Resawing Ryoba vs Kataba

[Mark Almeidus]

I want to buy a saw for resawing mid to big pieces.
What is the best saw for this type ? Ryoba or Kataba? Which one does the job faster.

[Josko Catipovic]

Frame saw?

[Bruce Mack]

I have found the Gyokucho ryoba superior to any kataba I have owned including the Z-saw. There is something about the grind that gives it bite with less resistance (you'll need a shokunin for a better explanation). As you know, the longer the blade the bigger the teeth and the fewer tpi. If you are ripping 4/4 boards, choose one of the smaller saws. For thick stuff, the sky's the limit.

[Mark Almeidus]

Today i tried with an old frame saw. Never sharpened and rusty blade. Does the job better then my old cheap ryoba
�� But its bent and beaten, bought it for 20 euro, so I think it cant compare to a good guality ryoba. I didnt even marked the piece with the frame saw. Straight cut and afterwars few passes with plane. On the floor you can see a piece of scrap wood. That was resawn with the ryoba.
20200430_113120.jpgIMG_20200430_172327_515.jpg

Will have to repair the frame saw, but I am going go for a ryoba then kataba. Crosscut will be bonus.

[Joshua Lucas]

I tried resawing with both a 300 mm ryoba and a 300 mm kataba and found nothing but frustration. The thin blade inevitably wanders in anything wider than 3 inches/8 cm. I'd saw carefully down all four sides of a board before sawing the middle and I would still end up with a big hump in the middle.

Then I paid $5 for a 1970s western rip saw (Craftsman, 5.5 tpi) and it was like night and day. The plate is nice and stiff (it's not taper ground, so it's extra stiff) so it doesn't wander in the middle of the cut. It even came moderately sharp!

[Jim Matthews]

Ryoba.

Mark carefully (I use Jim Tolpin's parallel "tracks") and flip the board frequently.

Corners first, cut only the lines you can see.

Remove the center "peak" in between the corners with a longer saw (I finish boards up to 14" wide).

*****

If the saw wanders, it may be sharper on one side.

With a Ryoba, seek a high pitched *ringing* sound.

Be prepared with wedges to keep the kerf open.

I took instruction from Brian Holcombe, who posted the following video on the topic.

https://youtu.be/3rzNsqA4Kfc

[Vincent Tai]

If you are resawing at decent amounts, get a Kataba. You will inevitably use the rip side of a ryoba more if you are into resawing by hand and will sharpen the rip side more; the saw wears unevenly then. A ryoba will rip the same speed as a kataba provided they have similar teeth and dimensions. A ryoba is simply a saw with two sides. There is no magic sauce that makes it rip better just because you can attach the term "niten ichi ryu!" to it. You are much more likely to be able to get a Kataba with the teeth specifications that you want.

All this info is based on the premise of quality saws, not disposable saws. You way find that one disposable ryoba is of higher quality then a disposable kataba, vice versa. Whatever you choose, think about saw sizing. The ryoba in your picture will be slow, it might cut decently fast when freshly sharpened but a good 300mm one will make things go faster. Of course if you are resawing precious material a thin small ryoba may be necessary.

You have in your picture, A bow saw.

[Mark Almeidus]

Detailed answers that are good enough for my experience. Thats something to e cosidered Vincet, bout sharpening the rip side more often and getting uneven on the long term.
Thnks Jim, I saw skmewhere picture of Brian , but video is better. Though i think i wont go that big, or that would be max size I would be cutting.
What is the blade size of the ryoba Brian is using on the video?

Thanks for corecting me its a bow saw

[Jim Matthews]

I can't be certain, but I think it was 250mm.

[Prashun Patel]

Mark, do you cut with the board tilted away from you or toward? I am no resaw king, but my ryoba rips more efficiently when the board end tips toward me so I am cutting up the back side rather than down the front; the teeth don’t fight.

[Jim Matthews]

Mark, do you cut with the board tilted... my ryoba rips more efficiently when the board end tips toward me...

This is an important consideration.

There are so many sources of drag while resawing, getting the most sawdust ejected with minimum effort matters. I start out with the board tilted toward me, as you describe. Once there's a full plate covered, I stand it straight up and flip often to stay on track - both sides.

It's a toss up if any given board will bind, and require wedges. I use the plastic ones from my local Borg.

*****

Whatever blade style is chosen - this can't be rushed.

Forcing the saw harder into the kerf just makes for a rough surface, wandering lines and less shop time.

[Mark Almeidus]

Yes , I thought of that also. Its lime going contra the grain, the worst way.
Will try with the board end towards me.

I was sawing the position of the wood line qhen you do with western saws. Facepalm , you can delete this thread
Bts great tips especialy with the wedge.

[Jim Matthews]

Pics of your results, please.

[Mark Almeidus]

Will post this days, problem is the rip side is in bad condition.20200506_203806.jpg

[Mike Allen1010]

I tried resawing with both a 300 mm ryoba and a 300 mm kataba and found nothing but frustration. The thin blade inevitably wanders in anything wider than 3 inches/8 cm. I'd saw carefully down all four sides of a board before sawing the middle and I would still end up with a big hump in the middle.

Then I paid $5 for a 1970s western rip saw (Craftsman, 5.5 tpi) and it was like night and day. The plate is nice and stiff (it's not taper ground, so it's extra stiff) so it doesn't wander in the middle of the cut. It even came moderately sharp!

+1 I really empathize with your question. Resawing is a fundamental task to produce high-quality woodwork. Allows for getting the correct thickness dimensions for broad range of different designs and allows for book matching panels/show surfaces.

I started woodworking 40 years ago with a Sears, portable 7 inch tablesaw and not much else. In the early years I didn't have any stationary power tools, and got by almost exclusively with hand tools. Over the years I tried resawing with broad range of different saws: frame saws with high quality European blades, Japanese Royoba and Kataba and and finally with Western and saws intent for the purpose – 28" inch, 4 PPI rip saws.

IMHO, the #1 best choice for resawing is a bandsaw, the #2 best choice is also a bandsaw... you see where I'm going. If you absolutely have to re-saw by hand (which I did for many years), my experience is it is much easier to saw straight line with a Western-style panel saw. For me, Japanese-style saws were much, much slower, which seemed like logical conclusion just based on their size. That said, I'm certainly not an expert and defer to Jim Matthews comments above who certainly knows more about how to use Japanese saws correctly than I do. I also tried really hard to make a frame saw work. I even had a shop built saw with 30" 4 PPI blade, that I really wanted to work. For the life of me couldn't get the blade to track straight front and back despite extensive efforts to "pre-groove" both sides of the stock with marking knives and smaller saws.

I'm sure there are hand tool woodworkers who can effectively re-saw with hand saws and my hat is off to them! I've never been able to make it anything more than a super sweaty and ultimately frustrating exercise. Best of luck to you!

All the best, Mike