my first resaw. using 18" jet

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208
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central florida
I have had this bandsaw for a while. i never actually used it for much of anything. I purchased it because the price was so good.

I was thinking re sawing would be more difficult. It was a cinch. Of course this was cedar though it seems pretty hard for cedar. its rather old stuff.

I faced and edge jointed each board (off course). then I set the stock fence to the appropriate width and sawed away. I did 3 boards. I have them in sets in the picture and the ones on the left of each pair are the faced keepers. the thinner stock on the right of each pair are going to be sanded down for some thin dividers and small drawer boxes.

I am really impressed with this band saw. I think it cost me $500 (it may have been $400). even at $500 it was a steal.
 

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Wait, you mean you didn't need a special drift-o-matic add-on fence to cut like that :D. Re-sawing is a pleasure on a machine that does it well. I'm a big fan of aligning the saw to cut straight and just using the fence aligned straight. I switch blades often and except for tension adjustment, I just put the blade on and go. Fun stuff!
 
Wait, you mean you didn't need a special drift-o-matic add-on fence to cut like that :D. Re-sawing is a pleasure on a machine that does it well. I'm a big fan of aligning the saw to cut straight and just using the fence aligned straight. I switch blades often and except for tension adjustment, I just put the blade on and go. Fun stuff!

It did come with this large steel dowel. I think it is supposed to attach to the fence as a pivot or something. so you could follow a line in the wood. At least I think i saw a video of it being done that way. Not sure why. the fence worked very well. I would think the dowel method would be sloppy. Thats assuming I even have the right idea about it.

If I pushed to hard the blade would drift. slow and steady, of course, made the best cut.
 
It did come with this large steel dowel. I think it is supposed to attach to the fence as a pivot or something. so you could follow a line in the wood. At least I think i saw a video of it being done that way. Not sure why. the fence worked very well. I would think the dowel method would be sloppy. Thats assuming I even have the right idea about it.

If I pushed to hard the blade would drift. slow and steady, of course, made the best cut.

You've got it. I've seen them called a 'pivot fence' or a 'knife fence'. I even made a version for my saw but haven't used it since I tested it. Some woods can be very lively when re-sawn. I believe they are handy for boards like this that go wonky as they are being cut. I agree on 'slow and steady wins the race'. Have fun and enjoy that saw ;).
 
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I do a lot of resawing. I have a Laguna 16" saw, and usually use either a Resaw King or a Highland Woodslicer blade, getting excellent results with either.

You might want to put a higher face board on your fence, for better results with wider wood. I've also made a featherboard set that's about 3" above the table. The combination of higher fence and high featherboard makes it much easier to get consistant results.

If you do have some degree of blade drift, most fences are adjustable to compensate. I've never had really good results with the 'knife' fences, so I prefer the high fence and featherboard combo.
 
It did come with this large steel dowel. I think it is supposed to attach to the fence as a pivot or something. so you could follow a line in the wood. At least I think i saw a video of it being done that way. Not sure why. the fence worked very well. I would think the dowel method would be sloppy. Thats assuming I even have the right idea about it.

If I pushed to hard the blade would drift. slow and steady, of course, made the best cut.

If your saw is poorly aligned, then you use the point fence - draw a line on the top edge, and your cut is only as good as you are at following the line.

If your saw is well aligned, you can use the real fence, and in my experience can resaw far straighter and perhaps half as thick. I have no problem cutting 1/16", or even less, off a board.

If you are interested, see the picture at the bottom of www.solowoodworker.com/mm/bandsaw.html - the left half of the board was resawn by a professional woodworker with an 18" Jet, and the right half was resawn by an amateur (me) with a MM24 bandsaw and a carbide blade.
 
If your saw is poorly aligned, then you use the point fence - draw a line on the top edge, and your cut is only as good as you are at following the line.

If your saw is well aligned, you can use the real fence, and in my experience can resaw far straighter and perhaps half as thick. I have no problem cutting 1/16", or even less, off a board.

If you are interested, see the picture at the bottom of www.solowoodworker.com/mm/bandsaw.html - the left half of the board was resawn by a professional woodworker with an 18" Jet, and the right half was resawn by an amateur (me) with a MM24 bandsaw and a carbide blade.


WOW! everyone should check that out. I'm betting maple is more difficult to do but that guys cut is horrible. this was my first time and I think my cut looked better. but like I said i was only cutting cedar which I bet is easier than hard maple.

But you have very little chatter marks the the "pro" cut looks like it has entire peeks and valleys. Am I correct about that?

Great job.
 
Very cool Keith. Its a great experience resawing and if you got that saw for $500 i would say you got a real bargain. :thumb:

I do a lot of resawing. I have a Laguna 16" saw, and usually use either a Resaw King or a Highland Woodslicer blade, getting excellent results with either.

You might want to put a higher face board on your fence, for better results with wider wood. I've also made a featherboard set that's about 3" above the table. The combination of higher fence and high featherboard makes it much easier to get consistant results.

If you do have some degree of blade drift, most fences are adjustable to compensate. I've never had really good results with the 'knife' fences, so I prefer the high fence and featherboard combo.

Thanks Rob. and yes. resawing has been the best experience I have had in the shop in a while.

Jim; I have a cheep stock blade and didn't really consider a better blade. I think I will look into something better because I think I'll be doing this some more. maybe carbide tip? I was thinking of a feather board while I was cutting. I have been meaning to make a bunch of feather boards for all kinds of things for some time. Think I'll stop being cheap and just buy some.
 
.....But you have very little chatter marks the the "pro" cut looks like it has entire peeks and valleys. Am I correct about that?
......

I felt bad after I had posted it since it sort of slammed your new saw. The cut didn't look that bad until compared to the results from the far bigger MiniMax saw with a far better blade. The "pro" has a CNC machine, and I hired him to cut some inlays in maple to inlay in a different piece of darker wood he had also cut. To check his work, he cut the first inlay off the block of maple, and I cut the others, then realized that I had a great demo of why some people would want a fancy bandsaw for resawing. (I bought mine rebuilt, but new price of my saw is about $5000)


..... I have a cheep stock blade and didn't really consider a better blade. I think I will look into something better because I think I'll be doing this some more. maybe carbide tip? ....

Blades make a huge difference, especially on bandsaws. And steel bandsaw blades only last a few hours.

I don't know how the Jet 18 is on blade tension - or more specifically the force the spring can apply to the blade. The 1 inch carbide blades that I love require about 25,000 psi tension (stress on the blade - note the measure is per square inch of blade cross section). I don't know if the Jet can happily provide that much.

The woodslicer AKA bladerunner (same blade, different vendors) requires about 20,000 psi blade tension, but since it is a much thinner blade (about 2/3 as thick as the carbides) it only requires 2/3 as much force to get the same tension, and with the lower tension, you are closer to 1/2 the force provided by the spring and supported by the saw frame. It isn't carbide, and won't last as long, but it isn't nearly as expensive, and appears to do a very good job.

If you are still interested in carbide blades, the Lenox TriMaster is a great blade, but has more teeth and bigger carbides than the Lenox Woodmaster I normally use. A 3/4 inch TriMaster may be more expensive than a 1 inch Woodmaster (the smallest Woodmaster), but it will require much less force from your saw.
 
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