posted May 21, 2015
An old friend of David’s called him the other day and asked him if he could fit some resawing into his schedule. David had resawed some of James’ quilted mahogany 10 years ago for furniture projects that James was making. They discussed the various options.
David could use his 36 inch bandsaw set up with a carbide blade and torsion box fence with guaranteed accuracy and results. The only downside would be that James would lose 1/16 of an inch of rare wood with every cut due to the 1/16″ thickness of the blade’s kerf (width of the set of the teeth).
Another option David suggested would be to rip the board down the middle into two boards that are 5 3/4 inches wide and then use David’s 20 inch bandsaw set up with a narrower blade that only has a 1/32 inch kerf.
The thinner blade would yield more slices of thick veneer but the downside is having to join and glue 8 sheets of veneer together to create the 44 inch width James needs for his clients’ dining table as opposed to only having to join and glue 4 sheets 11 1/2 inches wide.
The final option was the most daring and the most challenging. Use the full width of the 11 1/2 inch wide board and use the 1/32 inch kerf blade and hope that the blade doesn’t bow or buckle and damage the rare wood.
David has over forty years of resawing experience and knows that selecting the right blade, setting the fence for the drift of the blade,appropriate tensioning of the blade, cleaning and lubricating the blade, setting the bearings that guide the blade as well as rate of speed while cutting are all determining factors that contribute to the success of the cuts.
David was successful in bandsawing this extremely rare and very expensive piece of quilted mahogany into five slices which is one more than his friend had hoped for. If not for the slight cup/warp in the board which had to be drum sanded flat, David could have gotten six slices.
The 5th slice was thick, actually 1/4 inch thick so David told James to come back over and he would resaw it in half for him. Using the techniques in his Bandsawn Veneers DVD, David made all of his adjustments, checked them 3 times and the f0llowing pics that you see here tells the story of what happened!
It is much, much safer to use a Bandsaw for resawing then a tablesaw. You will be able to conserve expensive hardwoods because you won’t lose as much wood when you rip boards with a thin bandsaw blade.
Segmented woodturners can resaw their glued up rings on a bandsaw using these techniques.
Learn to love your Bandsaw!
Using David’s techniques, you can learn how to exceed your own expectations. Check out his Bandsawn Veneers DVD to learn how you too can do this in your own shop. David is also available for Phone Consults.
