Resawing 5/4 or 4/4 lumber

[whit richardson]

I have some nice wood I want to get reduced to about 1/2" or 3/4" that is anywhere from 5/4 to 8/4 rough sawn. I'm thinking resawing the rough then jointing and planing is more thrifty than just taking down the 5/4 rough to size. while I don't have a bandsaw I'll be looking for a local place or new friend who has one.

opinions/advice?

[Frederick Rowe]

My experience re-sawing has been varied. Without exception, all boards exhibited some degree of bowing or cupping after the cut. Tension released when the board was sliced down the middle. If you start with 8/4 which you are re-sawing to 3/4", you'll probably have enough material to plane down to your final thickness. 5/4 to 1/2", maybe, but there will be much less to work with if you encounter cupping or a bow.

Best advise I have is to cut to rough length before re-sawing. Let the wood acclimate after being re-sawed. After the wood movement has occurred, plane/joint till four square. Plan for a bit extra material in the event you get a board or two that go completely bananas.

For this reason I try to get my rough lumber as close to the final dimension as possible. However, like you, the Yankee thrift in me has me re-sawing 4/4 lumber to get two 3/8" sides for small drawers or boxes. Take time experimenting with the saw you use. With some smaller bandsaws using less than 1/2" blades you may encounter significant "drift". Much less so if you are using a larger 16"+ steel frame saw with a 3/4" or 1" blade.

Good luck.

[Basil Rathbone]

That's good information Frederick.

I have a 8/4 piece of maple, 18"long, 8" wide that I want to get down to 1 5/8th. I have Rikon 10-325 bandsaw that will handle it but I am wondering if the 1/4"+/- that I will re-saw off should be against the fence or if it should be on the off-side.

Which do you think is the better way of doing it.

Thanks, Basil

[bill walton]

for a piece that short, I'd joint one edge then scribe the a line along the middle of the other edge and freehand the resaw without the fence following your line, then joint the face and plane it to thickness

[Peter Quinn]

There is no telling what is going to happen when you resaw a piece of wood. You are releasing a lot of potential tension, or disturbing what is otherwise a state of equilibrium. I have split heavy 4/4 for three 1/4" pieces, and I have split 5/4 that wouldn't yield two 3/8" pieces after all was settled. To make 3/4 from 5/4 to save on planer chips and passes I have cut boards in the 15/16" thickness range or heavy 7/8" with few problems. Splitting 8/4 is a crap shoot. I have split some for book matched panels that bowed beyond use over night to the point I couldn't get two pieces 5/8" thickness from 8/4, and this was well seasoned stock. Other times, no problem.

The best advice I have is leave plenty of room for flattening, plan to have extra wood in case things go badly, and accept the results you achieve either way. It sucks to make two 1/4" pieces from 5/4, but if that happens, start looking for a way to use 1/4" material! Oh, a sharp resaw blade on a well tuned saw is a great advantage in any event.

[whit richardson]

Fred and Pete you guys are so right about the wood movement. Of course I have what I have so I'm prepared to end up making thin boxes or door panels if need be for some of this wood. It does sound like judicious use of resawing will allow me to not waste as much wood rather than just dimensioning it from the rough state. Where I have some choice grain selections I'll take those down rather than risk losing them to cupping or bowing.

Basil for real? are you related to the Rathbone of Sherlock Holmes fame? ;-)

Now I know what the cookie jar account will be for next... a nice bandsaw.

[george wilson]

It has to do with the good or bad technique used to dry the wood. Wood can get casehardened by drying wrong,and bows like crazy when sawn thinner. Or,it could be reaction wood from a bent tree.

[Nelson Howe]

This brings a question to my mind: If he's taking 8/4 to 1 5/8, would he have significantly less risk of board movement if he planed it down (evenly on both sides) than if he resawed (what a 1/4 inch at most?) and then planed it smooth? It seems like he might, and if so the extra chips in the bin might be worth not risking losing the board.

Nelson Howe

[Basil Rathbone]

He's on our family tree. Borne in South Africa in 1892. The name's for real.

[Basil Rathbone]

Actually, that's what I did with a block of purple heart. It worked out really well.

[whit richardson]

He's on our family tree. Borne in South Africa in 1892. The name's for real.

That is totally cool. I was (am still am) a big fan of Sherlock Holmes and grew up watching Basil Rathbone solving the mystery on the Afternoon Movie or the Late Late Movie. Elementary!

[whit richardson]

This brings a question to my mind: If he's taking 8/4 to 1 5/8, would he have significantly less risk of board movement if he planed it down (evenly on both sides) than if he resawed (what a 1/4 inch at most?) and then planed it smooth? It seems like he might, and if so the extra chips in the bin might be worth not risking losing the board.

Nelson Howe

But I still having heartburn over taking over 1" off a board to get a finished piece. Even just doing away with 1/2" seems wasteful. Here is another thought I had, take some representative boards, resaw them and see how the wood reacts. Then if it's really bad I'll know how to deal with the rest of if.