Re-sawing advice needed

[Ron Burns]

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry if this has been gone over before but I am looking for some re-sawing advice. I have a small piece of Black Hornbeam that is roughly 4cm x 4 cm x 35cm.

I am looking to create some planking for the wales of my Winchelsea. Unfortunately I am only in possession of a 9" porter cable band saw. With the proper fence set up and the correct tension, do you think it is possible with my bandsaw with the stock blade? I'm willing to try it if you guys think its possible. The other question I had was which way to cut? Here's a pic of the hornbeam on end showing the grain.  Thanks ever so much!

Ron

[Jim Rogers]

You could probably get it resawn at a local lumberyard that deals in exotics.

 

[TBlack]

Ron,

Hard to tell from the photo, but are the top and bottom sides parallel? If not then you've got to square the whole piece up, and then is there enough lumber to do what you want to do? The bigger question in my mind is: why do you want to use it in the first place? Won't the wale be painted black?

I may be ignorant.

Tom

[Jaager]

Some random thoughts:

 

I am guessing that something is done to turn this wood black. A quick Google does not produce an answer.

 

Get a supply of inexpensive hard hardwood.  White Oak, Hard Maple, to practice on. Get more practice than you think you need.

Black Hornbeam is too rare over here to waste.

The Oak output will be mostly worthless for ship modeling.  The Maple will very useful.

But maybe buy a framing 2x4, cross cut it into 35 cm sections for initial practice.

 

A 9" benchtop bandsaw has a very limited choice of blades.  What you have to use will probably have teeth with a significant set.

The slices will have a rough and scared surface.  This is where a thickness sander function is difficult to substitute for.

A drum in a shop size drill press can do it with a lot of manipulation.

These saws are not engineered for resawning thick billets of dense hardwood.  Blade tracking has minimal control.  The blades are narrow.  Because of the work that it is doing, the blade may wander no matter what you do. Getting something useful from a wedge shaped slice - with  the degree of wedge being different along the length?  It is difficult and the waste often exceeds 50%.

 

In an ideal world, you would find someone nearby with a big boy bandsaw,  who will do this for you.  He would have a Wood Slicer resaw blade - slight set and narrow blade thickness, or Resaw King carbide, or Lenox bimetal.  Your stock is small enough that the risk of it breaking a blade that runs from $50 to $200 is pretty low.  With the right sort of bribe, you may have a way to get modeling stock of proper domestic wood, at a reasonable cost and near limitless availability.

 

It is difficult to find the sweet spot for the thickness of the bandsaw slices.  How much additional thickness is needed to remove the blade scars from both faces and get a 220 grit perfect face on both sides with the desired final thickness?

 

As for the slice orientation, you must back calculate. What do you want the outside face of the wale to look like?

If the resaw stock slice is the thickness of the wale, and the 4" tablesaw slice is the vertical width, then the look of the face of the slice will be what the wale shows.

Your stock looks to be quarter sawn.  A slice parallel to the grain may show as a single color with zero figure.

A slice perpendicular to the grain will show two colors and probably some figure.

With Maple, a resaw of a large plane cut plank can be different from slice to slice.  The end grain will be a series of concentric rings. A slice across this can hit these rings from 45 degrees or more to horizontal and back to 45 degrees.   The look can go from clear to flame, to fleck.  Each is different.  With quarter sawn, it will be something, but each one will be pretty much the same.

[Ron Burns]

Thank you Jim, Tom and Jaager (I apologize, I don't know your name). 

The piece in question looks wedge-like in the photo. It's actually relatively square but the macro function and the angle of the photo really made it look off. Unfortunately, Ottawa doesn't have too many places to provide the re-sawing service. I have used the advice and sent out a few feelers and hope to get a note back. Black Hornbeam is actually just hornbeam that is impregnated with a black resin through and through. Hornbeam, from what I understand is not very useful except for firewood until it's been stabilized with the resin. It can be cut through and through and will be black. It can be polished up and look quite beautiful. If interested, a quick search on Etsy will give you an idea of what can be done with it. In regard to the Winnie's wales, yes, they are meant to be painted if one uses the Alaskan Yellow Cedar or Cherry or whatnot. I am not the best painter and to paint something of that length, I would be sure to mess it up. If it comes down to it, I will paint but would rather not. From what I can see, the black hornbeam used by modelers for that purpose by many eastern bloc countries looks amazing without a drop of paint :). I will follow your advice Jaager and do some practice runs. If it proves too problematic with my crappy bandsaw, I will save for when I can do it justice. 

Thanks again guys!

[Gregory]

Just another possible option:   See if there are any vocational wood-working  shops/schools around.  They may let you use tools or help you..

[Jaager]

There is one additional option to paint.  The wale can be treated with a dye before it is bonded.

Some species accept a dye better than others.

Black is unambiguous.  It is easy to replicate.  A dye color that is a mixture of two or more primary colors may be difficult to match if the first batch is not enough.

An aniline dye - two versions:

water base - 

deep penetration - a clear (super blonde) coat of shellac over it and the wood looks as though it was naturally black.  The first exposure to water will raise the grain.  Coat the finished wood with 10% white PVA in water.  Sand and/or scrape the raised grain after the treatment is thoroughly dry.  Coat all surfaces with dye.  Repeat after this has dried if it is not black enough. 

Keep this in mind:  unless it is a toy that you are building, a 1:50 to 1:100 reduction of the structure also reduces the intensity of color.  Scale effect should also show a bit of shade effect - a hint of translucency.

alcohol base -

less penetration, not as pure a color, no grain is raised.  It dries more quickly.

 

On PBS I learned an old time blackening technique:

Dissolve a steel wool pad in 1 qt vinegar.

Treat the wood with a coat of tannic acid, let dry ( reduction of any raised grain after this may save the just water step ). 

Coat with the dissolved iron solution.  A deep and intense black is supposed to be the result.

 

I wonder about about the old wives tale aspect of the usefulness of Hornbeam.  If the straight from the tree billets can be seasoned, I do not see why it would then need to be "stabilized". 

[Ron Burns]

WOW! Those are many more options than I realized possible. This will prove to be a great learning experience and I think I will give the dye a shot along with the steel wool and vinegar just to have options in the future. Experimenting is *always* fun and any method that keeps me away from a paint brush will keep me *and* the model very happy! Thank you very much

[Seahawk1313]

Hi Ron,  I use dyed veneer  to "paint" my ships.  You can use a black dyed veneer for the wales.  - Hal