# Resawing question



## zbohm (Dec 30, 2012)

So I tried this question in general woodworking the other day with not much luck. My question is I just bought a Jet 18" bandsaw. The saw came with a fence and a removable bar for resawing. I've got some red oak that's about 9" I want to book-match . So should I use the bar that's about 6" tall or should I be making some sort of taller fence? Any tips or advice would be appreciated.


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## durdyolman (Mar 22, 2013)

zbohm said:


> So I tried this question in general woodworking the other day with not much luck. My question is I just bought a Jet 18" bandsaw. The saw came with a fence and a removable bar for resawing. I've got some red oak that's about 9" I want to book-match . So should I use the bar that's about 6" tall or should I be making some sort of taller fence? Any tips or advice would be appreciated.


 
zbohm, go ahead and make it, if only for the experience. I made mine as tall as the saw adjustment would allow, (6"), and as wide as the table from the blade toward the throat. Held by clamps, it works really well. My only trouble has been the grain in the wood. If the wood is 1/4 sawn it works great. If the wood is a slab from the side of the tree the blade has a tendancy to follow the easiest path thru the grain, and could even jam if it gets bad enough. If the fence isn't perfectly square, you will need to tilt your table. I adjust mine with a "feeler" guage, top and bottom.Good luck.


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## TimPa (Jan 27, 2010)

maybe most important is the right blade. check the manual for the widest blade you can install (tension), and maybe 2-3 tpi.


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## zbohm (Dec 30, 2012)

Thanks olman I made a fence like yours for my 12" bandsaw a while ago and it worked. I didn't know if there was a better way to do it. Yeah Tim I've got a 1"x 3 tpi on there now.


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

The resaw fence that I made is larger on one side than on the other, that way you can reverse it to resaw different sizes of stock. I've also used the fence on the table saw with my miter gauge for extra support of the stock when cutting oddly shaped items. I don't have a picture of the fence on the band saw, but here's a picture of the resaw fence on the table saw.


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## zbohm (Dec 30, 2012)

Well I threw one together this morning that's shorter on one side like Ken says but being Easter had other stuff to do so I didn't try it. Plus I waxed the faces so maybe that'll help with resistance. Ken I didn't get to see your reply before i built it and I built it with two gussets rather than three. I could easily put one in the center but do you think it's necessary?


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## walnutavenue (Nov 9, 2011)

Have you seen or considered a guide like this? It allows you to steer your cut when resawing, so if/when grain is a problem and the blade starts to wander you can steer it back to center. It's much less fun to use than a fence, but sometimes it's the best choice.


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## zbohm (Dec 30, 2012)

Walnut I've got a bolt on round stock for the fence that is basically the same I would guess. I did get a chance to try my tall fence I made and it worked pretty well. But I decided to joint the boards prior to resawing that's when I spent a few hours tearing apart my jointer motor because it kept tripping the breaker. I got it though so hopefully tonight I can finish squaring them up and try resawing the boards. Haha that is if I don't get sidetracked into the fifty other projects I've got goin.


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## del schisler (Nov 5, 2009)

durdyolman said:


> zbohm, go ahead and make it, if only for the experience. I made mine as tall as the saw adjustment would allow, (6"), and as wide as the table from the blade toward the throat. Held by clamps, it works really well. My only trouble has been the grain in the wood. If the wood is 1/4 sawn it works great. If the wood is a slab from the side of the tree the blade has a tendancy to follow the easiest path thru the grain, and could even jam if it gets bad enough. If the fence isn't perfectly square, you will need to tilt your table. I adjust mine with a "feeler" guage, top and bottom.Good luck.
> 
> View attachment 67118


you need to do a blade drift also, just putting the fence square to the blade may not be good, the wood you should almost be able to push from the back of the board and it almost stays on the fence with very little push to the back of the fence, if you have to push hard than check for blade drift. i do lot's of resawing and that is what i do set for blade drift, i do this for all my blade's, i use all 3 width's and the 1/2" resaw blade on my 1993 delta .


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

Unless I need more than 1/16" accuracy, such as re-sawing veneer, I just use my normal bandsaw fence with the standard Lenox Diemaster blade which is in my machine most of the time.

For veneer, I go to a 3/4" blade and fence as shown above, to improve the accuracy a bit.

A good blade is the key.


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## Bonka (Mar 24, 2011)

*Re-Saw*

Google Alex Snodgrass. He will show how to set up a band saw correctly. You do not have to allow for blade drift as there is none.
I re-saw on a regular basis and no matter the wood or the grain I get great results with a home made fence secured by rare earth magnents and the band saw set up correctly.
It has been a life saver for me. My saw just used to sit there now I use it.


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## zbohm (Dec 30, 2012)

+ 1 Bonka those videos made me use my saw too. So I finally did the resawing I needed to do tonight on my shop made fence it's 9" tall and it can be flipped to use the other face at 7". I may alter it but it worked great for now. No drift the only prob was they had a slight cup but luckily I've got the room to plane it out and have my 1/4" that I need.


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## del schisler (Nov 5, 2009)

Bonka said:


> Google Alex Snodgrass. He will show how to set up a band saw correctly. You do not have to allow for blade drift as there is none.
> I re-saw on a regular basis and no matter the wood or the grain I get great results with a home made fence secured by rare earth magnents and the band saw set up correctly.
> It has been a life saver for me. My saw just used to sit there now I use it.


i mention blade drift because if the fence was set up before he reset his saw , wouldn't he have to reset the fence, ? i set my saw up and reset my fence and i have no problum's , but if it was off to start it will not fix it's self. just saying my 2 cent's


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*to drift ot not to drift?*

I don't like "drifting" and with a sharp blade and the fence on the rails parallel to the blade, I don't have to "accommdate" for it. The blade must have adequate tension to maintain it's beam strength so it can't deflect and the teeth need to be large enough to clear the sawdust before it overheats the blade and the set of the teeth needs to be uniform on each side of the blade, then you will get good results. :yes:

A blade with too many teeth per inch, more that 3 or 4 will overheat and find it's own way in the piece over that greater height. I have used a 6 TPI X 3/8" wide blade for some resawing with good results, but not over 4" in height. Too fast a feed rate will overheat the blade, and not allow it to do it's own thing as it sets it's own pace. There are moments in resawing I have experience a greater resistance because of a knot or other irregularity, then the feed rate and pace continues as before. 

It's good to check the blade for 90 degrees at the side and at the rear as well. If the bottom of the blade "leads" a slight bit that won't matter. If the top leads, then that could cause feeding issues. The blade and the fence must all be at the same angle to the table .... 90 degrees.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

A disadvantage to using a fence in lieu of a pivot, is that if you do get a drift towards the fence, you can't correct the cut.









 







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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*true enough*

The disadbavtage to using a pin is you have to carefully feed and steer the work inch by inch and that takes time and patience. I find it makes more sense to tune the machine, use the proper blade and feed rate and just gitr'done..... but that's just me.

here are as many resaw fences as there are woodworkers...well all most:
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=ytff1-tyc7&va=bandsaw+resaw+fence


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

woodnthings said:


> The disadbavtage to using a pin is you have to carefully feed and steer the work inch by inch and that takes time and patience. I find it makes more sense to tune the machine, use the proper blade and feed rate and just gitr'done..... but that's just me.


It's just a matter of feel. I don't over indulge my brain on how exact the cut is going. If you slow down too much your input is less effective (I had a girl tell me that once).

It's a lot like driving a car. If you look out the windshield and steer the car at what you see directly at the front of the car, versus looking out ahead of the car (the road ahead) and using gradual input.









 







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