Resawing process for thicker boards

[EricU]

I have some walnut that was harvested by my BIL 30-odd years ago.  I'm making a vanity, and want 3/4" boards, but all of the walnut is quite a bit thicker.  I believe BIL had it kiln dried, but he's no longer with us and nobody alive knows for sure.  My MIL had some of this wood made into some shelving units, and I'm pretty sure the woodworker who did that had it resawn.  Or else he used up all the 1" pieces, I don't know.

My thought is to join/plane/rip so it's s4s, and then resaw.  Then let it settle for a while.  I'm thinking about planing the newly-sawn surface immediately to avoid warping if possible. Anyone have comments on this process?

[MichaelMouse]

I have some walnut that was harvested by my BIL 30-odd years ago.  I'm making a vanity, and want 3/4" boards, but all of the walnut is quite a bit thicker.  I believe BIL had it kiln dried, but he's no longer with us and nobody alive knows for sure.  My MIL had some of this wood made into some shelving units, and I'm pretty sure the woodworker who did that had it resawn.  Or else he used up all the 1" pieces, I don't know.

My thought is to join/plane/rip so it's s4s, and then resaw.  Then let it settle for a while.  I'm thinking about planing the newly-sawn surface immediately to avoid warping if possible. Anyone have comments on this process?

Face planing will give a better edge join at 90 degrees, which will keep the piece from tipping or wandering as you feed it to the bandsaw.  Then let things sit on stickers for a week or two to allow the former centers to equalize with the outers before planing to thickness.


If it's been KD, the sapwood will probably have been steamed, and won't be bright white.  The subtle purples and reds in the heartwood will also be muddy - but consistent in color.

[EricU]

good point about the color, having looked at it some more I think it might have been air dried. Turns out I have a lot more 1x left over from the wall units than I thought. I think I will just have to resaw for the doors and panels. It will be good to have some of those short pieces gone from my woodpile.

[Scoony]

If it's been KD, the sapwood will probably have been steamed, and won't be bright white.  The subtle purples and reds in the heartwood will also be muddy - but consistent in color.

If he had it cut and kiln dried locally, it may have not been steamed. None of the mills around me steam their wood. The only time I got steamed walnut, it had originated from a large commercial mill operation.

[EricU]

I thought it would self-steam.  I only vaguely remember the story, BIL cut down the tree and had it cut up by someone then gave a batch of it back to the farmer who owned the tree. But I'm not sure it was KD or not. The only real difference it would make is if they case hardened it, then it is more likely to cup when I resaw it. I have some maple that did that.  In any event, it's really dry.  I have to move the bandsaw out to where I can get a big board through it.

There are a couple of slabs cut on a slant, BIL really liked that.  Maybe I'll make a copy of the coffee table he made for one of the  sisters, I'm not sure I can think of anything else to do with them.

[handi]

Often, the order of operations is driven by the equipment available. I have a 6” jointer and a older Delta 14” bandsaw so I can comfortably resaw at 5-3/4 or less. No worries, I do not like having wider boards in my glue ups anyway. Keeping them 4-6” wide greatly reduces warping issues.

I work almost exclusively with rough Lumber. I ‘rip’ it on the BS to just under 6”, then resaw it using my magnetic fence. 

As noted in the OP, wood movement after removing a lot of material, and especially with resawing is a concern. This is because the natural stresses in the wood that balanced out previously have been disturbed. 

I prefer to resaw first, then face joint, plane to thickness then edge joint and rip as needed. But I leave ALL dimensions a bit over sized. Sticker and stack the pile and let it set for 24-48 hours. Then process the Lumber again as if it were rough, working down to the final dimensions. 

You WILL see that some pieces are not longer as flat and true as they were after process 1. The stresses have re-balanced. Since process 2 is removing very little material, there s little chance of further movement other than normal seasonal movement.

[rwe2156]

Cupping is always the issue in resawing, the thinner the board, the more cupping.

The primary reason for cupping is unequal moisture because you're opening up the wetter inside of the wood.

Joint one face and edge, plane to thickness, resaw, then re-joint the sawn faces.

Sticker and clamp with insides of boards facing up. I prefer clamping to using weight.

4/4 wood leave for at least a month. Clamping is very important because it holds the wood while drying.

You may still get a little cup, but my experience is will be much less.

[EricU]

I had a hard look at these boards, and decided to cut them down in width because the tree had a fairly extensive bark inclusion in this area so I got rid of that. No point in making the resawing more difficult if I was just going to discard that part anyway. The boards were already S2S by someone.  Resawing came out okay, had some bandsaw tuning issues.  Might have to get a better fence, my homemade one is a little clunky. The saw really didn't like cutting through the crotch wood much at all.  

Had a little trouble with the blade moving away from the fence at the bottom.  Not sure what is  up with that.  Guides look to be adjusted okay now
[attachment=11109]
[attachment=11110]

[EricU]

None of it cupped so far. I had one set of boards that bowed a little along the length of the board. It's the ones in the back in my picture.  Grain direction is horrible on those, must have been cut on a slant to the orientation of the tree. Interesting grain pattern though. I think it is slight enough that I probably can find a use for them.

I realized I hadn't measured the squareness of the fence to the table, it's off and no adjustment. It works well enough that I'm going to fix it.

[thunderworks]

Just want to add the notion that the longer you take to process wood that you've resawn, the better the outcome . . .

After resawing, BEFORE I face joint the sawn surface, I like to sticker for a couple of days . . . let it move, cup, warp, do whatever . . . then when you face joint the sawn surface I think you have a better chance at getting a stable surface to reference from for continuing the process of make square stock material.