"rlz" wrote in message
...

I am trying to slice a 1"x8"x3' piece of walnut into a couple of
3/8"x8" boards. My bandsaw is a benchtop model that doesn't have a
wide enough opening. I tried to do this on my tablesaw by raising the
blade ad high as possible. It came close, and it was sorta awkward to
get an exact cut.

Any suggestions?

It's not a very large board so if you have a rip handsaw it wouldn't be a
terrible job to simply resaw it with the handsaw....

Scribe double scribe lines (guide lines) around all the edges with a marking
gauge such that the space between the scribe lines is the location of the
desired saw kerf. Put the board in a vice angled such that you can see an
end and a long edge. Using both the end and edge scribe lines saw down until
the saw reaches the far corner of the end. Yes, you will be making an angled
cut and not cutting straight across the end of the board. Take the board our
of the vice and flip it around so that the unsawn corner of the board is now
facing you and again, using the scribe line, saw down until the saw reaches
the lower corner. Repeat... As you reach the last foot or so of board you
probably want to flip it end for end and repeat the process until the two
kerfs meet. The beauty of this approach is the kerf from each cut guides the
saw for the next cut so you only have to pay attention to one scribe line.

Once you understand the process it isn't too difficult. I showed my sons how
to do it when they were 7 and 9 years old. Though not specially showing them
resawing for thickness, there are some sample photos from a project they
made at the time at
http://www.midhudsonwoodworkers.org/...nothermain.htm

In the photos they are using a rip saw, jointer and smoothing planes,
marking gauge, Stanley 45 plough plane, shooting board and an L-N cross cut
back saw. It was this project that led me to get an L-N 5. The L-N 7 was way
to heavy and my grandfather's old Millers Falls No 22 (their equivalent of a
7) was still a lot of plane for them.

BTW, they were making picture frames for their grandmother. The frames held
their school pictures and were given as Christmas presents. The next spring
they entered the frames in Woodworkers Showcase in Saratoga Springs and won
2nd place in the youth category. Garret Hack was one of the judges and after
judging I showed him photos of the boys at work. He made a lot of favorable
comments to them. BTW, that is when they started getting higher level
ribbons than me... I only got an honorable mention in that show. ;~) I put
some photos up in ABPW.

The moral here is that once you understand the process it can be done!

John