mark.

Perhaps this will help reduce your barreling cut.