I have a couple of 8 in. wide cherry planks 8/4 I resawed into 1 in. halves. The intention was to bookmatch 2 – 8 in. wide halves to form solid side panels for a cherry cabinet I am making. In theory this was great until I resawed.
The sawing went well, except that the 2 halves bowed approx. 1/4 in. along the length of the halves from one end to another. I placed the halves on edge for a number of days hoping that the boards would acclimatize and the moisture content would stabilze, but the bow remains.
Since then I have been trying to remove the bow with hand planes, and it is laborious, and of course the thickness of the boards are getting alarmingly close to whenre I want them with a small amount of bow remaining.
My other inclination is to run one face ( concave) through a jointer to straighten the bowed ends so I can begin to use the thickness planer. I only have a 6in. jointer anf the board halves are 8 in. wide. Is there something that can be done with reasonable success or do I need to rip the boards down to fi my 6 in. jointer?
What would you do? Carry on with hand-planing or rip down to 6 in. dress one face, thickness plane the other face to parallel?
Of course with 6in. wide boards there is the added stability of the narrower boards.
Is it normal to get this type of bowing when resawing 8/4 kiln-dryed cherry into 2 – 1 in . thick boards?
Thx in Advance,
Norman
Replies
Hi Toolworks:
We've done a few articles and videos that cover the ins and outs of resawing on the bandsaw. You might want to check those out just to make sure your bandsaw set-up and technique is correct.
Article: Resawing On the Bandsaw
Video: Set Up Your Bandsaw of Resawing
But to address your specific predicament, here are a few suggestions:
Jointing and planing the boards by machine is going to be the quickest and most efficient method to flatten the boards. But since your jointer is 2-in. too narrow, you have to make yourself one of these planer sleds or rip the boards to a narrower width and joint and plane as you described. There's one other trick that I've never tried but is said to work well: Remove the blade cover from your jointer, and let the board extend in width over the side of the table. Do your jointing and then clean up the unjointed 2-in. of material with a handplane. (Make sense?)
Otherwise, carry on with a handplane until you have one flat face, and then parallel the other side with your planer.
I'd say it is somewhat normal to get this much movement during a resaw. Most of it has to do with the internal stresses in the board (funky grain wood will move more than straight-grain wood, for example). Additionally, I always try to anticipate movement when resawing and buy my material in a thickness that will accommodate the lost material (up to 1/4 in. extra is a good rule of thumb). Trying to get two, one-inch thick boards from 8/4 in. lumber is really cutting it close.
Hope that helps,
Matt Berger
Fine Woodworking
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