Please share your experience in resawing stock, say up to 6" tall on
small bandsaw, say up to 10" throat. Also, can the stock height match
the clearance, or you have to leave some room? Would you argue that for
*any* resawing you need a bandsaw with a minimum xyz, and if so, what
are they?

Resaw on most consumer bandsaws will leave the side walls of the kerf rough.
Wood needs to be further processed by planning or power sanding. Just be
sure you have a plan for dealing with the rough wood. This is not a show
stopper by any means, but you need to be aware any band saw will not leave
the wood like a table saw cut.

Also, resawing causes lots and lots of waste sawdust. Be sure you have a
plan to deal with removal of the saw dust away from the blade and wood.
IMHO, saw dust choked kerf on a resaw will dull the teeth of your blade due
to friction induced heat (but that is just MHO.)

if you throat height is 6 inches, you may not have 6.00 inches clearances,
it may only be 5-7/8 or some such. Measure on scrap first.

Phil

"Student" wrote in message
ups.com...
Please share your experience in resawing stock, say up to 6" tall on
small bandsaw, say up to 10" throat. Also, can the stock height match
the clearance, or you have to leave some room? Would you argue that for
*any* resawing you need a bandsaw with a minimum xyz, and if so, what
are they?

When you say "throat", I assume you mean the distance between the table
and the upper guides? You'll want to keep the upper guides as close as
possible to the work, without dragging them on the topside of the
workpiece, so you'll have to leave _some_ room. This is to keep the
blade supported as well as possible. Minimum xyz? Bigger is usually
better in a lot of ways, as capacity will show. I can resaw up to
slightly greater than 12 inches on my Delta 14 incher, all the way down
to a theoretical nil (but it's good to have at least 3 teeth in the
work at all times). Bigger will usually come with a higher HP motor
too, that can handle certain types of wood more easily. Building a
resaw fence as tall as you can to accomodate your task can help with
accuracy, too. Tom
Student wrote:
Please share your experience in resawing stock, say up to 6" tall on
small bandsaw, say up to 10" throat. Also, can the stock height match
the clearance, or you have to leave some room? Would you argue that for
*any* resawing you need a bandsaw with a minimum xyz, and if so, what
are they?

tom wrote:
When you say "throat",

I mean the same as the wheel size, sorry for the confusion...

I assume you mean the distance between the table
and the upper guides?

That would be the clearance, I think...

You'll want to keep the upper guides as close as
possible to the work, without dragging them on the topside of the
workpiece, so you'll have to leave _some_ room. This is to keep the
blade supported as well as possible.

OK

Minimum xyz? Bigger is usually
better in a lot of ways, as capacity will show. I can resaw up to
slightly greater than 12 inches on my Delta 14 incher, all the way down
to a theoretical nil (but it's good to have at least 3 teeth in the
work at all times). Bigger will usually come with a higher HP motor
too, that can handle certain types of wood more easily. Building a
resaw fence as tall as you can to accomodate your task can help with
accuracy, too. Tom

Fair enough...So then:

To resaw something like red oak, 4 inches high, would a 10" bandsaw
with a 1/3 HP do?



Student wrote:
Please share your experience in resawing stock, say up to 6" tall on
small bandsaw, say up to 10" throat. Also, can the stock height match
the clearance, or you have to leave some room? Would you argue that for
*any* resawing you need a bandsaw with a minimum xyz, and if so, what
are they?

On 1 Aug 2006 15:43:50 -0700, "Student" wrote:

Please share your experience in resawing stock, say up to 6" tall on
small bandsaw, say up to 10" throat. Also, can the stock height match
the clearance, or you have to leave some room? Would you argue that for
*any* resawing you need a bandsaw with a minimum xyz, and if so, what
are they?

I'd suggest measuring you ACTUAL distance between the table surface and the
upper guides and deducting about 1/2"...

If you resaw a piece that is the size of your max. opening, you might push your
upper guide against your upper roller as the stock passes through and burn up
the roller bearing... DAMHIKT

Mac

https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis
https://home.comcast.net/~mac.davis/wood_stuff.htm

Phil-in-MI wrote:
Resaw on most consumer bandsaws will leave the side walls of the kerf rough.
Wood needs to be further processed by planning or power sanding. Just be
sure you have a plan for dealing with the rough wood.

I suppose 5" orbital sander would do for smaller planks?

This is not a show
stopper by any means, but you need to be aware any band saw will not leave
the wood like a table saw cut.

Also, resawing causes lots and lots of waste sawdust. Be sure you have a
plan to deal with removal of the saw dust away from the blade and wood.
IMHO, saw dust choked kerf on a resaw will dull the teeth of your blade due
to friction induced heat (but that is just MHO.)

OK

I suppose 5" orbital sander would do for smaller planks?

It would do, but a sharp hand plane would do better, quicker, without
fine dust, and not leave little swirly marks.
As far as the 10" bandsaw with 1/3HP, are you looking at the Craftsman
or Rikon model? These look like nice saws if you really want a new saw
for less than $200. I have the Ryobi 10"er that claims 1/2HP. I
haven't tried resawing 4" red oak, but I'm guessing it will work if you
use an appropriate blade (3-4 tpi) and feed it very slowly. I
resawed/ripped a bunch of 2" thick white oak on the Ryobi, and it
worked, albiet slowly. The small table also has a lot of flex when
used with long boards. I haven't been limited by the capacity or the
power, just the
Alternatively, as you'll see if you look through a few recent threads
here (within the last couple weeks), you'll end up with a much nicer
saw if you look for a used 14"er, which you could probably get for
$200. Or even go with the basic Grizzly or Harbor Freight 14" bandsaw,
for slightly over $300. This will take you much farther if you decide
to pursue woodworking more seriously. Also, I just noticed the Jet 12"
model on sale for $312 at Amazon, minus $25 off, plus shipping.
Or, if you want a used Ryobi 10" saw with several blades for $100, send
me an email - I'd love to upgrade.
Andy

Might. Tom
Student wrote:
tom wrote:
When you say "throat",

I mean the same as the wheel size, sorry for the confusion...

I assume you mean the distance between the table
and the upper guides?

That would be the clearance, I think...

You'll want to keep the upper guides as close as
possible to the work, without dragging them on the topside of the
workpiece, so you'll have to leave _some_ room. This is to keep the
blade supported as well as possible.

OK

Minimum xyz? Bigger is usually
better in a lot of ways, as capacity will show. I can resaw up to
slightly greater than 12 inches on my Delta 14 incher, all the way down
to a theoretical nil (but it's good to have at least 3 teeth in the
work at all times). Bigger will usually come with a higher HP motor
too, that can handle certain types of wood more easily. Building a
resaw fence as tall as you can to accomodate your task can help with
accuracy, too. Tom

Fair enough...So then:

To resaw something like red oak, 4 inches high, would a 10" bandsaw
with a 1/3 HP do?



Student wrote:
Please share your experience in resawing stock, say up to 6" tall on
small bandsaw, say up to 10" throat. Also, can the stock height match
the clearance, or you have to leave some room? Would you argue that for
*any* resawing you need a bandsaw with a minimum xyz, and if so, what
are they?

Andy wrote:
I suppose 5" orbital sander would do for smaller planks?

It would do, but a sharp hand plane would do better, quicker, without
fine dust, and not leave little swirly marks.

So noted.

As far as the 10" bandsaw with 1/3HP, are you looking at the Craftsman
or Rikon model?

Craftsman.

These look like nice saws if you really want a new saw
for less than $200. I have the Ryobi 10"er that claims 1/2HP. I
haven't tried resawing 4" red oak, but I'm guessing it will work if you
use an appropriate blade (3-4 tpi) and feed it very slowly. I
resawed/ripped a bunch of 2" thick white oak on the Ryobi, and it
worked, albiet slowly. The small table also has a lot of flex when
used with long boards. I haven't been limited by the capacity or the
power, just the
Alternatively, as you'll see if you look through a few recent threads
here (within the last couple weeks), you'll end up with a much nicer
saw if you look for a used 14"er, which you could probably get for
$200. Or even go with the basic Grizzly or Harbor Freight 14" bandsaw,
for slightly over $300. This will take you much farther if you decide
to pursue woodworking more seriously. Also, I just noticed the Jet 12"
model on sale for $312 at Amazon, minus $25 off, plus shipping.

They don't ship these beasts to Canada, and Canadian Amazon doesn't
offer them, so - hello eBay...

Or, if you want a used Ryobi 10" saw with several blades for $100, send
me an email - I'd love to upgrade.

If I am hearing you guys correctly, the best thing in the long term
(resawing 6+ inch stock, including some hard, exotic woods etc.), would
be to simply forget about any bandsaw below 14" and less than 1 hp. I
think I'll just wait a bit more...

My old Rockwell 14" still has a 1/2HP motor and resaws hard maple and
softer woods. May be slower than larger motor saw but don't know.

On 2 Aug 2006 06:15:35 -0700, "Student" wrote:

If I am hearing you guys correctly, the best thing in the long term
(resawing 6+ inch stock, including some hard, exotic woods etc.), would
be to simply forget about any bandsaw below 14" and less than 1 hp. I
think I'll just wait a bit more...

My own experience might be useful to you. I make small trinket boxes
out of a variety of exotic woods. For my purposes I have found that
10mm to 12mm is a good thickness for the walls, tops & bottoms. But
try and find walnut or sycamore or purpleheart or yew in 100mm X 10mm
sized stock. Usually it's more like 400mm X 40mm planks. My limited
sources charge the earth to resaw to what I need or size the boards
from scratch. So I have learned to be resourceful. I have found that
resawing up to say 6" is best done on a table saw with an 80+ toothed,
thin-kerfed blade. I had bought a 10" bandsaw for this task but there
was too much blade wander and the result was very variable. On the TS
I take my big plank and rip off a length of the width I need, then set
the rip fence distance from the blade to the thickness I want and send
the piece through on its side. If the required width is greater than
the height of the blade above the table I just turn the piece over and
do it again from the opposite side. Works well.

FoggyTown

foggytown wrote:

I had bought a 10" bandsaw for this task but there
was too much blade wander and the result was very variable.

Where you using the widest blade (1/2")? Did you adjust the blade
tension? Have you tried different blades?

On the TS
I take my big plank and rip off a length of the width I need, then set
the rip fence distance from the blade to the thickness I want and send
the piece through on its side. If the required width is greater than
the height of the blade above the table I just turn the piece over and
do it again from the opposite side. Works well.

Sounds like a good idea. If I have to choose between a new TS blade and
a small bandsaw, here is my reasoning (please criticise as needed): A
quality thin-kerf blade for TS would cost more than a half of a 10"
bandsaw, which could also do some curve cutting and such. So, if with
some adjustment, a small bandsaw could do a decent resawing (however
slow it may be), then...

On 3 Aug 2006 04:36:18 -0700, "Student" wrote:

On the TS
I take my big plank and rip off a length of the width I need, then set
the rip fence distance from the blade to the thickness I want and send
the piece through on its side. If the required width is greater than
the height of the blade above the table I just turn the piece over and
do it again from the opposite side. Works well.

Sounds like a good idea. If I have to choose between a new TS blade and
a small bandsaw, here is my reasoning (please criticise as needed): A
quality thin-kerf blade for TS would cost more than a half of a 10"
bandsaw, which could also do some curve cutting and such. So, if with
some adjustment, a small bandsaw could do a decent resawing (however
slow it may be), then...

My results trying to resaw on the table saw were not that great, a bit
scary, and it takes quite a while. Plus if you're starting with 3/4"
stock the extra width of the kerf, even with a thin kerf blade, can
mean the difference between getting 3 or 4 pieces out of it.

But one other option if the band saw doesn't have quite enough power
to get through is to combine the two. Make one pass on the table saw
on each side. Finish it on the band saw, and not only is the cut much
easier you have a very easy channel to follow. You lose the benefit
of the smaller kerf.

The blade makes a big difference. If you try to resaw with the one
that comes on the saw you won't get anywhere. I've had decent results
with the woodcraft house brand blades and they're reasonably priced.

And finally, I started out with the 9" Ryobi. You aren't going to
resaw on that. But, now that I have a 14" Delta, the Ryobi is still
in the shop. I use it for many small jobs, saves having to change
blades on the big one, uses less electricity, and is quieter. Also I
can back out of cuts without worrying about the blade pulling off the
tires, have to be much more careful on the big one. Probably the best
$90 ever spent in my shop. So while I would encourage you to go
straight to the 14" saw, I don't think you'll regret getting that 10"
Rikon even if it proves not to be entirely up to all the tasks you'd
like to get out of it.


-Leuf

Leuf wrote:

And finally, I started out with the 9" Ryobi. You aren't going to
resaw on that.

I don't get it. Why? You tried it, and what happened?

But, now that I have a 14" Delta, the Ryobi is still
in the shop. I use it for many small jobs, saves having to change
blades on the big one, uses less electricity, and is quieter. Also I
can back out of cuts without worrying about the blade pulling off the
tires, have to be much more careful on the big one. Probably the best
$90 ever spent in my shop. So while I would encourage you to go
straight to the 14" saw, I don't think you'll regret getting that 10"
Rikon even if it proves not to be entirely up to all the tasks you'd
like to get out of it.

Thanks for the advice. Since I envisage using the bandsaw mostly for
resawing, and have some serious space limitations, two bandsaws are not
a likely scenario. I'll probably wait and get one good bandsaw that
would do it all .

On 3 Aug 2006 19:40:10 -0700, "Student" wrote:


Leuf wrote:

And finally, I started out with the 9" Ryobi. You aren't going to
resaw on that.

I don't get it. Why? You tried it, and what happened?

Well for one thing the max height is 3" and you wanted to resaw up to
6" I thought. I tried cutting through 1.5" of hard maple and let's
just say the smoke alarm went off more than once. That was not with a
good quality blade though. I keep it to 3/4"or less thickness in
hardwoods and the saw is quite happy.


-Leuf

Leuf wrote:

I don't get it. Why? You tried it, and what happened?

Well for one thing the max height is 3" and you wanted to resaw up to
6" I thought.

Sorry, I meant resawing up to the max clearance of the saw. Some
smaller bandsaws have a decent clerance, more than 4"...


I tried cutting through 1.5" of hard maple and let's
just say the smoke alarm went off more than once. That was not with a
good quality blade though.

I bet some of the experienced guys reading this are having a giggle,
but I'll ask it anyway: If you were to use a good quality blade,
properly tensioned, would resawing the hardwood (that is less than the
clerance) work on the small bandsaw or not? Cutting speed ignored, but
I'd rather not have my smoke alarm go off either...

On 3 Aug 2006 21:19:23 -0700, "Student" wrote:

I bet some of the experienced guys reading this are having a giggle,
but I'll ask it anyway: If you were to use a good quality blade,
properly tensioned, would resawing the hardwood (that is less than the
clerance) work on the small bandsaw or not? Cutting speed ignored, but
I'd rather not have my smoke alarm go off either...

I would look at it as the small band saw could do it occaisonally and
not necessarily very well, if you didn't envision much need for it you
could manage. Since you say you're primary use for it is resawing,
get a 14" (or better).


-Leuf

"foggytown" wrote

................................................ On the TS
I take my big plank and rip off a length of the width I need, then set
the rip fence distance from the blade to the thickness I want and send
the piece through on its side. If the required width is greater than
the height of the blade above the table I just turn the piece over and
do it again from the opposite side.

This is deep sawing - people do it and it works, but it can be dangerous.

Please try a look at my web site - Circular Sawbench Safety - Saw Blades
(Deep Cutting).

Jeff G

--
Jeff Gorman, West Yorkshire, UK
email : Username is amgron
ISP is clara.co.uk
www.amgron.clara.net