So....

I've got some pieces of red oak that I'm planning to build a spice rack
out of. It's reclaimed barn lumber, originally rough-sawn to about an
inch thick or a little more. I don't have very much of it, because the
barn is in Virginia, and I'm in California, and I couldn't get all that
much in my airplane luggage!

So the design for the spice rack is based off one my brother built,
which used half-inch by three-inch boards to make a box 16" wide by 30"
tall, with shelves every six inches.

My dilemma is this: making half-inch boards out of one-inch boards with
the planer seems like a waste of good lumber. And, also, if I don't do
any resawing, I've got just enough lumber to make the shelf; no
leftovers to practice on and see how the wood behaves. So it's very
tempting to take the three thickest shelf boards (which measure out at
about 9/8ths), and figure taking an eighth-inch off each side to get rid
of the weathered part, and then resaw them down the middle, taking out
another eighth-inch of kerf and leaving me with two 3/8" boards, and
then adapt the plan to use 3/8" boards instead of 1/2" ones.

The trick to this, of course, is that I've not done any resawing before,
so I don't know if I can get a good enough cut with the shop's bandsaw
to only end up taking 1/8" out of the middle once it's all been planed
smooth. And, as I said, if the resawing doesn't work out, that means
that I need all the wood I've got, so I can't plan to practice on one
board and discard it if it doesn't work.

So, is trying to do resawing like this a reasonable idea, or am I being
silly to think it will work? What's the usual amount of wastage along
the saw-line that's expected from resawing?

(For what it's worth, these boards are pretty solid; they were under a
metal-and-tarpaper roof, and crosscuts on the ends show only a very thin
layer of discoloration. They're not like the piece of 1"x14" that I got
from the side of the barn, which had beautiful straight grain,
absolutely no warpage -- and weathering so deep that there was no more
than 1/4" of solid wood left.)

Thanks for any advice!
- Brooks



--
The "bmoses-nospam" address is valid; no unmunging needed.

If it were me, I'd resaw it. Try to get to know the bandsaw a little
bit by practicing on 2x4's or other oak if possible, to see which
direction it tends to drift, and set the fence angle appropriately. At
that point, the kerf should be less than 1/8, but it'll probably leave
some definite marks, which you'll need to plane or sand or scrape down
(I've been enjoying hand planing and card scraping to get rid of
bandsaw marks for the last few days).
So yes, I think it's reasonable, but I'd try to find some scrap to
practice on first. I'd hate to plane away a half inch of old, nice oak
also... My first real woodworking project was a stepstool with
reclaimed American chestnut for the steps, and I didn't waste a bit of
that board - I still have a few little scraps around.
Good luck,
Andy

"Brooks Moses" wrote in message

My dilemma is this: making half-inch boards out of one-inch boards with
the planer seems like a waste of good lumber. And, also, if I don't do
any resawing, I've got just enough lumber to make the shelf; no leftovers
to practice on and see how the wood behaves.


I'd resaw. 3/8" is plenty strong enough for a spice rack. I'd also put door
on it to keep the spices out of sunlight so they last longer
--
Ed
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/

Brooks Moses wrote:

So....


By all means, Resaw. But practice first. Buy or scrounge a couple bits of
oak to practice on or, failing that, use a 'similar' wood. It helps if you
have a good bandsaw blade that is designed for resaw. Half inch or wider
and 3-4 TPI skiptooth. Google 'resaw technique' for tips on fences, drift,
barelling and so on.

Andy wrote:
If it were me, I'd resaw it. Try to get to know the bandsaw a little
bit by practicing on 2x4's or other oak if possible, to see which
direction it tends to drift, and set the fence angle appropriately. At
that point, the kerf should be less than 1/8, but it'll probably leave
some definite marks, which you'll need to plane or sand or scrape down
(I've been enjoying hand planing and card scraping to get rid of
bandsaw marks for the last few days).
So yes, I think it's reasonable, but I'd try to find some scrap to
practice on first. I'd hate to plane away a half inch of old, nice oak
also... My first real woodworking project was a stepstool with
reclaimed American chestnut for the steps, and I didn't waste a bit of
that board - I still have a few little scraps around.

Thanks to all three of you who replied and unanimously suggested that I
try resawing this. I just got a chance to spend the afternoon in the
shop today, and apparently today was my lucky day -- the bandsaw was
already set up with a 1/2" 4tpi blade, and it cut a test piece straight
enough that I didn't even need to angle the fence!

I did have a couple of small "learning experiences" on the first oak
board I cut -- particularly about being careful not to lean the board
(our fence is pretty short) and not let it wander away from the fence.
But I think those pieces will still be usable and, if not, I have
leftovers -- one of the advantages of resawing the boards is that I have
twice as many as I thought I had, so I think I've got enough to build a
door (as Ed suggested) _and_ have leftovers!

The rest of the boards after the practice one resawed pretty nicely -- a
few little wobbles on a couple, but nothing serious.

Now I just have to wait for someone to fix the planer! I got the
resawed boards all jointed on two sides ready to plane, and discovered
that the planer's out of alignment so things get stuck instead of going
through....

- Brooks


--
The "bmoses-nospam" address is valid; no unmunging needed.

Brooks Moses wrote:


The rest of the boards after the practice one resawed pretty nicely -- a
few little wobbles on a couple, but nothing serious.



Now Everything will look like it needs resawing! )

Glad it worked out.

Lobby Dosser wrote:
Brooks Moses wrote:
The rest of the boards after the practice one resawed pretty nicely -- a
few little wobbles on a couple, but nothing serious.

Now Everything will look like it needs resawing! )

Yeah, I noticed that! I had to stop myself from sawing up the extra
board that I didn't need to make shelves out of....

Glad it worked out.

Thanks! I'll post pictures when it's done.

- Brooks


--
The "bmoses-nospam" address is valid; no unmunging needed.