Tip #47
Resawing Techniques (continued)
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Resawing Techniques

Now you're ready to resaw. There are three different techniques, depending on what you use to guide the stock past the blade-free-hand, pivot, and fence.

Figure 4. Use a marking gauge to mark the cutlines on the upper edge of the board. I do this even when I resaw with a fence. The cutlines help me monitor the “drift” of the blade as it cuts.

Free-hand resawing - Because of the design of the bandsaw, it's possible to resaw free-hand, with nothing to guide the stock. As I said earlier, the motion of the blade keeps the stock against the table: there'' no danger of it kicking back or falling over. As long as the bottom edge of the stock is jointed flat and you can follow a line with a blade, you'll get good results.

Practically, however, it's easier to be accurate if you use something to guide the stock and help keep it upright. When resawing free-hand, I employ a piece of 2 x 4 as a guide block. Any old scrap of wood will do, as long as it's been cut off a 90-degrees and will fit comfortably in one hand.

Figure 5 . When resawing free-hand, use a large scrap of wood as a guide block. One end of this scrap mus be cut off at 90-degrees. This helps to keep the wood square to the table.

Once you've located a suitable guide block, scribe the upper edge of the board to be resawn with a marking gauge, marking the cuts you want to make. (See Figure 4.) After marking the stock, grasp the guide block in one hand and the board in the other. Hold the block down against the table to one side of the blade, and press the planed side of the board up against it. Slowly feed the stock into the blade, keep the blade following the cutline. Keep the board against the guide block all through the cut. (See Figure 5.) Feed the last few inches with the aid of a push stick or push block.

Resawing Pivot. Click on images for larger view.

Obviously, this technique does not work well for large boards. The stock has to be small enough for you to safely and competently hand with one hand. But it's a useful method to know when you need just a little bit of thinned out stock, and don't want to take the time to set up a pivot or a fence. If the stock is narrow enough, you don't even have to change blades.

Pivot resawing - If you'd rather have both hands free to guide the wood when you resaw small stock, you can use a fixed pivot instead of a guide block. This pivot is clamped to the table on one side of the blade. The distance from the blade to the pivot determines the width of the cut.

Figure 6 . The pivot point (or points) must be positioned abreast of the cutting edge of the blade.

You'll have to make the pivot; it's not available as a bandsaw accessory. The edge of this pivot should be pointed, not round, to provide a true “pivot point”. When the wood pivots against a rounded edge, it moves sideways in relation to the blade. This movement is very slight, but it's enough to distort the blade. Any such distortion will detract from the quality of the cut. A pointed pivot eliminates most of this movement. When you mount the pivot on your machine, the point should be dead-even with the teeth of the blade, as you look at the bandsaw from the side. (See Figure 6.)

Figure 7. Clamp the pivot secruely to the bandsaw table. The distance between the pivot and the blade determines the width of the cut. When you cut, keep the smooth (planed) face of the stock against the pivot.

Once you've positioned the pivot and clamped it to the table, proceed in much the same manner as you would with a free-hand cut. Mark the cutting line on the op edge of the stock, and feed the stock into the blade. Make the blade follow the cutline by turning the sock slightly (adjusting the feed angle) as needed, but always keep the smooth side of the stock firmly against the pivot. (See Figure 7.)

Fence Sawing - Like free-hand resawing, the size of the stock that you can resaw with a pivot is limited. The best set-up for resawing large boards is with a fence. You don't need to maneuver the stock at all, just keep it flat against the fence and feed it into the blade.

Like the pivot, you'll have to make the fence. Most manufacturers don't offer bandsaw fences. This fence or fence extension would be longer than the bandsaw table is wide. A long fence provides better support for the stock. You may also want to add “ledges” on the bottom edge of the fence where it overhangs the table. These provide additional support and make it easier to control long boards.

Finally, the fence or fence extension should be somewhat shorter than the width of the stock that you want to resaw, so that you can properly adjust the height of the upper blade guide. You may want to make several fences for various sizes of stock. I've made two, 3" - and 4-1/2" - high. The 3" fence provides adequate support for resawing stock up to 4-1/2" wide, and the 4-1/2" fence works well for stock up to 6" sized. Anything narrower than 3", I resaw free-hand or with a pivot.

Figure 8 . Before you can resaw with a fence, you must first find the “drift” of your blade. Scribe a straight line down the middle of a long scrap, and saw the line. As you cut, adjust the feed angle until the blade tracks the cutline accurately. Stop cutting and clamp the scrap to the table.

Positioning the fence on the bandsaw requires more care than the pivot. Because you can't adjust the feed angle of the stock, the angle of the fence must be adjusted to compensate for the drift of the blade. To find the exact angle of the drift, scribe a straight line down the edge of a scrap of wood that's somewhat longer than your table is wide. Resaw the scrap free-hand, adjusting the feed angle until the blade tracks the cutline with only minimal correction from you. Stop the saw and clamp the scrap to the table. (See Figure 8.) The angle of the scrap on the table - probably a few degrees off parallel with the width of the blade - is the angle you should use to set your fence.

Figure 9 . Use the scrap to draw a pencil line on the bandsaw table. Position your shop-made fence parallel to this line. This will help to compensate for the drift while you're resawing.

Draw a line on your table with a soft-lead pencil, using the scrap as a straightedge. Position your bandsaw fence parallel to this line. (See Figure 9.) Like the pivot, the distance from the blade to the fence determines the thickness of the resawn stock.

Check that the fence is square to the surface of the table and parallel to the blade. (See Figure 10.) This is important! Not only must the fence be set at the proper drift angle to the width of the blade, it must properly aligned to the blade.

Figure 10. The fence or the fence extension must be parallel to the cutting length of the blade. If the blade is square to the table, then the fence should also be square. Not ethe ledges on either side of the fence. Theses provide additional support for the stock on the infeed and outfeed sides of the table.

Cut a small “test piece” off the end of the board you want to resaw, about 12" long. (You don't want to start right in, cutting a 8' long board, without first checking your setup.) Scribe a line along the top edge. The line isn't necessary, of course; you're not going to follow a cutline as you do with free-hand or pivot resawing. But the line will help you monitor whether or not the blade is drifting in the cut. Resaw the test piece, keeping the smooth or planed face firmly against the fence.

Figure 11. Keep the stock pressed firmly against the fence as you feed it. Besides a fence, you may need a few other shop aids when you resaw. The featherboard helps keep the stock flat against the fence, and the saw stand helps to suppor long boards.

As you cut, look and listen for problems. Does the machine bog down easily? Is there excessive chatter? Does the blade wander back and forth? Does it pull to one side? After you finish the cut, inspect the test piece for more problems. Is the cut the proper width? Is the thickness even across the width of the board? Is there excessive washboarding? Most of these problems can be easily corrected by checking the alignment and adjustment of your machine. When you're satisfied with the results of your test cuts, start resawing the good stuff. (See Figure 11.)

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