Resawing on The Bandsaw
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One of the main reasons many woodworkers purchase bandsaws is because of their ability to re-saw wood. This might mean re-sawing logs to make boards (usually short boards) or re-sawing existing boards to make thinner boards for projects like small boxes where you might want a 3/8" or 1/2" board. Planing down a 3/4" board to 3/8" is a waste of good lumber and a waste of time if you have a bandsaw.
The most common bandsaw is 14 inch. With some brands you can also purchase a height adjustment block which raises the top wheel of the bandsaw higher and therefore allows for wider cuts. If you are planning on doing a LOT of re-sawing you might want to look seriously at 16" or even 18" or larger bandsaws.
Re-sawing on a bandsaw is not difficult but it may take some practice and a bit of extra work. If your bandsaw does not have a high fence, you may want to make one out of MDF or plywood to help you in the re-sawing process. It will be important to select a proper re-sawing blade. For most saws this will be a blade with fewer teeth, of the called a "skip tooth blade". Most re-saw blades are wide, typically, the wider the better when it comes to re-sawing. You will also need to know the length of your saw blades. There are a few different sizes and every "14" bandsaw" does NOT take the same size blade.
During the re-saw process, you will want to have the board you are re-sawing to have a 90 degree angle on at least one edge and at least both sides to be flat and smooth. If you are making thinner boards or veneers it is often best to have the off-cut piece coming off the stock piece on the non blade-fence side. In other words the off-cut piece after it is cut should be able to fall free off the saw because it is not running between the blade and the fence.
After you have cut off the thin board or veneer you need, you will now want to run that whole stock board back through the planer to true up the face sides again. You won't need to take much off, just a skim to get the just-sawn face cleaned up. If you are making veneers and want book matching piece you will need to make sure your off-cuts or on the same side of the stock piece each time. Marking one end with a felt pen will help solve that.
Copyright - Colin Knecht
woodworkweb.com
There is a special group of people out there who love woodworking and technology and are always looking at new ways of putting the two together ... and from that marriage came the CNC machines we have today. I remember the first time I ever heard about someone putting together a computer with a router. It was just after the first Macintosh Computer was invented. I heard a story from one of the Apple Reps, that one of the main engineers on the development of the Mac had actually used the printer port to connect to some small servo motors he had and attached his router to it and was using it for making signs and small pictures. This was the first time I had ever heard of a computer controlling a router, which is in essence, what a CNC machine is. Well , that was way back in 1985 or so and things have come a long way since then. Now we have a variety of software programs to drive the machinery and of course the CNC machines can now do much with many different axis / angles and techniques.
