I got from my uncle a 22″ diameter walnut log that is about 4′ long and was split into four pieces such that each has two roughly flat faces at roughly 90 degrees to each other. We have been trying to mill them into boards but have had some difficulty. The setup is as follows:
– Laguna LT 14 band saw w/2hp Baldor motor
– Laguna Resaw King blade, 1″ wide 3tpi, sharp carbide teeth
– reasonably sturdy 4′ long in feed and outfeed tables made of 1/2″ plywood over 2×2 frames
We have tried both screwing the log to a 1/2″ plywood sled with a runner on the bottom and just holding it against a long, tall auxillary fence. Either way the blade eventually drifts to the right (away from the frame of the saw) to the point that it binds. I am able to resaw similar thickness walnut boards (already dried and 4 squared) without any problems.
I am at a loss as to why this is not working. About the only two possible causes I can come up with are either that the whole setup is not rigid enough to feed the logs straight or that the blade is not the right one for green wood (the kerf is pretty thin but it is not closing up on us.) We tried sawing both flat faces of the log (rotating it 90 degrees) and the blade always drifts in the same direction. Any other suggestions or things to try?
Chris
Replies
Having a reasonable amount of time into re-sawing, the only instances where I've had this happen are: 1) Blade is somewhat dull (Which you have said it is not.) and 2) Too fast of a feed rate. And I'm thinking your problem may be the latter.
There is always the option to adjust your fence to whatever your drift is.
I recommend that you try slowing down your feed rate first.
Good fortune...
Thanks for the suggestions. I know the blade is sharp and I checked for drift and was able to tune it out by adjusting the blade's tracking on the wheels. I will try a slower feed rate. Did everything else seem reasonable? This is the first time I have tried sawing my own boards.
Chris
Edited 8/23/2009 9:08 pm ET by cwalvoord
I was taught to correct for drift by adjusting the fence. You might want to check that feature too. All you need is a few teeth running dull to cause drift.SawdustSteve Long Island, NY (E of NYC)
Your Resaw King blade is a great blade for resawing dry wood, but I wouldn't use it for green wood.
1) because it's way too expensive a blade to use on green wood that may or may not have some metal embedded in it.
2) a courser blade will cut green wood more effectively since green wood tends to clog the gullets of the blade much more readily.
Laguna sells a 1", 1.3 TPI blade that is a better choice for green wood.
http://www.lagunatools.com/accessories/Silicon-Blades/bandsaw-bb107s
♫ If you’re OCD and you know it wash your hands ♫
Thanks, that makes some sense. Not sure if the blade you recommend, along with a slower feed rate as someone else suggested, would solve the problem but it seems like a better setup so for $22 I will give it a try.
Chris
Are the flat faces jointed before you attempt to resaw? If not the log may be changing position as it passes by the fence.
On a side note - have you looked at the Driftmaster fence? The off-cuts go on the outside of the blade so the log is fully supported by the fence.
Frosty
"I sometimes think we consider the good fortune of the early bird and overlook the bad fortune of the early worm." FDR - 1922
The face was not jointed flat - that is why I thought it would be better to attach it to a sled. But we got the same results either on the sled or just resting on the table and against the fence. I have seen the driftmaster fence but thought it was just to compensate for drift which is not a problem - test cuts using no fence on scraps are parallel to the fence per the test in the "famous" Michael Fortune article. If you mean with the driftmaster the log would move "underneath" the wheels and the offcut would be to the outside, I am not sure what the advantage would be. I am also not sure it would fit with the fence in that space on my 14" saw. Am I not understanding this?
Chris
I think they made a mistake when the labeled the fence the Driftmaster. Changing a fence to compensate for drift is probably the easiest thing I did before I bought the Driftmaster,I like the fact that the "log" is against a high fence and the off-cut is outside the blade. Since the fence can be engaged with a 'lead screw' when cutting veneers it is possible to turn out identical thicknesses of veneer by advancing the fence "1 1/4 turns per cut" or "3/4 of a turn per cut"; or whatever.Frosty"I sometimes think we consider the good fortune of the early bird and overlook the bad fortune of the early worm." FDR - 1922
You are using the miter slot to guide the sled. This means the log is on the right of the blade as you look at it. This also puts most of the weight on the right side of the table.
I resaw without using the slot,just the fence similar to you. I have a 2x3 installed as a vertical brace from the floor to underside of the table. This keeps the table square to the blade. The logs are quite heavy and easily knock the table out of square without the 2x3.
Check the blade for lead,the table to blade squareness. Because the blade is drifting to the right I believe the problem lies with the table to blade squareness. If the drift was to the left I might reconsider this .
mike
Thanks for the suggestions. I will check the table to blade squareness both on the table itself (which is pretty sturdy on the Laguna) and of the infeed and outfeed tables which are much more suspect in this case as I made them up pretty quickly. I was planning on reinforcing them for the next try but I will put a little more thought into how to make them rock solid.
Chris
Green wood requires a different blade for several reasons:
1. The sawdust from wet wood is radically different from the sawdust from dry wood sawing. Basically the wet dust fluffs up and takes up much more room requiring greater gullet space to clear it properly. When cutting wet wood with a dry wood blade the gullets fill up long before the teeth reach the table side of the kerf so the teeth can't cut properly.
2. The sides of the cut wet wood tend to close in on the blade so the blade needs a wider set to create more side clearance, this also creates more room for sawdust in the kerf.
3. Wet wood fibers cut differently from dry and the geometry of the teeth need to be changed for the best cut.
We had problems ripping green wood from split logs in the Fine Woodworking shop and called Suffolk Machinery for advice. They sent us blades made for cutting green wood and they made the sawing easy and trouble free.
John White
Shop Manager for FWW Magazine, 1998-2007
Thanks John, that all makes sense. I suspected the blade that I was using was not optimal. The Laguna Resaw King works well to resaw dried, milled boards but these logs are clearly a different animal. I have already ordered the blade that Pzaxtl pointed me to which appears to address the issues you pointed out. If it does not I will give Suffolk a call.
Chris
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