How Would You Make This Cut?

[Michael Peet]

I make kayak paddles. I use western red cedar because it's light and is naturally water-resistant. It is, however, a very soft wood.

One thing I like to do is reinforce the ends with a hardwood insert. Today I do this as the first step by carefully nibbling away a slot with my bandsaw, but this is fairly error-prone and I have made some pretty sloppy inserts.

I have a bunch of 3/32" hardwood stock for the inserts, so I'd like suggestions for cutting accurate slots 3/32" wide and 1.5" - 2" deep in a 2x4 as shown in the pic. Any ideas?

Thanks!

Mike

[Mark Singer]

Band saw works well

[Ted Shrader]

Mike -

I know you said you are using a bandsaw, but I also vote for the bandsaw. Make sure the saw is well tuned. You may have to make a custom fence i.e. taller and make sure you have a good blade installed. If the slot has to be centered on the stock, make the first cut, flip the stock and make the second cut.

Ted

[Jeff Todd]

Well how long are the 2x4's? forrest makes a slew of saw blades with a 3/32 kerf. if the 2X4 are short use a tenon jig on the tablesaw just center the cut. or use a Circular saw with a 3/32 blade just make a jig that lets you clamp it to the end of a 2x4 and run the saw cross the cut.

[Karl Brogger]

Well how long are the 2x4's? forrest makes a slew of saw blades with a 3/32 kerf. if the 2X4 are short use a tenon jig on the tablesaw just center the cut. or use a Circular saw with a 3/32 blade just make a jig that lets you clamp it to the end of a 2x4 and run the saw cross the cut.

or, just throw a circular saw blade in the table saw. I think the bores are the same.

[Michael Peet]

Thanks for confirming that my current approach isn't too far off base then.

I'm using a 3/4" Timberwolf blade, and it's perpendicular to the table surface. I haven't tried using a fixed fence yet - I've been doing it freehand with a cast iron angle block to stabilize the stock.

Thanks

[Michael Peet]

Well how long are the 2x4's? forrest makes a slew of saw blades with a 3/32 kerf. if the 2X4 are short use a tenon jig on the tablesaw just center the cut. or use a Circular saw with a 3/32 blade just make a jig that lets you clamp it to the end of a 2x4 and run the saw cross the cut.

The 2x4s are anywhere from 6 to 8 feet long - too long to run through a tablesaw vertically in my basement unfortunately.

I kind of like the idea of the circular saw and jig. I'll reckon I'll study on that some.

[Alex Shanku]

Freud, and other, make a thin thin kerf blade that is 3/32"

Use it in a table saw with a tenoning jig and it may work out ok.

Although, I am not sure it you will get the depth you need using this method.

[Alex Shanku]

The 2x4s are anywhere from 6 to 8 feet long - too long to run through a tablesaw vertically in my basement unfortunately.

I kind of like the idea of the circular saw and jig. I'll reckon I'll study on that some.

Ooops, we were typing these at the same time. Forget my last post.

[Bob Vallaster]

Ted nailed it. Two passes to get the slot centered. Some trial&effort required for setup.
S2S with all stock (in one batch) the same thickness.
Make sure the fence is // to the blade.
Use ~1/2" blade.
Use a stop clamped on fence behind the blade to make each cut a repeatable depth.
Push in, pull out, flip...repeat a second time.
Done.

BobV

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,

Any ideas?

Wouldn't be much of a problem at all to fabricate a jig arrangment - similar to a panel saw - using a GSS like the EZ, Festool or DeWalt.

You might want to have a look here at the EZ forum and see if there's anything there you could adapt.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I have a tenoning jig for my table saw that I might consider. If that didn't work out well, then I would use the fence on my bandsaw.

[Bruce Page]

I can see how doing it freehand on the BS would be tedious. A fence is the way to go. Once the BS is set up properly, you could cut identical slots all day long.

[Jeff Hallam]

How good of a glue surface will your bandsaws leave for you to put in a hardwood insert? Having no access to sand or refine the bandsawn surface on my machine would be a disaster. Maybe I am doing something wrong but the surface is generally pretty rough.

[Lars Thomas]

I guess it depends on the look you are going for, but what about cutting it all the way in half (like you have pictures, but completly in half). Then make up a sandwich of the cedar, choice of (contrasting) hardwood and then the other piece of cedar. Then when you shape the paddle, the hardwood center will remain visible. I think that would look pretty cool.