Planking: Edge cut or face cut

[Steve20]

Jaager

 

I did misunderstand what you said in your earlier post about tracking, but I I get what you mean now. I've just sawn a length off 1 ¹/₄” thick Cedar (same piece as in the pic at the start of this topic) and the cut was straight and uniform, so it looks like I don't have a problem with tracking.

 

You are right in assuming I'm pushing the saw to its limits because I've been asking advice on ripping thicker pieces. However, the ripping I will actually be doing is really very limited. The Cedar I've just cut will now be sectioned into smaller planking. This will be enought to last for a year because I only need about 65 linear feet of it for the Winchelsea deck planking.

It's a similar story for the 1" thick Pear. I plan to make a few 3" slices on short pieces just like in the trial I did, above. I took this slow and the machine handled it quite well. For most part I will be lopping off 1" thick lengths for cutting into ¹/₄” planking or other smaller items. Again, the Winchelsea only needs a limited amount of this so I won't be overworking the machine. Certainly, if I need a bigger bandsaw I will buy it.

 

Steve

 

Edited November 28, 2021 by Steve20

[Steve20]

Thanks again No Idea,

I'd really appreciate if you could give me details of the UK wood supplier. Some of what I've previoulsy bought is not that good.

[mtaylor]

11 hours ago, Steve20 said:

You're right, Mark, the throat plate is only 3.5mm thick ply and will not take very much in the way of drilled holes. I will give it a try, though, but I'll progress the jig and feather board first.

 

I have a good vac (Festool CTL Midi) sitting close to the bandsaw and I plug it straight in when I'm sawing. It sucks in almost all of the dust/debris away and there hardly any left on the bandsaw table when I'm use the stock throat plate.

 

Maybe a (drilled) throat plate made from hard wood would be the answer.

Steve

I would consider making one out of hard wood.  I do put "cross" braces on the underside my table saw and scroll saw inserts.   They can also be "stiffened" up a bit with a coating of white glue or even epoxy on the bottom side.

[Steve20]

Very good idea, Mark, I didn't think to stiffen it.

I'll will glue cross braces on the underside when I make the next one and I'll look into applying epoxy. That should really do the trick.

Thanks

Steve

[Steve20]

When I came to cutting the last strips off a billet, I found it was falling into the slot in the centre of the table, so I decided to make an infill for this. First, though, I checked that there was a way that would prevent the infill from slipping forward into the saw blade. Without this, I wouldn’t make it.

 

Fortunately, there is a steel plate sitting 23mm in front of the blade and 10mm below the table surface. Also, at the front of the table itself there is a ledge on the underside that I could sit the other end of the infill on. By making both ends of the infill a close fit, it sits firmly in position and is impossible to remove unless both ends are lifted together vertically upwards.

 

I will also make the new zero tolerance throat plate out of the same Walnut but I’ve got other things I want to get on with so I'll do this later.

 

As I’m new to bandsaws, I would appreciate you letting me know if the infill is not an advisable thing to do.

 

 

 

 

Edited December 2, 2021 by Steve20

[Steve20]

 

 

[Jaager]

Steve,

 

I am not clear in following which machine that you are using for which task.

I will list my process instead of dissecting  yours.

I generally start with 8x4 rough lumber if I have that option.  I use the bandsaw to slice off planks that are close to one of the final dimension that I am after. 

The bandsaw product has a rougher surface than I want, but significantly better than what a saw mill blade does to the wood surface.

I try to make the thickness just enough that 80 grit on a thickness sander will remove all of the bandsaw blade scars but leave enough so the a 150 grit and then final 220 grit will to get to spec without having to do an excessive number of passes.   The edges of these stock planks are saw mill rough.

The 90 degree cut to get to a final construction size piece, I do using my Byrnes table saw.   The product from it is smooth enough not to need sanding before joinery.  A bandsaw being used for slicing off deck planks, deck beams, hull planking,, etc.  will want additional sanding and small strips of wood are difficult to thickness sand.

For the first pass on the table saw, there is always the hope that the edge is just smooth enough to ride against the fence for a clean straight cut - and scrap this first one,  or first use an edger ( which I do not have) - or a jig that I bought a while ago -  a sort of very long Al "C" clamp that rides against the fence and holds the board for a straight first cut. 

 

In my hands, I can see no way that using a bandsaw to do the final cut for wood strips would not totally frustrate me.

For my frame timbers, - my bandsaw and then thickness sander produces planks that are frame thickness,  The rough edges do not matter because I scroll cut the timbers from the body of the plank and the edges are not in it.  The occasional stealth check can be frustrating, but the extra 1/2" of wood usually available from not surface or edge planed lumber is something that I prefer.

[Steve20]

Many thanks for your reply, Jagger. Your process of using the bandsaw for the initial slicing of planks then finishing them with the table saw is one that I will follow.

 

At the moment I am still looking for the optimum blade for the 

Proxxon FET Table saw I have, so in the meantime I'm getting more familiar with the bandsaw.

 

I hope you can bear with me on this. I've not used a bandsaw before and started this thread to learn how best to cut stock with it. I'm am now succesfully doing this; thanks too all who have given their advice to me on here. I am now keen to take things a step further and see how much can actually be done with the bandsaw. 

 

Steve

Edited December 2, 2021 by Steve20

[Steve20]

Now the way ahead is becoming clearer, I decided to cut the ½ ft³ Pear and ½ ft³ Sycamore into billets. I used a chop saw for this and cut the 4 pieces into 12 sections of varying lengths: Pear 2x20”2x16” & 2x13”, Sycamore 3x16” & 3x14”. While I was about it I cut half the 1 ½ ft³ Castillo Boxwood into smaller billets as well.

 

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by Steve20

[Steve20]

I then used the bandsaw to cut the Pear into billets less than 3 ¼” width as this is the maximum allowed by my Proxxon thicknesser.

 

As the Pear does not have a straight edge, I thought the easiest way to do this would be to glue (Titebond) Pine strips to the underside of the cut timber and slot the strips in to the bandsaw mitre track. I used the thicknesser to size down the Pine and make it a close fit in the mitre tracking.

 

           

 

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by Steve20

[Steve20]

        

[Steve20]

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by Steve20

[Steve20]

I measured strip placement so that I could make cuts down both sides by turning the piece 180⁰ for the second cut. The edges came out straight and true.

 

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by Steve20

[Steve20]

 

 

 

[Steve20]

I found that gluing the Pine strips in three locations was sufficient and afterwards the Pine breaks away without doing much damage. Any damage that does occur is to the Pine, not the Pear.

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by Steve20

[Steve20]

Most of the billets are 2” wide as I don’t want to stress the thicknesser, or bandsaw as I will be cutting some billets vertically. Where the face of a piece is bowed, I will cut it into smaller widths as this reduces the amount wood that must be removed to square the faces in the thicknesser.

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by Steve20

[Steve20]

To avoid the thicknesser tearing the wood when it's fed against the grain, I’m marking grain direction with an elongated triangle - it's almost impossible to determine Pear grain direction when pieces become smaller.

 

Also, with a view to milling planks later, I’m marking the Face with an ‘F’ and the Edge with an ‘S’ for Side. I don't use ‘E’ as it looks too much like an ‘F’.

 

Edited December 10, 2021 by Steve20

[Steve20]

Just to close this topic I’d like to add the following:

 

Thanks to No Idea for the (UK based) Tuff Saws recommendation, I now have a good selection of excellent band saw blades which I am successfully using. However, I couldn’t find suitable slitting blades for the Proxxon FET table saw and I wasted quite a bit of money on blades that were not satisfactory.

 

Also, I found that when milling strips with the FET it was difficult to achieve consistent accuracy, therefore, I accepted UK shipping and import charges and bought a Byrnes. Jim recommended the blades I needed (they were, of course, readily available) and I’m now milling wood easily and to fine tolerances. I wish I had bought the Byrnes in the first place.

 

I also bought a Byrnes thicknesser and this solved my thicknessing problem. Using a sanding rather than the Proxxon DH40 cutting mechanism, the Byrnes didn’t tear the Pear like the DH40 did when the when the grain wasn’t in the right direction. Although I find the DH40 good for larger billets, the Byrnes is by far the better option for me.  

 

I find the milled Castello to be excellent and the Pear is pretty good also, but I’m not happy with the Sycamore and I doubt I will ever use it. I spent a week cutting all the Castello and Pear into billets and milled a large selection of various sized planking.

[Steve20]

[Steve20]