Going Neander' Well, probably mostly... or at least a lot more...

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Originally Posted by Erich Weidner

I shall report back on this thread in a few projects time if I regret the sale.

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As I moved to the city from my youth countryside, I only kept a planner and a big 30ish cm circular saw. I don’t like using them, but I have become pretty good with them, processing cubic meters of raw stock over the years, from building to fine furniture making. If you were to follow the same route, choose big over small.
Rip cutting a 10cm by 3m oak board by hand is many orders of magnitude more work.
Re-saving is not ideal, as I can only reasonably manage 25cm wide boards, at most. And I can get thinner than 2cm.

Stock prep with handheld power tools is probably 10 to 15% of the work. I guess a band saw would bring it to 5-10%.

I lost access to the local shop full of power tools thanks to the pox. Trying now to work with what I have. I also have plans to move into our RV full-time in the future, which has drastically changed the way I think of purchasing. Small is good. Smaller is even better. <g> At this time the only power tools I have are my drill, a track saw and a router table. No drill press. I've been using the track saw for ripping and the like. My next project will involve making a face frame 7 feet long, so I have to get used to cutting long straight pieces. So far, on my current project, planes and my ryoba have gotten me through.

A question: What is an SCMS? I don't recognize that acronym.

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Originally Posted by David Glauser

I lost access to the local shop full of power tools thanks to the pox. Trying now to work with what I have. I also have plans to move into our RV full-time in the future, which has drastically changed the way I think of purchasing. Small is good. Smaller is even better. <g> At this time the only power tools I have are my drill, a track saw and a router table. No drill press. I've been using the track saw for ripping and the like. My next project will involve making a face frame 7 feet long, so I have to get used to cutting long straight pieces. So far, on my current project, planes and my ryoba have gotten me through.

A question: What is an SCMS? I don't recognize that acronym.

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Sliding compound miter saw

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Originally Posted by Jerome Andrieux

As I moved to the city from my youth countryside, I only kept a planner and a big 30ish cm circular saw. I don’t like using them, but I have become pretty good with them, processing cubic meters of raw stock over the years, from building to fine furniture making. If you were to follow the same route, choose big over small.
Rip cutting a 10cm by 3m oak board by hand is many orders of magnitude more work.
Re-saving is not ideal, as I can only reasonably manage 25cm wide boards, at most. And I can get thinner than 2cm.

Stock prep with handheld power tools is probably 10 to 15% of the work. I guess a band saw would bring it to 5-10%.

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I appreciate hearing that a circular saw and planer are a good combination for you. I do everything by hand right now, and have a small work space. I’m not about to go buy any power tools but I’ve often thought that a circular saw/planer combination might be a good idea if I had a really big project that I wanted to complete on a schedule.

i just re-sharpened my rip saw and started breaking down stock for my next project. It was a good re-minder to re-sharpen more often! I feel like keeping your saws sharp and getting comfortable sawing close to the line make a big difference in how efficient you are. I used to saw well away from my lines and have a lot of imperfections in my cuts that took a lot of work to straighten out. As I’ve gotten better at cutting straight and right on my lines, the time I spend with a plane jointing and squaring edges has gone way down.

re-sawing wide panels is still a workout though.

FWIW, 2 years after selling my table saw, miter saw, and jointer, I am now thinking that selling the table saw was a mistake. Try ripping thin strips off 3/4" stock to use as molding or making perfectly parallel stretchers/rails/stiles/drawer sides/etc. Clearly, it can be done but it is mostly drudge work. I am now old enough that the time I probably have left is not long enough to complete half the projects I want to do. Consider your decision carefully

That can be done with a bandsaw though, and that's a far more flexible tool anyway IMO. :)

Ah, thanks. I have a non-sliding miter saw - forgot about that, as I rarely use it.

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Originally Posted by Curt Putnam

FWIW, 2 years after selling my table saw, miter saw, and jointer, I am now thinking that selling the table saw was a mistake. Try ripping thin strips off 3/4" stock to use as molding or making perfectly parallel stretchers/rails/stiles/drawer sides/etc. Clearly, it can be done but it is mostly drudge work. I am now old enough that the time I probably have left is not long enough to complete half the projects I want to do. Consider your decision carefully

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As Mike mentioned, a bandsaw does this fine along with many other chores a table saw doesn't do.

jtk

My guess is sliding compound miter saw.

Back in 2000, or so, I went full neander and got rid of everything, except my tablesaw, mainly because it was in my basement and too heavy to easily remove. It became workspace. I enjoyed all handtools, long enough to start to regret selling everything! There are tasks made infinitely easier by selectively using power.

What has changed in the decades that have passed? I got used to not using my tablesaw nearly as much as I once did and really could do without it. I absolutely hate powered miter saws. I am neutral towards drill presses. I rarely use a powered jointer or planer. I love my bandsaw.

My suggestion? Dip your toes gently into the water. Unplug and literally cut the power cord, so that after a couple of months you can re-attach if you so desire.

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Originally Posted by Jim Koepke

As Mike mentioned, a bandsaw does this fine along with many other chores a table saw doesn't do.

jtk

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I bought a 17" bandsaw with the idea of ripping in mind. Perhaps I do not have the correc t blade (3/4" Timberwolf 3tpi) but cut surface if relatively coarse and requires planing - much more so than on a TS. There is some operator error involved too but that lack of skill is unlikely to resolve soon

I am simply suggesting that OP think carefully about his projects, time frames and skill levels. It is easier to keep a saw than it is to buy a new one.

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Originally Posted by Curt Putnam

I bought a 17" bandsaw with the idea of ripping in mind. Perhaps I do not have the correc t blade (3/4" Timberwolf 3tpi) but cut surface if relatively coarse and requires planing - much more so than on a TS. There is some operator error involved too but that lack of skill is unlikely to resolve soon

I am simply suggesting that OP think carefully about his projects, time frames and skill levels. It is easier to keep a saw than it is to buy a new one.

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One of my findings with some bandsaw blades is they have too much set. This can vary by brand of blade. For those that had too much set my solution was to send them through a vise to squeeze the excess set out of them.

Most of my rip cuts can be smoothed with about five full length passes with a #5 or larger plane. If the cut is set heavier then maybe three passes.

jtk

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Originally Posted by Ben Ellenberger

I appreciate hearing that a circular saw and planer are a good combination for you. ...
i just re-sharpened my rip saw ...
re-sawing wide panels is still a workout though.

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Indeed, "sharp solves all kinds of problems" as someone’s signature states.
The use of power tools vs hand tools for everything is a matter of personal choice and stock material nature (choice again).

I have the chance to live less than a kilometer from a traditional saw mill, which can provide mostly local oak, beech, hornbeam, elm, chestnut and fir in raw thick boards (2 to 5 inches thick) or dimensioned stock, on demand. Wood is priced by m3, and it’s twice as expensive when buying dimensioned. Good quality oak is over 1000€/m3.

It makes sense to me to buy raw, break to usable pieces with power tools and do the final dimensioning later by hand. That’s still quite some work. My garden soil is happy with all the non treated chips and shavings :)

Someone with deeper pockets could just as well orde the same wood, dimensioned by the saw mill and only do the Hand tools part.


Being able to start from the big boards is eventually a good way to get interesting lots though. Two weeks ago, I went to buy some top grade peer wood 2 hours away ( French do consider that a lot) for a sixth of Parisian prices (3300€/m3, tax excluded). I have tried to break that down by hand but let me tell you that rip cutting 3inch thick 20 years old peer wood is more akin to a punishment than a workout.
I spent the time saved with experiments of extracting tanins from the leftover bark and brewing iron acetate :)

I haven't ripped a board by hand yet as I haven't finished restoring my rip saw. My plan is to use it for small jobs only and bandsaw the rest. I like the idea of hand tools as a workout so I'll do my best to use the handsaw when it's done.

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Originally Posted by Richard Hutchings

I haven't ripped a board by hand yet as I haven't finished restoring my rip saw. My plan is to use it for small jobs only and bandsaw the rest. I like the idea of hand tools as a workout so I'll do my best to use the handsaw when it's done.

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resawing reasonable pieces (say 1"x10"x50") into thinner boards is the best full body workout I can recommend. Standing up in front of the work is much better than bent over a sawhorse. You can even put your feet to the work :)

I find rip cutting to narrow a board is more fatigue than workout.