Re-sawing Oak

[ARW123]

I need planks that are 3/8" finished x up to 6 1/2" wide and 12' long. My local sawmill (and possibly the only one for a couple of hundres miles radius apparently) can provide 1 1/4" x 8" x 15'. Is it possible to successfully to resaw these to 1/2" (or there abouts) at home on a medium sized bandsaw - the emphasis is on succesfully; this is not something I have done before and experimenting is going to be expensive......

Also a question about kiln dried and air dried - I could say something really ignorant now so go easy on me - I am told I should use air dried and not kiln dried. Ok I can accept that; but:


What is the implication of getting kiln dried and allowing it to stand for a couple of months outside and under cover (properly sticked of course) to regain some moisture?
Does the initial baking seriously jeopardise the integrity of the timber? - I will almost certainly need to steam some planks for the most severe curves.

[Lew Barrett]

First, if your saw has the throat capacity and power to resaw, you should have no difficulty. You may want to practice a bit. The issue will be what degree of finish you will require on the planks. You might want to leave a little extra on them so that you can make a pass or two through the planer if you don't want to see any tool marks left from the bandsaw blade. Some saws do better at this than others, but the average run of 14" saws and blades will leave some finish work to accomplish no matter how carefully you go. Resawing is a bit different on every bandsaw, but remarkably, when set to proper tension, and if I take my time, my cheapo 14" saw has virtually no drift. There are several ways to set up your saw for this procedure, but learning how to do it is important, but to drive home the point, resawing in one fashion or another accounts for half my use of a bandsaw. It's a necessary and basic part of every woodworker's skill set, and not hard to learn.

Air dried wood is what you want for boat work if at all possible. I'm not the wood expert here by any means, but wood that has been slowly and properly air dried to working moisture levels will prove more stable and reliable for structural boat work in the long run. You can't approximate this by stacking and stickering kiln dried wood for a few weeks. The wood will simply absorb or shed moisture from it's nominal moisture level in response to the climate. It will never be "air dried", as the transition from green to "dried" will have been accomplished in the accelerated conditions of a kiln.

[pcford]

Air dried wood is what you want for boat work if at all possible. I'm not the wood expert here by any means, but wood that has been slowly and properly air dried to working moisture levels will prove more stable and reliable for boat work in the long run.

The fellow that some believe to be the wood expert here says that there is no difference between air-dried and kiln. People that do professional boat work disagree.

[Chan]

This should turn into another catfight

[Duff]

Been lurking here for a long time but thought i'd jump in on the resaw issue. With a halfwway decent bandsaw, and good blade selection, you can do it. As Lew said, practice a bit. Recommend you leave it a bit oversized and run the resultant planks through a planer for a clean surface and uniform thickness.

[pcford]

A good millworks will have a resaw machine. I think I would seek one out. Resaw machine are like a band saw but they have a much faster blade speed and a sophisticated feed input.

[Rob Stokes, N. Vancouver]

I resaw regularly on my 14" JET (with a 6" riser block). I'm satisfied with the final product, and have no qualms about using it (just finished doing a oad of teak on it), but it's slow. If you have a large qty you need done and have access to a resaw mill - pay the $$ and get it done. But if not - buy a few good blades (as wide as the saw will reasonably handle) and go for it.

[George Roberts]

Often times the amount of work that needs to be done determines if one should do the work themselves or let a professional do it.

Resawing a few pieces on a small bandsaw is doable. Might even be pleasant. Resawing 1000bdft is just hard.

[Frank R]

This link shows how to use a table saw to get started on the re-sawing. This saves a lot of time on the bandsaw.

http://woodgears.ca/reclaim_lumber/resaw.html

BTW: You cannot re-moisturize kiln-dried wood; it doesn't work that way.

[Peerie Maa]

I have heard that Kiln dried lumber can have locked in stresses that might cause straight stock to warp when re-sawn.
Any one else heard this?

[ARW123]

I bought (in haste) an SIP 7 1/4" bandsaw - I am however seriously unimpressed as I think it seriously lacks guts and blade tension seems to be an issue - I always had my eye on a Sheppach Basato 4 (http://www.angliatoolcentre.co.uk/scheppach-basato4-250mm-bandsaw-240v-with-storage-cabinet+free-mitre-fence-pid8375.html) and I think I will have to bite the bullet and shell out the £600+ needed for it.

However I have had the opportunity to play with the SIP long enough to know the re-sawing is not going to be the straight forward task I thought it would be - but maybe that was a product of using the wrong tool for the job....

You chaps do give me hope though (I seriously dislike defeat!).

[Tom Hoffman]

You might look for a private mom and pop sawmill. Look for a guy who owns a Woodmizer bandsaw mill. He could easily resaw your boards and would only charge a pittance to do it. Here in Iowa, there are dozens of these mills around. You might want to go to their website and then call them for a list of mill owners in your area. I understand the mill owners get freebies for demoing the machinery.

Tom...

[Rational Root]

I bought (in haste) an SIP 7 1/4" bandsaw - I am however seriously unimpressed as I think it seriously lacks guts and blade tension seems to be an issue - I always had my eye on a Sheppach Basato 4 (http://www.angliatoolcentre.co.uk/scheppach-basato4-250mm-bandsaw-240v-with-storage-cabinet+free-mitre-fence-pid8375.html) and I think I will have to bite the bullet and shell out the £600+ needed for it.

However I have had the opportunity to play with the SIP long enough to know the re-sawing is not going to be the straight forward task I thought it would be - but maybe that was a product of using the wrong tool for the job....

You chaps do give me hope though (I seriously dislike defeat!).

From someone with little band saw experience, I believe that you should make sure to get a dedicated resaw blade as opposed to using the general purpose blade that comes on the machine.

[Frank R]

I bought (in haste) an SIP 7 1/4" bandsaw - I am however seriously unimpressed as I think it seriously lacks guts and blade tension seems to be an issue - I always had my eye on a Sheppach Basato 4 (http://www.angliatoolcentre.co.uk/scheppach-basato4-250mm-bandsaw-240v-with-storage-cabinet+free-mitre-fence-pid8375.html) and I think I will have to bite the bullet and shell out the £600+ needed for it.

However I have had the opportunity to play with the SIP long enough to know the re-sawing is not going to be the straight forward task I thought it would be - but maybe that was a product of using the wrong tool for the job....

You chaps do give me hope though (I seriously dislike defeat!).

Re-sawing lumber is about the most demanding task a band saw could be asked to perform. You will need to have a more robust machine if you plan to do more than a few feet. Re-sawing is tediously slow.

You also have to account for drift; you cannot just clamp a fence on the table and run boards through it. Do some more reading on drift and you will see what I mean.

[pcford]

You might look for a private mom and pop sawmill. Look for a guy who owns a Woodmizer bandsaw mill. He could easily resaw your boards and would only charge a pittance to do it. Here in Iowa, there are dozens of these mills around. You might want to go to their website and then call them for a list of mill owners in your area. I understand the mill owners get freebies for demoing the machinery.

Tom...

I think this guy (the original poster) is in Olde Blighty...the UK. Those saws are likely not so available there...I am not an expert in their operation but I do not think they are the tool to use.

A for real resaw machine would be the thing to use...however, they are sometimes nervous if the wood is "home grown." Embedded nails and such.

[ARW123]

PC: you're right. I have had the knock-back from a number of mills. Most will saw down to 1" but seem reluctant to give me my 1/2". My next attempt (if I don't use my own gear) is to explore the possibility of some machine shops that would normally be producing cabinet work but due to the current climate find work a little difficult to come by. My real reason for the thread was to determine if I should shell out the £1000+ for the timber that I would then have to re-saw.

But then again if I can't get it thinner I will have to re-saw - the boat's oak & she'll stay oak!!

FrankR: Thanks for the link on the circular / bandsaw combination - interesting


You will need to have a more robust machine if you plan to do more than a few feet

Do you think the Basato 4 is not man enough (its a 12" saw) or my current ineffective machine? Oh - and thanks for the steer on the kiln dried; that was my hunch too.

[esingleman]

FIne woodworking magazine has had many articles on resawing over the years. What I have got out of it is that the power of your bandsaw is the least important aspect and I agree completely with them. A 3/4 to 1 1/2 HP medium bandsaw is all you need, and a 3/4 will work fine. A three or four tooth per inch blade for resawing is key, I use a grizzly and it has been great. Went through 10 inch rock maple 7 feet long with no problem. The key other than a good blade is a good fence, and proper set-up of the machine. BTW you don't need mega tension on the blade either. A twelve footer will be awkward to handle, have helpers to keep the stock aligned properly against the fence.

A fence that stops at the blade prevents a board with internal stresses (and wants to separate) from pushing your stock away from the fence.

[Frank R]

I am not familiar with the Basato as they do not sell them here. If you feel it is a robust machine than go for it. The only machines they sell here that size are underpowered hobby saws.
The table saw will do a lot of the work anyway. Esingleman has good advice. After sawing you will need to have the sawn edges planed.

[Thad]

I don't think proper kiln drying compromises the integrity of lumber but it does seriously reduce it's flexibility. Expansion with remoisturizing will be a function of the dryness level. I don't think remoisturizing will have any appreciable effect on flexibility. Bending 3/8" kiln dry oak might be possible. Twist will be more difficult. Try to get air dry and don't buy a big lot of kiln dry for the job if that is all you can get easily. Buy one piece and try it for your purpose.

[SBrookman]

I ended up using my tablesaw with a thin kerf Forrest blade to resaw 1" black locust (3 3/4) to 3/8" for floorboards. I went through a lot of scrap figuring out the drift on my 14" 1hp Delta bandsaw but it took so long to resaw on it I gave up. It's an old used machine and might not be up to snuff but I didn't have the patience to figure it out. Resawing on the tablesaw took little time and with the thin kerf I don't think I wasted that much wood. I only wanted 3/8 anyway!

[neilm]

I've discovered two good ways to solve the drift problem when resawing. First is to find the angle of drift by cutting scrap wood and set your fence to that angle. A better way is to adjust the tilt of the top wheel until it tracks straight and there is no drift. It takes more time and more scrap lumber but is worth it.

As far as air dried/kiln dried goes, air dried is better but they both will work. Kiln dried does not steam bend easily I've heard.

Neil

[Cuyahoga Chuck]

For resawing it's best to have a machine that can tesion the blade with a lot of force. Tight blades twist less. Machines capable of doing that mostly have a heavy cast iron backbone. Unless your machine is so equipt or has a frame with similar stiffness your blade is apt to wander unless you have the magic touch.
Most bandsaws with a throat less than 14" deep are not capable of mounting a 3/4" wide blade (wider is definitly better)or holding the blade with sufficient tension to resaw easily. A smaller machine may work but it will be slow and take a lot of concentraion to cut to the line.

[Lew Barrett]

Here's an interesting tutorial that advances several different ideas, none of them precisely as we've discussed above. I think for small quantities it's not that hard, though I didn't mention the idea of a good blade, which our colleagues have rightly mentioned and is a very important aspect of the job. But when isn't a good blade key? I suffer very little drift if I go slowly with my saw properly tuned, which is his point as well.

Resawing (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zi1RI3Ea4FY)

[MarkH]

try http://www.jbtimber.co.uk/


another is

http://www.john-boddy-timber.ltd.uk/ at Boroughbridge


they should both cut to size, ok its 'up north', but I bet the transport costs will be less than the wastage and costs to try it it on a small bandsaw

as for transport costs, and for what its worth, we got 6 x 16' x 8" x 5" oak beams, 4 x 1.5" x 10" x 14' planks and 4 slabs 3" thick and nigh on a yard square shifted from the north of scotland to here (newcastle) for £80

[Rob Stokes, N. Vancouver]

....... A better way is to adjust the tilt of the top wheel until it tracks straight and there is no drift. It takes more time and more scrap lumber but is worth it.

Neil

'zactly!

There's paragraphs written on how to accommodate drift on a bandsaw - articles even!. And shelves full of tools and gadgets to get around it. Like you - I adjust the top wheel and get rid of drift. Much easier (and cheaper)!