Ripping from both sides with a circular saw

[E-wan]

I've started cutting up some Oak sleepers with a circular saw this morning but the saw is not quite large enough to make a full cut

Any suggestions on how to safely and accurately finish the cut from the other side would be appreciated

Thanks

Ewan

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[AJB Temple]

I have to do this a lot when I am dimensioning oak framing. You just need to follow a marker line and accept that you will not have a perfect cut and will either have to plane it or take a course belt sander to it.

It's not a major big deal to use a hand saw for the last bit and I often do that if cross cutting.

Not sure what you intend to use the boards for, but expect them to move.

 

[Woody2Shoes]

+1 for handsaw - fast and safe and easy and good exercise!

 

[Rorschach]

Bit late now but maybe helpful for future cuts.

Set a fence on the saw the width you want your board, set the saw just over half the depth of the sleeper.
Make a cut from one side, turn the sleeper, cut from the other side.
If the sleeper has a good edge then each board will come out very consistent and leave a decent reference surface for the next cut.
Best done with 2 people as you need to flip the sleeper a lot.

 

[Quickben]

Been having to do this recently with some 300x140x2600 sleepers. Cut either side with circular, then finish with hand saw and then plane. It's not perfect, but the only option I have, currently.

However, the sleepers are Jarrah and, therefore, beating the pineapple out of the circular saw. And the handsaw, for that matter.

Also, they're about 120yrs old, so there's not one straight face on them. Luckily I've only had to use this method for cross cutting, as I'm ripping on the bandsaw (that in itself is mission and a half).

 

[MikeG.]

If you're expecting to get usable planks from those sleepers, all I can say is the very best of luck. I think you've just created quite a lot of firewood.

 

[Quickben]

Why is that ?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Because the grain will be all over the place and it will be full of splits, knots and other faults. Its ultimate purpose being known it will have been badly seasoned as well.

 

[MikeG.]

Green timber. It is already drier outside than inside, so that will produce prodigous warping just as that equalises, never mind the stresses within the wood. Let me tell you I've cut off hundreds of pieces like that from green timber, and you get nothing usable other than for pegs, wedges, or firewood. I'm talking about the oak, BTW, not the seasoned jarrah. (Where the hell did you find any jarrah? That stuff is magic......)

 

[Quickben]

Ah, I've never seen/used green timber. I can appreciate why it would warp, yes.

The jarrah sleepers were part payment for some work for a local architect who asked us to cut up more jarrah sleepers and make some rudimentary bathroom furniture and also some timber for door frames, windows sils.

Apparently he bought them a few years ago for a local council commission, and he has around twenty of them left. They're a mixture of jarrah, oak and what looks like iroko or possibly sapele.

They're making mincemeat out of our edged tools !

 

[custard]

I agree with MikeG, sounds like a fool's errand.

It's a constant theme on this forum, people struggling to salvage timber for a project from unsuitable sources. You can sink a massive amount of time and effort into something like this, only to find you're left with hopelessly wonky banana boards.

Go to a decent timber yard and buy rough sawn, hardwood boards that slightly over finished thickness. As a hobbyist you'll only need a few cubic feet a year, so for two or three hundred quid you'll have exactly the right materials for a couple of years of woodworking projects. As hobbies go that's not bad value. The alternative is knocking yourself out and working with such mediocre quality stuff that it takes all the pleasure and satisfaction out of it.

 

[E-wan]

Useful comments thank you

For the intended purpose they don't need to be particularly flat or straight

They're going to be screwed on to the end and corners of a brick wall and then sanded

Photo of wall atached

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[MikeG.]

I reckon that if you screw them to that wall whilst they're still green, they'll pull the fixings out when they've had a week of sun on them. If you wait until they're dry, you'll never get them to fix onto the wall in the first place. Seriously, the stuff is the wildest most ill-behaved wood you could ever wish to see.

 

[E-wan]

I reckon that if you screw them to that wall whilst they're still green, they'll pull the fixings out when they've had a week of sun on them. If you wait until they're dry, you'll never get them to fix onto the wall in the first place. Seriously, the stuff is the wildest most ill-behaved wood you could ever wish to see.

I've enjoyed some of your other post where you I've made some rather nice things from green oak.

I appreciate the pieces I have cut are rather small so what sort of size would Green Oak have to be before you would be a bit as practical to work with?

Thanks




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[AJB Temple]

When I said it might move a bit, I was tactfully saying what Mike and Custard said.

I do occasionally use 4" oak sleepers for outdoor projects and I cut them to make 2" planks. I used these for decking in a Japanese garden terrace, and for doing the walls of a large semi raised Koi pond, and for making garden bridges. I use timber fix screw bolts and the oak is stable. But - I only buy good quality green oak - sleeps are never the best but you can get good stuff and bad stuff. I get mine in France and ship it by the lorry load (sleepers are a filler). Because I but in bulk it takes a year or two for me to use it up. And I have a proper timber framing gear (eg 12" portable circular saw). I would not plank green oak at less than 2" thick personally. Would not dream of doing boards the thickness you did. Sorry.

 

[MikeG.]

.........what sort of size would Green Oak have to be before you would be a bit as practical to work with?......

4"x 4" would be fairly safe. 3" x 3" in decent quality stock and you might have a chance.

 

[deema]

Well, I differ from others, as I have very successfully used what were technically sold as green oak sleepers for making gates and other stuff. I think you may stand a good chance of success. Firstly check the moisture content either with a meter or by the ‘oven or microwave’ technique of drying out a sample weigh before and when no further weight reduction occurs. If the moisture content is less than say 22% and it’s to be used outside its likely to be successful.

It sounds like the stuff has been stored for a few years, if this was under cover and outside in stick it’s probably at this moisture content. The old rule was 1” a year, so 4” oak takes 4 years to become seasoned. You don’t need fully seasoned timber for outside projects, but equally not green.

I would never cut oak that’s not fully seasoned using the flip over on your table saw technique. It can move around a lot and trap the blade making it a very bad day. A Bandsaw is the best solution or if you don’t have one get a local timber yard to cut it into sections you can handle. The alternative is cut as deep as possible on the table saw and then finish with a handsaw.

I will cut sleepers oversize and then leave in stick under cover outside for a month or two to allow any moisture gradients to reduce and to see how much movement I get. With nice thick stuff, and planking I’d try to cut it so I get as near quarter sawn as possible to reduce movement. Equally ensure you glue the ends to avoid splitting.

It’s not any different to what I try and do with seasoned stuff, cut oversize leave it in my workshop a few months and them use (when ever possible).

My last project which had to stop 5 months ago due to a back injury is a large pair of oak french doors. They are all machined up with the panels glued up ready for assembly. The oak was left a few months before machining. It’s been stored in stick, under cover in my workshop away from light......but one if the panels has warped. One of the pieces in the panel has twisted and it happens to be in the centre. If this had happened after I’d assembled the door it would have twisted the styles.....it’s not just green(ish) oak that moves around.