Re-sawing by hand

[Karl]

As part of the tool cabinet, I now need to re-saw a couple of planks to get my bookmatched panels - the boards are 1" thick, 10" wide and 30" long.

I've got a nice sharp Disston 3tpi rip saw, but i've never tried re-sawing by hand.

Any tips? I've flattened the board one side, and was planning on simply marking round and seeing how it goes - any better suggestions?

Cheers

 

[woodbloke]

I have, years ago at college...disaster, huge time!! Don't even think about it Karl, I'd find someone local in your area (a kind UKWorkshop member p'raps) with a decentish sized bandsaw who could do it for you in exchange for a slack handful of vinovouchers :wink: - Rob

 

[dedee]

Karl,
I did it like this the plank was only about 15" long though.

The scary part was starting off with the table saw. I did about 4 or 5 passes on each side. This is not for the feint hearted and in truth I would not recommend it, but it did get the saw cut started nice and straight.

By the time I'd finished I had to do a lot of planing to get the boards reasonably flat and as a result there ended up a lot thinner than I wanted.

I think Bob has got the best answer.

Cheers

Andy

 

[AndyT]

I hate to discourage anyone, but I wouldn't want you to waste your wood.

If you aren't used to rip sawing, I suggest you should get some practice in with less precious and important pieces first. Get some cheap sawn timber (old scaffold planks for example) and practice on them.

Ten inch wide boards are going to be very challenging, especially if only an inch thick. Without knowing what your wood is, or how you are going to use it, this may be a silly suggestion - but if you still are set on doing this after your practice, you might stand a better chance if you rip each one to 5" first. Deep ripping a 5" board is going to be much more achievable.

 

[woodbloke]

The problem is that you can't see what the rip saw's doing in the centre of the board. Deep sawing (very scary btw) is one way to do it and will achieve a cut half way through on each side of the wood (depending on the size of the sawblade...you need a decent table saw to do it though Karl )
The easiest and by far the most accurate way is with a bandsaw and nice, sharp, wide blade
I'll post a pic later on of the pitfalls of this sort of hand re-sawing as I still have the panels from the '70's lurking in the 'shop - Rob

 

[Karl]

You bunch of bloody wusses . You need to get some nuts (said in Mr T voice).

No good going to a machinery shop if i'm trying to build a tool cabinet with hand tools only! I've done the table saw method before, but, aside from the electricity element, it's difficult balancing a 1" board.

Anyway, job done. Went really well, although it was a bit strenuous. Did it mostly by eye - just flipping the board whilst sawing at 45deg along each long edge in turn.

I'll update my tool cabinet thread shortly with some pics of the process.

Cheers

Karl

 

[AndyT]

Well if that was your first go, bloody well done! I'd missed your tool cabinet thread but will now be following it closely!

Nice one.

 

[Karl]

Thanks Andy.

 

[dedee]

karl, excellent job and far less scary then starting with the TS.

How long did it take you?

I've just prepared a 6" x 9" board ( from a cherry log) which I hand sawed from the log. It took me about 2.5 hours. That's two cuts to get it out of the log and a lot of planing to get it flat.

cheers

Andy

 

[Karl]

Cheers Andy - it took about 15 mins. Wasn't timing, but i've got another to do tonight so will time it!

Cheers

Karl

 

[Fromey]

I read an article in an old popular woodworking magazine where the guy strung a bandsaw blade along the length of his workbench. Fixed to a vice on one end so he can wind it out to get good tension on it. By placing blocks of wood of appropriate height under the ends of the blade, he then laid the board flat onto the table and then slid it back and forth. It apparently works a treat.

 

[Saint Simon]

Brilliant stuff. I tried and wasn't pleased with the results. Lots of planing required. Will be trying again.
The table saw method looks extremely dangerous to me.
Simon

 

[Mikey R]

I had a go on a piece of fairly well behaved hard maple, 75mm wide or so, and it went really well.

Im inspired to resaw some rather fun looking elm Ive got. Its about 5" wide and the grain is fairly wild.

Question, as elm tends to move around alot, and the grain pattern on this piece suggests theres alot of internal tension, would I be better off laminating one half to a substrate <i>before</i> sawing?

 

[Trizza]

I resawed a 6" wide maple board recently by hand. It didn't turn out amazing - it turned out that the board had some fairly serious tension in it so the cut piece had a nasty cup on it in the end. Aside from that it went OK - the saw was sub-optimal for it, only a 5 1/2 point rip. I waxed the blade every time I flipped the piece, that seemed to help somewhat..

Resawing on the balcony:

 

[Mikey R]

I resawed a 6" wide maple board recently by hand. It didn't turn out amazing - it turned out that the board had some fairly serious tension in it so the cut piece had a nasty cup on it in the end. Aside from that it went OK - the saw was sub-optimal for it, only a 5 1/2 point rip. I waxed the blade every time I flipped the piece, that seemed to help somewhat..

Hi Trizza,

My saws only a little more coarse at 4 1/2 TPI, if you managed to rip a 6" wide board then Im sure I'll manage a 5" wide board. This whole internal tension does worry me though...

 

[Trizza]

This is a pretty funky board, I think I hit on an exception rather than a rule. For example I can't rip this particular board with my japanese saws because the tension will pinch the blade too fast - it really needs a saw with significant set. Other maple I have is totally fine, though.

 

[Alf]

I'm madly impressed at all this skill and energy - while hugging my bandsaw and swearing to never let it go... :lol: