Resawing question. Using the TS to help the BS?

[atgcpaul]

Friend asked me to resaw a 10" wide hard maple board. I don't do a lot of resawing so my BS is not as dialed in as I would like. On some red oak boards I resawed, I got some cupping in the cut and some wandering of the blade. I have a Grizzly 17" saw with a 1/2" blade. I don't want to mess up his board.

Anyway, I'm sure you've seen the technique where you first rip a groove on each edge of the board on the TS and then resaw on the BS.

I suppose less wood needs to be resawn but does this really help to guide the BS blade?

Thanks
Paul

[jteneyck]

The bowing you had in your bandsaw blade was probably because you over fed the blade.  If so, just slow down and let the blade do the work.  Pre-cutting as much as you can on the TS will help, to be sure.  

With a big 17" saw I would want to be able to resaw and slice veneer.  You can do both those things with a 1/2" x 3 tpi blade, but it's not optimum for that saw.  You didn't say what blade you actually have on the saw, but if it has more than 4 tpi I think you will struggle to cut 10" maple no matter how slow you go.   

John

[mound]

Whenever I resaw a wide board and my goal is just to cut it in half (as opposed to getting veneers) I always put a nice deep tablesaw kerf first in each edge.  I find it very much helps guide the bandsaw blade "through the path of least resistance" and then I don't even have to use a fence or pivot, just feed it through.

[dg152]

That technique using your table saw to start the process of re-sawing will work - sometimes. The problem is, if your band saw isn't properly set up, you may still get blade drift or less than desirable results. Rather than try to go into it all here, I'd suggest going to youtube and watch some of the presentations regarding the proper set up and operation of a band saw. Basic bandsaw set up and alignment are pretty straight forward but the info on dealing with blade drift was most helpful.

Those are some ideas that have been helpful to me - hope they are to you, as well.

Doug

[chips ahoy]

slow feed and a very sharp blade will prevent wandering.

Mel

[Steve N]

If you take this opportunity to "dial in" the BS you will be forever happier. Figuring out how to make your BS work for you does take a few attempts, and some practice cuts, but like riding a bike, once you've done it, you own it for life. The biggest plus I can offer is you won't be making all of those 1/8" wide kerfs with just a BS blade, and will yield more slices.

[Arlin Eastman]

If you take this opportunity to "dial in" the BS you will be forever happier. Figuring out how to make your BS work for you does take a few attempts, and some practice cuts, but like riding a bike, once you've done it, you own it for life. The biggest plus I can offer is you won't be making all of those 1/8" wide kerfs with just a BS blade, and will yield more slices.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
What Steve said
I never have used a tablesaw to resaw no matter how thick.  Make sure your BS is good and sharp blade and take your time.

[Cooler]

If you take this opportunity to "dial in" the BS you will be forever happier. Figuring out how to make your BS work for you does take a few attempts, and some practice cuts, but like riding a bike, once you've done it, you own it for life. The biggest plus I can offer is you won't be making all of those 1/8" wide kerfs with just a BS blade, and will yield more slices.

I have a Freud narrow kerf 10" table saw blade.  It wastes far less material and make the saw work less hard.  I suppose it will wear out faster, but so far it has done fine.  Compared with my 10" Delta rip blade the results are about the same.  But the motor labors less.

[Steve N]

Still it's several times thicker than the BS blade, plus for that work the BS will be many times faster.

[jgourlay]

Adding one aspect to 'learn to setup bandsaw' and "let the saw do its work".   Be sure you have decent dust control set-up.  A major contributor to blade wander is sawdust building up in the kerf and laterally pushing the blade.  One of the reasons slower = straighter is that a gullet packed with sawdust on a bladed being fed slowly has more rotations through the machine that allow that sawdust to fall out before new dust is put in than the same blade where the user is pushing the wood in faster.

It doesn't matter how hard you push the wood: the blade WILL cut.  As it cuts, it WILL make sawdust.  Straight cutting requires that he sawdust made at blade entry stay IN THE GULLET until the gullet exits at the bottom.  If it does not stay in the gullet, it will either pack to the left or right of the blade in the kerf and thus push that portion of the blade right or left, and thus you get a bowed cut or a non-square with the table cut.   Of course, the sawdust can't stay in the gullet if a particular gullet is still full of sawdust when it enters.

There are lots and lots of video on youtube or (support your gurus!) on dvd.  You'll notice that whenever they show the nice, thin, even resaws for veneering there is something you DON'T see.  What you don't see is sawdust ON TOP of the work piece where the blade enters.  If you are sawing and you see a very small pile (and it will be small) of sawdust on top as you are cutting, you are cutting faster than your saws ability to clear.  Either cut slower, or facilitate your desire to cut faster by some combination of better 'suck' where the blade exits and a better brush on the exit side.  Note also that if you have a pile of sawdust in your cabinet tall enough to reach the bottom of the lower wheel, this pile is not assisting the sawdust in its desired action of falling out of the gullet.

Evidence:  set up your bandsaw according to all the recommendations.  Take a block, preferably tall, and resaw twice.  First time, resaw so slowly you're afraid you'll die of old age.  Probably this cut will be very straight.  You will notice there is virtually no sawdust as the two pieces separate.  For the second cut, really push it through fast.  Chances are you will a) have  bowed cut and b) a pack of sawdust clinging to the 'convex' side of the bowed cut.