Greetings
I have a nice piece of sapele left over from a project, about 47″ long x 5 1/4″ wide x 1 3/8″ thick. I’m going to make a couple small boxes from it, one with miters and one with dovetails, mostly as a skill-building exercise.
At the heart of my question is getting the most out of this stock. If I want 8″ x 6″ boxes (5″tall), I’m thinking the first step is to cut 3 pieces to length @ 15″, then resaw and head to thickness planer.
I was watching a Doug Stowe video, where he demonstrates resawing on the table saw and on the bandsaw. He doesn’t say much about the pro’s/con’s of each. Is one preferred over the other, or is it a preference thing? The tablesaw seems easier for me (resawing newbie), but the bandsaw seems like it would have less waste.
So let’s say I’m going to bandsaw (answering my own question here), and I want sides/front/back at 1/4″ final thickness, bottom at 1/8″. How do I approach this on bandsaw? If I put the “keeper” piece against bandsaw fence and cut to 3/8″ thick before planing, does that seem right? (or is the “keeper” piece the offcut?) That gets me 4 pieces out of each 15″-length board (3 sides and a bottom). Don’t know if I’m trying to get too much (or too little) out of each board.
Thanks.
Neal
Replies
I am no guru on the topic, but one thing to factor in to your choice of machine is the continuity of the figure in your boxes. If you want to do a 4 corner match, you’ll normally get the best results with the method that removes the smallest amount of thickness when resawing. This would generally favor the band saw, but if your blade is dull and your machine poorly tuned, I think you could easily end up negating that advantage.
First, if you don't have a bunch of experience resawing, practice on scrap first. Choose something close in density to your sample.
My last bandsaw was crap. No matter how I tuned or or what blade I used, I could get 2 1/4 inch finished pieces from a 3/4 inch board. There was a lot of waste. Even though the tablesaw kerf took away more wood than the bandsaw, it was more accurate. But I really did not like resawing on the tablesaw.
My current bandsaw is great. I can cut 1/16 veneers off a 10 inch wide board easy peasy. Very littlewaste.
As Moonshot said, you'll likely want to wrap one piece continuously around the box, so I would leave your length as is. And it's often common to have the first and last couple of inches go to waste on either the resaw or planer. Better to have extra length, and thickness, just in case.
Having minimum waste is a great goal, but cutting it too close and having a foulup is a great way to get into a foul mood.
You're so right about practicing. In fact, last week I was at Bob Van Dyke's and I brought some 11-inch cherry to resaw while I was there. My Grizzly goes to 10... but doesn't have the power to do it in a trusted fashion. This was one of THE boards and I wanted to get as much out of it as possible. Even the great Bob Van Dyke practiced on a piece of similar wood before we felt comfortable dialing in the desired thickness.
practicing in nice in theory, but in practice but I don't have much to practice on. I have a piece of 2x6 left over from a garden box I made for cucumbers, it's nowhere near the density of the sapele but it'll have to do.
I have a Laguna 14BX. In my first attempts at resawing I had horrible drift, but I did all the adjustments and tuning and later attempts were more successful. So I'm decently confident going in, but will definitely practice as much as possible.
Thanks for feedback.
I have the Laguna 14/12. I mostly use the Highland woodslicer blades on it. A little practice and that should be a piece of cake.
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You should be able to get 3 slices of each board if you're going for 3/8 thickness, assuming your bandsaw is cutting straight. As mentioned by John C2, practice the resaw with a scrap board. You can then cut a slice slightly thicker than 3/8 to allow for milling. Then plane both boards and resaw the thicker board in half. I usually put the thinner side of the cut against the fence, but I don't think that matters much.
I prefer re-sawing on the bandsaw by far but as mentioned, it takes a good setup and a well adjusted bandsaw. Firstly the guide has to be parallel to the blade otherwise you will experience what some call drift where the blade will want to go it’s own way . You don’t need to be perfect here but as long as the rear of the blade does not touch either side of the kerf as you push the piece along the guide it will work. To verify this I use a piece of plywood with the straight edge along the guide and stop the cut a few inches into the wood. I keep the wood pressed along the guide and with my thumb push the rear of the blade sideways in the kerf, if it moves both ways I am parallel enough. I use the widest blade with 2-3 tpi but a sharp 1/2 inch well tensionned will do if you slow down the feed.
Spend as much time as you need to get to a vertical cut. I have the Laguna SUV and as nice as it is, getting the table and blade at a spot on 90 degrees is always a chore. Double check that your fence is parallel to the blade (in the vertical) as well. Being out of square will cost you as much or more material than a bumpy cut will.
Cut a score line in a 4-squared board and then flip it away from you and bring it to the rear of the blade. If it goes right in you're good. If it looks off it is off. If you want those 3 slices "good enough" just isn't.
I keep my fence parallel to the miter gauge slots and dial in the upper wheel for zero drift to keep from having to adjust it. For repeat cuts put the "keeper" against the fence.
Since you need 3 15" lengths you can cut 2 15s and a nominal 17 and use the "extra" material on the 17 for setup while it is still part of the board. You'll have a solid 3/4" to play with at either end. The whole idea depends on a perfectly snipe-free experience at the planer. If you have any snipe at all you may need to reduce the plan to 2 boxes and just cut that puppy in half instead.
Main advantage of bandsaw, other than wider capacity, is you loose less material. Multiple cuts X the difference in kerf can add up.
I joint one face and one edge 90° to face. If you don't have a drum sander and are going straight the planer, I would re-joint the face between cuts.
If I did a lot of resawing, I would get a carbide tooth blade.
I always cut *at least* 1/16" thicker, usually 3/32.
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I would spend much time with your bandsaw before you attempt to resaw the sapele. Consider buying some thick, wide construction lumber at the home center (spend the $) and get a new carbide blade.
Practice resawing till you’ve got it dialed in and then do what RobertEJr said.
Neal, if your board is 1 3/8" thick, and you want 2 x 1/4" and 1 x 1/8" thick sections, I would resaw this on the table saw.
My bandsaw set up could easily do this board (and more), but I have a Hammer N4400 (17 1/2" wheels) and a 1" carbide Woodmaster blade. I rather doubt that many others are equipped this way. Even so, a little bit of planing is needed to remove saw marks. Now, on a table saw, the result should be much better. You could saw-and-flip the stock to achieve the height of the stock. The down side of a table saw is that the blade is 1/8" wide, however you have plenty of meat to spare.
Set up featherboards to keep the stock tracking against the fence, and you will do fine.
Regards from Perth
Derek
Thanks for the feedback everyone. Everything turned out alright. I really took my time checking all adjustments, then practiced on 2x6. Ended up getting three fat 3/8” boards, and a sliver. The sliver is too thin for a 1/8” bottom, but I’m calling it a win. Thanks again!
Good to hear & consider face glueing the thin stock to get the right thickness of a bottom ..
Yup. He could glue that to a piece of white pine and it would be plenty stable in that width.
I have a bunch of pine and was thinking of using it for bottom, either alone or with sapele layer on top. With something like sapele, how thin can you go with a DeWalt 735 planer?
If that sliver is under 1/8" any planer is probably going to eat it. If you want to plane it, glue it to the pine first and then try to clean it up. Same for handplaning it... if one side is clean enough for a glueup do that first.
The only machine I'd run that through alone is a drum sander.
Great, thanks MJ!
Exactly what MJ said.
As I get close to 1/8 with my Dewalt 733, the board goes in one side and nothing comes out the other. Ivesen a couple of techniques on FWW that I'm going to try, to go a little thinner. But for now, I use my drum sander. But gluing it to white pine first solves the issue.
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I can't speak for the little jobsite style planers, but generally speaking, when surfacing thin stock, backing up with say 3/4" MDF and running through as a unit will provide solid support and avoid the blowout that will occur trying to run thin pieces alone. Needless to say, light cuts and correct grain orientation are necessary as well.
Following up on this project, last question I think. This box won’t have a top (it’s for remote controls and a little pad of paper/pens etc). It’s dry fit now. When it’s done the front will be lower than the back (it’s a “slanted” box), the sides going up just past the dividers. Should I glue up mitered box, then add keys (which I want to do), and then cut the top off after its all dry? Or should I make the cuts before glue up (and save the off cuts to use as clamping cauls)? Thanks.
If I read it right, I think I would cut the slant first, glue it up, then cut the slots for the splines when it's cured. Whichever way you go, I'd do the splines last.
It looks great.
Thanks John. I’m a little nervous about individual cuts (getting angles right) and then gluing up. Think I’m going to glue it, cut on band saw with table tilted, then add splines. When I did a dry run with bandsaw (pic) it became clearer to me and it seems easy enough. Probably wouldn’t have posted question had I done this earlier. I’ve come the whole way without a screwup so don’t want to blow it now, ha.
That works too!
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I'd say gule it up first like you plan. Easier to make sure everything closes. I'd even put in the splines while it is still square.
Make a test cut well off your finished line just to make sure you have the angle set up right.
Simple solution for you. Cut the pieces to length, place them in your vice, and start re-sawing them with a hand saw.
I would cut it on the bandsaw as well
I have to say this is why I like a bandsaw fence that can be used on the right side of the blade, you don't have to fight gravity. Most of the fences today are designed for left side only without major modifications.
Example
I think you'll find that a decent bandsaw with a 3/4 or larger resaw blade (I really like the 'wood slicer' from highland) is going to be much easier, safer, and faster than any method involving a tablesaw.
Also, I usually try not to get too greedy. Every time I try to stretch wood I end up fussing with it so much that it would have been well worth it to just grab more wood or a different board from the start.
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