Resawing on bandsaw

[Rogm1017]

Hello,
Have a question on resawing with my laguna 14BX. when i resaw a piece, it is thicker at the top than at the bottom. I have made sure that my fence is square to the blade and my table is square to the blade. I am using a laguna resawking blade. Is there something in my setup up that i am missing?

[Tapper]

Hello,
Have a question on resawing with my laguna 14BX. when i resaw a piece, it is thicker at the top than at the bottom. I have made sure that my fence is square to the blade and my table is square to the blade. I am using a laguna resawking blade. Is there something in my setup up that i am missing?

Little more detail - How tall is the material you're resawing? How thick is it and how thick are your slices? 1" carbide blade?

If you're square and plumb in every plane there is no reason why you should be getting wedges.

Doug

P.S. Maybe John Teneyck will come along - resawing "guru."

[Aram]

Hello,
Have a question on resawing with my laguna 14BX. when i resaw a piece, it is thicker at the top than at the bottom. I have made sure that my fence is square to the blade and my table is square to the blade. I am using a laguna resawking blade. Is there something in my setup up that i am missing?

Welcome to the forum. 

Some questions for you. As already asked, how tall, long, and thick are your boards? What species? How much wedge, and over what board width? Are your boards dead flat? Edges square to the faces? If no to the last 2 questions, I'd start there.

The piece you are concerned about is the one between the fence and the blade, right? Not the offcut? If it is the offcut, your board faces are probably not parallel in the first place.

Assuming that's not the case...

Is the wedge uniform down the length of the board?

Some things to try, assuming you have flat, square parallel boards:
-Make sure the blade is properly tensioned, and fence angle matches drift angle

-I would make a partial cut, and see if any part of the board is pulling away from the fence (presumably at the bottom) on the far end. What that will tell you depends on the other things mentioned, but might be useful diagnostic. One thought is could be reaction wood. if it is, it will move the instant it is cut, with unpredictable results. In that vein, assuming the board started out flat, does it remain flat after you cut it? Is the amount of wedge uniform along the board, or worse at one end?

-If you are holding the board against the fence at the top, try a lower point

[Tony Z]

Couple of additional comments: Is your fence set up for resawing? I've found that a single point fence is easier for me. Is your blade set up for resawing? As mentioned, proper tension is a must and having the right blade also. For me, there is no universal blade.

[MichaelMouse]

Couple of additional comments:  Is your fence set up for resawing?  I've found that a single point fence is easier for me.  Is your blade set up for resawing?  As mentioned, proper tension is a must and having the right blade also.  For me, there is no universal blade.

One more thought.  With most of us right-handed, it makes sense to me to put that single-point fence on the right of the blade, so the clumsier hand can maintain a face against it as the preferred hand feeds. See Duginskie.

[greenacres2]

That suggestion makes me want to go try it right now! Resawing has always felt clumsy to me, even with good result. Time to reread Duginske’s book too. Thanks.
Earl

[Tony Z]

One more thought.  With most of us right-handed, it makes sense to me to put that single-point fence on the right of the blade, so the clumsier hand can maintain a face against it as the preferred hand feeds. See Duginskie.

I will try that!

Thanks,

T

[jteneyck]

How much thicker at the top than the bottom and over what height?  1/16" over 10" most folks would call good.  1/4" over 6" most would not.  

I'll just get this over with up front and hope people don't hate me too much for saying it.  Single point fences and adjusting for drift are for people who haven't set up their saw properly.   No one would except either practice with their tablesaw and there's no reason to with a bandsaw.  Put a new blade on the middle of the top wheel, adjust the table (one time) so the miter slot is parallel with the blade, set the fence parallel with the miter slot, and rip a piece of wood.  If it pulls away or is pushed into the fence then tweak the tracking of the blade on the upper wheel.  It shouldn't take much adjustment until rip cuts don't pull or push.  If minor tracking adjustment doesn't give easy parallel cuts then the wheels probably aren't coplaner, but we'll leave that for another discussionment.  

But the OP's problem is cuts that are tapered vertically.  In that regard I'd guess the fence isn't really parallel with the blade or the wood he's cutting isn't square between the face on the table and the side against the fence.  It doesn't actually have to be if it's held tight enough against the fence, but the blade wants to pull that bottom face down flat onto the table which will pull the side away from the fence.  

I use a feather board to hold the stock against the fence.  For wide stock I have a really tall featherboard and a really high fence.  It keeps the stock firmly against the fence and keeps my hands away from the blade.  




The fence is beefy to resist the lateral forces of the wood being pressed against it by the featherboard.



It's clamped to the stock cast iron fence and also to the table. FWIW, the stock high/low factory fence on my Grizzly is very nice but still tilts sideways if you press against it very much, so I don't use it for resawing. This fence is much more rigid. 



The feather board was developed by John Lancianni (sp).  It uses spring loaded rollers to press the wood against the fence.  It does that job exceedingly well and it makes it nearly impossible to put your fingers into the blade, something that scared the bejesus out of me without it when making tall resaw cuts. 






With a sharp blade I cut cut veneer (or anything else) 12" wide with about 0.005" variation top to bottom, end to end.  

John

[Ray Newman]

jteneyck: that is an impressive re-swing fence. The results show it works and was worth your time to build it..

[kurt18947]

A point that jteneyck made that I'll reiterate - a featherboard to keep the bottom of the board tight against the fence. I only have two hands, I use one to keep the top of the board against the fence and the other to push. I've had problems in the past with the bottom of the board working away from the fence so the bottom of the board is not as thick as the top. A featherboard fixes that.