Saw Blade Advice

[wobblycogs]

Hi,

I need to do some resawing in order to fulfil LOMLs wishes for furniture (she'll be wanting carpet next I can see!). Annoyingly I could probably afford to get a bandsaw but I have no where to put it except outside on the patio which doesn't seem like such a good idea so I'm thinking I'll have a go at making framesaw and doing some resawing by hand.

I think I'll mostly follow this guys design http://www.hyperkitten.com/woodworking/resaw.php. What I really need though is advice on a blade. The guy in the link used a piece from a wide bandsaw blade which seems like quite a good idea but I have no access to such blades. Another page showed someone using a long Japanese blade.

I'm wondering if anyone knows of a ready made blade that would be suitable?

Cheers

 

[marcus]

Hi,

These are the best blades I know for that sort of work - Japanese teeth and a very fine kerf so they cut quickly. They take a bit of practice to cut accurately with, but are worth it. They may be available from a UK supplier, not sure.

http://www.mehr-als-werkzeug.de/product/712951/Frame-Saw-Blade-Turbo-Cut-600-ripcut/detail.jsf

Re-sawing by hand is an awful lot of work, hope you're feeling strong!

Cheers

Marcus

 

[woodbloke]

Those Jap saw blades are the way to do it, but it's hard work! As an alternative, contact Ian and Tuffsaws and ask him if he's got any oddments of 3tpi bandsaw blade peices that he could let you have for some nominal vino vouchers. When I built mine, he was kind enough to send me a couple of bits which were good, but I made my saw big enough to take a Jap blade if needs be. Just a thought - Rob

 

[wobblycogs]

Cheers guys, those Japanese blades are exactly the ones another project I came across was using. They clearly look like the right tool for the job.

I think I'll drop Ian a line first and see if he's got any bits. I'm not completely convinced this will work well enough for me to want to risk about £40 on buying and shipping over a blade.

 

[Titus A Duxass]

....risk about £40 on buying and shipping over a blade.

You can always send it back and Dick (mehr-als-werkzeug.de) usually provide a pre-printed return sitcker.

 

[cambournepete]

Could you use one of the Nobex Mitre saw blades?
Axminster have a 10TPI rip blade for just over £10.

 

[wobblycogs]

Now that looks like the sort of blade I was hoping for. I suspect 10tpi will still be pretty hard work but manageable for the amount of resawing I'll be doing. One day maybe I'll be able to get a real workshop rather than a spare bedroom

 

[woodbloke]

Now that looks like the sort of blade I was hoping for. I suspect 10tpi will still be pretty hard work but manageable for the amount of resawing I'll be doing. One day maybe I'll be able to get a real workshop rather than a spare bedroom

It may be sharpened as a cross-cut blade, which means it'll cut down the grain (if that's what you intend) without too much bother. Once it gets blunt though, I'd pass a three-square file over the teeth to turn them into rips...it'll probably perform a little better - Rob

 

[joiner_sim]

I don't envy you doing all the resawing by hand. I hope theres not too much to do though! Sounds like you could be busy this weekend!

 

[wobblycogs]

Hmmm, just nipped down to the workshop to have a crack at resawing a 6 inch wide oak board - very similar to what I'll need to do more of. Admittedly I only have regular hard point saw to work with at the moment but I can't honestly see me doing much resawing by hand any time soon. I reckon I could probably manage it but it would take all day and I've got much better things to be doing than that. Now, does anyone make a fold away bandsaw...

 

[joiner_sim]

Table saw might be best here if you're going to rip it all down, but that would also need dust extraction if you don't want dust everywhere! If you're still going to do it by hand, maybe think about cutting some wedges and as you cut the plank, tap a wedge in to stop it closing up and trapping the blade.

 

[xy mosian]

A frame saw is one of the things somewhere on my 'Tuit' list. I wonder how close a bow saw blade would come, you know the gardener's variety. They are certainly course of tooth, probably cross cut sadly. How about taking the blade from a handsaw? Hole drilled each end and away you go.
xy

 

[wobblycogs]

From the crack I had at it today with a regular hard point saw I can see that the choice of blade is vitally important. It has to have a low tooth count but probably not as low as a gardening bow saw type blade. It has to have a narrow kerf so you're not removing loads of material and it needs to have a reasonable depth to give the blade a little stiffness and help it cut in a fairly straight line, 50mm or so should do it.

With the right blade I think it would be entirely possible to resaw by hand and not be totally exhausted at the end of it. The problem would be getting the right blade at a reasonable price. Those Japanese blades on Dick look just about perfect but they will set you back about £40 and you've still got to make a frame. I'd love to give it a go but I think I've got to be realistic and find somewhere to set up a bandsaw.