ripping 2x4's?

[Darrell Jones]

Sorry, very new to this murdering wood hobby. I use a lot of 1x4's. Would it be OK to rip 2x4's into 1x4's? I ask this as my small table saw (Bosch) will not raise high enough to rip a 2x4 on edge. I would have to run it through twice. I just don't want to hurt my little saw and wonder if this would be too much strain for it. Thanks....DJ

[keith ouellette]

I have re sawed 2x4's on the table saw that way. its called re sawing. most people do it on a band saw if they have a good one. I put it through twice. my saw is probably much bigger than yours. I don't know how good you fence is but I would do it in thirds if I were you. It will be time consuming and would cut the length to slightly larger than what you need first to make it easier.

[frank shic]

your "small" tablesaw is one of the finest in the portable table saw category and should have no problems resawing a 2x4 although you may want to finish the cut with a jig saw by setting the blade slightly less than half the thickness of the 2x4. personally, i would just buy a 1x4 instead and avoid the future problems you may encounter with warping and cupping.

[Greg Cole]

If you have access to a planer and or jointer, I'd try to make a couple of flat reference faces for the table & fence. A tall rip (resaw) like you are talking about is a PITA if the board is cupped, bowed, warped... not too mention a likely candidate to stall the saw or get some high speed projectiles headed backwards (ala kickback). Also don't use a good blade for this task if you have a good one in your saw now, the pine-fir-spruce 2X material will gunk the heck out of it.....


Greg

[Gary Keedwell]

Resawing on the table saw can be very dangerous. I usually run my stock through twice. I raise my blade to about 1/16th below center of 2x4 and run it through. Now flip it over and using the same side of stock against the fence ..run it through again. Now you should have about 1/8th in the middle holding it together. A hand saw will remove that safely in a couple of minutes.
Just remember that 2x4 construction grade wood is not very straight, therefore I personal;ly would not do it on table saw. Something like that just screams for the band-saw.;)
Gary

[Rob Will]

Darrell,
I don't think it is worth it. 2 x 4's are dried in such a way as to make them suitable for framing lumber. Usually when you rip that sort of wood you will expose moisture and / or hidden tension. Either way you get a pretzyl.

If the 2 x 4's are tension free and very dry, it might work but I would rather avoid it.

Rob

[Jeff Wright]

Sounds dangerous to me. Find a friend with a decent bandsaw.

[George Bregar]

Additional if you resaw a 2x4 you won't have two 1x4's. Remember, the kerf...and then the board will have to be surfaced.

This is a bad idea all around.

[scottj owen]

Ripping 2x4's on your table saw is not a problem, you just need to make 2 passes and more importantly you need to get a good blade, designed for cutting solid wood, probably 24 teeth.
I would check with your lumber supplier first, where I am a local supplier carries 1x4 in 8-12' lengths, and quite often right up to 16 footers.

[Ed Brady]

I have done this before getting a band saw and do not like to do it for safety reasons. The last time I ripped a 2x4 I was making a few 1x2s I needed to finish a project one evening. I did not have a splitter and the kerf closed up nearly causing a kickback. Be careful.

[Rick Gifford]

Well Ive done this a number of times. Now that I have a decent BS I will move that work over there.

I also have a Bosch TS. Mine is the 4000-09.

Your not going to get a true 1X4 due to the blade curf.. so of course that much will be sawdust.

Anyhow your saw can handle it ok. Use a proper blade and make sure its good and sharp. If not dont even bother. You'll just burn your way through and cause too much undue stress on the motor. Best off to just buy the new peices.

Set the blade height slightly more than 1/2 thickness (1 7/8" would be good) and go slow. Flip and pass again. Just be extra cautious. It isnt the safest practice for a TS.

[Randy Cohen]

i've ripped 2x4's on a table saw with no problem but not to make 1x4's...just when doing construction and i needed to use something less than a full 2x4. i didn't think there was anything dangerous about it.

[Jim Becker]

It's important to remember that construction lumber is generally much "wetter" than typical furniture wood. You certainly can rip/resaw it on the table saw, but you must be even more careful 'cause it's bound to move during the cut. Feather boards and other considerations really, really are a good idea to avoid problems. Same for a splitter. Not optional 'cause that wood WILL pinch at some point.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

It's the only operation that I'll put the riving knife on for without a second thought. 2-bys tend to collapse or expand but for some reason they never come off straight.

I think it's because they are made from saplings barely large enough to get one board from each. So they always have pith and the stresses are diametrically opposed on either side.

[glenn bradley]

I'm with Frank on this. Even kiln dried 2x4's are wet and will warp and cup following the stress release of re-sawing. Just buy 1x4's. The lost time and material would not be worth it to me but, this is just my opinion. I wasted a lot of time trying to save money when building my workbench. I bought 2x10's, let them dry stickered for about 45 days and then milled them. After accounting for all the lost material due to creating some unusable boards, I could have bought some real lumber at the lumber yard and broke about even.

[Ron Jones near Indy]

It can be done, but I can think of no good reason to do it. I'm with Glenn on this one.

[Brodie Brickey]

As others have noted, you can do it, but its dangerous. You have a couple things to consider:

You blade will be almost all the way up (very exposed).
Your 2x4 is just ...1.5 wide. What if it slips, where will your hand go? Where could it go?
You'll have to use a push stick to even try and protect yourself.
Any re-sawing releases tension in wood. Sometimes it widens the kerf, sometimes it closes it.If you were re-sawing a large piece of walnut for example, you could make 2 passes on each side at increasing depths. You could then run it through your bandsaw and cut out the remainder of the "H" that is formed in the wood. Pass the board back through a planar and you have two pieces with minimal blade wander in your book matched pieces.

I was taught this method at Cerritos college as a way of minimizing blade wandering when resawing tall stock. It would even work in your case, but by the time you figure your time to do all this? Cheaper to buy 1x4 stock.

[Darrell Jones]

WOW, what a great forum and a great bunch of folks. Thanks so much for all the info. FWIT I've decided to err on the side of safety and just keep buying the 1x4's. Thanks again. :cool: