Crickey - For me to perform that chore, I'd have to be locked up in prison, and for it to be a condition of my early release! -
Re the Bandsaw, that Sabre 250 would do fine. The '250' means 250mm or as they say 10", but just to be clear, that's the throat depth - not the maximum cutting depth, with is 127mm (5"), which will be fine for your purposes. It has two speeds - 460mm and 1,000mm per minute and a 550Watt motor, and the blade length is 70.5". Smaller bandsaws (EG, 4" depth of cut) tend to have 300Watt motors and a blade length of 60" or so. A smaller bandsaw would happily cut a few pieces of parquet, but the blade would wear out quicker, and it's asking a lot of the motor to do anything other than maybe batches of ten (cut a few, sand a few). In any event, the Sabre 250 will be useful for other tasks which a smaller bandsaw would not.
As to the blade, as you're cutting straight lengths rather than curves, 3/8" width would be the norm to prevent the blade from wandering, and with 66mm depth of cut, to prevent the gullet of the teeth from clogging, 3TPI rather than say 6TPI would I think be a good choice. (For cutting fairly tight curves, a 1/4" wide blade is better, but if you cut curves with a blade than try to make straight cuts, the blade will tend to wander).
Many bandsaw users including me buy their blades from Tuff Saws. If you wish, you could drop them an email to seek their advice (basically, a one man business, so he rarely answers the phone but will promptly reply to emails).
Ripping/Re-Sawing
email:
[email protected]
You need to pay some attention to setting up the blade guides etc. Worth watching this video by Alex Snodgrass on 'tuning up' a bandsaw:
You'll get a cleaner cut if you don't force the wood, but let it go at its own pace, which will mean less sanding. Should only take a minute or two to make a cut. As you'll be making 2,000 cuts, each 220mm long, if I've got my sums right, that's 440 linear Metres at a depth of 220mm. To give the motor a rest, (and the sander too), I'd suggest you spend maybe up to half an hour cutting on the bandsaw, than half an hour sanding.
As to the sander, a 100mm wide belt/disc sander would happily do the job, apart from the fact that you're doing so many, and unless you were doing them in small batches, rather than a 'production run', maybe the BDS 250 would be a better bet. Otherwise, I'd have suggested this one:
Axminster Workshop AW150BDS Belt & Disc Sander - 230V
£119.00 down from £149.00. (3 years parts and labour warranty.
You'll need to consider what grit of belt to use. 80G will be quicker, but won't give such a smooth finish as say 120g. Also when it comes to belts, you get what you pay for. Aluminium oxide are the cheapest - zirconium last a lot longer, but are more expensive.
A sanding belt cleaner stick will help the belts last longer:
Silverline Sanding Belt Cleaning Block 25mm - Screwfix
Finally, cutting and sanding so many blocks will create a heck of a lot of dust, so it's essential that you use a 'shop vac' if only a 'Little Henry', connected to the dust port of the bandsaw and sander, plus a proper dust mask to P2 standard, if only disposable ones such as these:
Amazon.co.uk
(It's not a good idea to use your lungs as a dust filter).
Hope these rather verbose notes might helps a bit.
Have fun.
David.
