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Strips from a Band Saw


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Hi all,  I was wondering about stripping thin sheets of wood (i.e. boxwood, walnut, etc.) using a band saw.  I currently have a 12 inch saw with a fine tooth blade.  Is there any experienced advice or a jig that I can make to cut specific strips that I need?  And of course, to do it safely.  

Michael C. Warnick,

USAF SMSGT (Ret)

 

Current Build:  MS Fair American

Prior Builds:  AL Swift, AL San Francisco II, AL Mississippi

In the hanger:  MS Benjamin W. Latham

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Are you resawing from a plank or cutting planking, deck beams, etc from a thin sheet so that one dimension

is already at the desired thickness?

 

If you are resawing,  a Wood Slicer blade is about as thin as it gets and the set is slight so

not as many passes thru a thickness sander.  I recently got a catalog with Infinity rip blades

that look identical to Wood Slicer - no better on price though.

On rip cuts thru thick stock more teeth is the opposite of what is needed.

Resawing using a table saw - is brute force,  even a 12 inch saw may not be able to go 4" deep

in one go,  really wants to kick back the stock, and is waiting for your fingers.

 

Resawing on a band saw is an art.  A UTube video link here had one tip that seems key -  the traditional advice

for blade tracking is wrong.  The way to limit blade wandering is to track the blade so that the actual teeth

are at the crown of the top wheel. and are directly supported.

 

 

For working stock from a thin sheet,  the kerf on a 10-12 " table saw will cost you much material.

A Byrnes 4" table saw a more efficient tool - there are blades with zero set so stock produced has a ready to

use cut surface.  Even with this, the TPI on a blade needs to match the thickness of the stock.

With too fine a blade, the gullets fill too early and no longer can cut - just generate heat.

 

My band saw is an old 3 wheel with a 3/4 HP motor,  If I had a wayback machine, it would be a 14 inch two wheel

2 HP motor.  I did not think to wire my garage for 220 V some that limits motor size.

 

NRG member 45 years

 

Current:  

HMS Centurion 1732 - 60-gun 4th rate - Navall Timber framing

HMS Beagle 1831 refiit  10-gun brig with a small mizzen - Navall (ish) Timber framing

The U.S. Ex. Ex. 1838-1842
Flying Fish 1838  pilot schooner -  framed - ready for stern timbers
Porpose II  1836  brigantine/brig - framed - ready for hawse and stern timbers
Vincennes  1825  Sloop-of-War  -  timbers assembled, need shaping
Peacock  1828  Sloop-of -War  -  timbers ready for assembly
Sea Gull  1838  pilot schooner -  timbers ready for assembly
Relief  1835  ship - timbers ready for assembly

Other

Portsmouth  1843  Sloop-of-War  -  timbers ready for assembly
Le Commerce de Marseilles  1788   118 cannons - framed

La Renommee 1744 Frigate - framed - ready for hawse and stern timbers

 

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Hello, as mentioned by Jaager, your question is a bit unclear.  We'll assume that you're resawing, i.e. cutting slices that are wide but not thick.

 

Here's video about resawing that I think shows the safest way possible: 
 

 

About the blade, the TPI should not be too fine because the gullets much carry the sawdust out of the kerf. Generally, when using a bandsaw for resawing, you'll need fewer teeth rather than more.  In the video, you can see that the blade is very wide and has only 2-3 teeth per inch.

 

 

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If you wish to cut thin strips the other way, such as cutting 3/4" strips from a 1x6 board, then there are several ways to do that.  You could simply use a fence, either a single point fence or one that traverses the table.  For pieces of stock that are small or thin, I would make a sled that engages the miter slot or side of the table, and the stock would be held by a clamp or double-stick tape, with or without a fence. By the way, usually thin strips are cut from the outboard edge of a board, i.e. the majority of the board's width is against the fence. 

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