# Can any sawzall cut true 90 deg. through 12" ??



## hoodie (Aug 26, 2011)

My old sawzall never gives me a true flat face when ripping even 8" thick wood.
The blade tip always drifts to the side through that much wood, and prevents me from ever getting a true 90 deg. square cut between the base and the blade tip.

Can any sawzall cut 90 deg. true through 12" thickness of wood ???
or,
Is there any sawzall blade that can cut *true* through that much wood???


----------



## SteveEl (Sep 7, 2010)

Here's a trick I've used several times up to 4" thick. It's not gonna make a joint quality edge, but its a heap better than eyeballing in a weird position. Idea is to make a guide for the blade where it emerges from whatever you want to cut. Take a scrap of hardwood, and crosscut almost all the way at 90 deg. Clamp that sucker to the far side of whatever you're cutting, with the kerf on your desired cut line. Buzz away. Consider finishing off by hand.


----------



## Itchytoe (Dec 17, 2011)

Reciprocating saws like that aren't designed to give you a cut like you get from a table saw. You need some kind of guide on both ends of the blade to get a decent cut. Scroll saws are reciprocating saws, but they have a guide on both ends of the blade, so you get much nicer cuts. The sawzall is good for reaching into places you can't get some other saw into, but they're not going to give you a nice cut. 

You're talking about a 12" cut, so at least a 14" blade. Even with a guide like Steve suggested, I don't think you'll get a good cut. They just aren't made for it.

What is it that you're trying to do? Can you use a different tool? Your standard hand saw would likely give you a good cut.


----------



## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Part of the problem using a reciprocating saw to cut through 12" is the saw will tend to follow the soft part of the wood grain. The wider and heavier the blade you use would help but you can never expect to get a completely square cut. I've had better luck making a cut like that with a chain saw.


----------



## hoodie (Aug 26, 2011)

I have been using a chainsaw on a guide, and that's worked great on all my straight rips.

But now i've got some final curved rips to do, and the stock is too long and heavy to position through my bandsaw.

So i need an alternative.


----------



## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*a curved rip on 12" thick stock?*

`You had better find a big a bandsaw. Even then you will end up free handing a monster board through it and that will be scary. What length are your boards?

You are better off to rip the 12" width into two 6" wide pieces, rip them on your curve and glue them back together, much easier and safer. You will have a mismatched glue line, but the alternatives are just not there, in my opinion.  bill


----------



## Itchytoe (Dec 17, 2011)

Could you cut it on a table saw, like you would a dado with a single blade? If you can get the bulk of the material out, you should be able to clean it up with a handsaw and chisels pretty well.

You could also try drilling holes around the perimeter of the cut you're trying to make to get rid of the bulk, then grab the handsaw and chisels.

I don't know what size curve you're talking about, but maybe one of those two methods will work for you.


----------



## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

Itchytoe said:


> *Could you cut it on a table saw, like you would a dado with a single blade?* If you can get the bulk of the material out, you should be able to clean it up with a handsaw and chisels pretty well.


I'd like to see that done..... I can't picture how it would w:no:rk. bill


----------



## Hammer1 (Aug 1, 2010)

At 12" thick, you are at the maximum for a Mafell portable bandsaw, the largest capacity portable saw I know of. Not likely you want to spend $5400+ for a few cuts. It's possible to mount a regular bandsaw on casters and bring it to the work. You can use a hand frame/bow saw with a turning blade. The frames are easy to make and the blades are inexpensive. 

http://www.timberwolftools.com/tools/kind/bandsaws.html 
http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/bow-saw-frame-saws-blades.aspx


----------



## hoodie (Aug 26, 2011)

How to rip a curve is the problem.

The stock is too big to maneuver on a bandsaw.

These are 13'-16' long timbers that i have ripped down the middle with a chainsaw mill to 12"X24" half diameter split lengths.

I'm going to continue ripping them with the chainsaw mill till i've got them all into 6"X6" quartersawn lengths. Then i can take 'em to my bandsaw for final resawing.

But my problem is some of these timbers are bowed, so now my next rip is on a curve, and i don't think my chainsaw mill will rip on a curve.

That portable bandsaw would work, but yeah, it's way too expensive.

The only alternative i can think of is to cross-cut out the curved sections, then continue ripping the straight remainder with the chainsaw down to the required 6"X6" quartersawn lengths.


----------



## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

hoodie said:


> *How to rip a curve is the problem.*
> 
> *But my problem is some of these timbers are bowed, so now my next rip is on a curve, and i don't think my chainsaw mill will rip on a curve.*
> .


Let's get this straight (rather than curved) :yes::blink:

Do you want a straight rip using your chainsaw, but you don't have a straight reference to run the guide against.... 

OR

or do you really want to rip a curve as your first statement says...?


Use a guide straight board, or a chalkline for a reference either way. Is it an Alaskan type mill or are you just free handing and eyeballing these rips...?

You know a picture would be a great help when asking a question, so we don't have to ask a bunch of questions to answer your question...OK? :boat: :wallbash::confused1:


----------



## hoodie (Aug 26, 2011)

I want to rip these timbers all the way down the middle of their full length, but some are bowed so for some it's a curved rip.

I'm using an Alaskan Mini-Mill which cuts vertically rather than horizontally like most other chainsaw mills.

But it only uses a straight guide rail, and, i don't know if i can get a usefull flat face square with the previously cut side if i try to cut free hand along a curved line.


----------



## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*it shouldn't matter*

If your guide is a straight edge, just center the blade on the timber and rip one straight cut down the middle. Then those straight sides can be used against the fence of the bandsaw.
The guide doesn't care if the outsides are bowed, but it may need to be shimmed to get it level and even to rest on top... 
unless I'm completely missing your point here. :blink: bill


----------



## hoodie (Aug 26, 2011)

I've already ripped the straight sides, and the now half timbers are still too large to maneuver on the bandsaw.

So now i'm left with some curved halfs that have to be curve-ripped into quarters - their only straight sides having already been ripped giving me these curved half timbers.


----------



## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*I'm lost here*

A picture would be helpful.:yes: bill


----------



## hoodie (Aug 26, 2011)

sorry, no camera.

picture a highly bowed timber placed on the saw stands bow-side up and then i rip it along the whole length.

Now i have two bowed halfs instead of a single bowed whole.

But now i want to turn these lengths on their new ripped flat sides and quarter rip them down the middle again. 

This rip however is along the curve, No getting around it now i have to rip along the curve, but my chainsaw guide is straight.

Perhaps it's possible to rip a clean cut free-hand down a curve without a guide - i've never tried before so i don't know.

But i need to end up with quarter sawn stock whose surfaces are clean and flat enough to set against a bandsaw fence for final resaw.


----------



## Itchytoe (Dec 17, 2011)

Ah, ok. Now I understand what you're doing. Ignore my last post because I greatly misunderstood then. I thought you were trying to take a straight board and cut the curve into it. I was backwards.

I don't know how to do what you want with a home set up. Have you tried calling some cabinet shops or saw mills? A sawmill could easily resaw that for you. Cabinet shops may or may not be able to help you.


----------



## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*Your mill sit on top and runs horizontal?*

This mill runs vertical and uses a straight guide board.:





Once you mill a curved slab you're stuck. Is there no way to use a straight edge guide?

This Alaskan sits on top and runs horizontal:


----------



## hoodie (Aug 26, 2011)

The mill sits on top and runs *vertical.* 

Which is important because a vertical running chainsaw mill allows me to quarter-saw instead of slab-saw.

So yeah, i'm stuck because i need quarter sawn rather than slab sawn out of these sadly curved, now half sawn timbers. 

Even if i take one of these half sawn timbers and rip a 6" thick horizontal slab with a horizontal mill, i'll still be left with a 6"X24"X16' slab which would still be too heavy to maneuver on my bandsaw for quartersawing.

That would only leave me in the same situation i'm in now - needing to rip a curve down the middle of these curved timbers to complete the quarter-sawing.

So either i just cross-cut out the curves and then rip the straight remainder on a straight chainsaw guide fence (which loses me a bit of nice red cedar), or i try to free hand a curved rip with my chainsaw which i've never done before and probably won't leave me with a clean and accurate enough face to run evenly against my bandsaw fence when i do the necessary resaw.

Is that confusing enough ?


----------



## hoodie (Aug 26, 2011)

I should add about the *vertical *running chainsaw mill is that it allows you to cut right down the middle of timber no matter how big and heavy they might be.

Because unlike a *horizontal* running chainsaw mill, all the weight of the timber is on the saw stands and not on the saw blade which is cutting along the vertical direction of the weight rather than under the weight as on a horizontal slab cutting chainsaw mill.

This fact allows one to make quarter-sawn stock from timber.

Cut a timber straight down the middle, then take the two halfs turn each 90 deg. and cut each down the middle again to get four quarters out of each timber.


----------

