resawing with a bow saw?

[Barry wines]

I have some 14" butternut 2" thick that I would like to resaw but my bandsaw is only capable of 12". Would a bowsaw work for this?

[David Weaver]

How long is it? If it is a long board, I would look for someone with a bandsaw with a higher capacity or just deal with losing 2 inches off the thickness of the board. I know butternut isn't hard, but it's likely to be a very undesirable task to resaw a piece that wide if it's long at all.

if you have a good rip panel saw, you could run it across the TS on both edges to create a groove (2 1/2 or 3 inches deep) and then resaw it between the grooves, but no matter what you do, it's still going to be a lot of work.

[john brenton]

I've been doing quite a bit of resawing with my bow saw lately, and I can say with certainty that 14" is way to big to mess with. Nothing's impossible, but I think my blade is 24" long, and at 4.5 tpi, and I barely get enough stroke on a 6" wide board. As David said, if it's long, you can easily destroy hours of very very hard work if the blade skews in the kerf. That would be a killer workout though...possibly literally.

I would do what David W. said and lop off 2" or so. Not sure what you're going to make, but I'm sure those 2" pieces will come in handy for rails/apron or something.

I have some 14" butternut 2" thick that I would like to resaw but my bandsaw is only capable of 12". Would a bowsaw work for this?

[George Beck]

Well I have done it on 8/4 cherry that was 15" wide but I must say I will never do it again. I used a 28" rip hand saw (I don't have bow saw big enough). Like David said, I cut grooves on the table saw inching up to about 2.5-3 inches deep on 4 sides (I would do 2 sides if the board was over 20 inches or so) using a shaper hold down and a large fence attachment. The I hand ripped between the lines. I had the clamped up to the front of the bench and I was on top of the bench. After all of this, you got a wide board that is pretty unstable and hard to keep flat. Now when I do 15" panels, I cut them in half, resaw the 7 7/8" pieces, book match them and glue them up. It is a lot easier and stays a lot flatter. Just a thought, I lack the heart and lungs to try this again.

[Pat Barry]

I would seriously consider ripping it in half, resawing each 7 inch piece and then jointing the rip lines and gluing the pieces back together.

[Jim Matthews]

I did try this in building my toolbox. The front and center panels are from 14" wide Sapelli, that started at 6/4"

It was a colossal chore, and produced uneven results. I ended up with panels tapered in thickness.
The second time around, I ripped it in two (where grain would hide the joint) and resawed.

Butternut is softer, by comparison, but it's the friction that will slow your progress.
If you're going to do it, score all the way around, and set a starter kerf with your panel or dovetail saw.

That will give you some reference for the bowsaw.

That said, it's something I won't do again.

[harry strasil]

resawing is a job for a frame saw not a bow saw. check to see if anyone in your area has a bandsaw mill, that's the way to go.

[john brenton]

I have one of the larger bow saws, and I also have a frame saw. I like the bow saw because I can hold it the same way you are holding your frame saw in your profile pic, but with the added benefit of being able to turn the handle if I start going off the line.

resawing is a job for a frame saw not a bow saw. check to see if anyone in your area has a bandsaw mill, that's the way to go.