Not Bandsaw Week...but have a reasw question

[Mike Goetzke]

Was resawing some 4/4 beech that I joined and planed smooth both sides. I wanted to split it down the center then plane the cut side smooth. Idea is to get two from one at max. thickness. Oh, these were 7" tall and 82" long. I have a Griz G0513X2 with a Resaw King blade and Driftmaster fence. I checked blade drift,tension, and double checked the upper/lower rollers.

I calculated half the thickness of the board and added half the thickness of the band (at the back - no teeth) then used a digital depth gauge to dial in the fence - trying not to push on the blade. When I made the cut the piece toward the fence was too wide. It was scary consistent and clean. I had a few boards to cut so adjusted the fence a little more. This time I used a dial indicator and moved the fence toward the blade. I found I had to move it about 0.020" to 0.030" to get it centered.

Guess my question is how do you set the fence for cut thickness?



Mike

[David Kumm]

Blades all act differently than you expect under load. I would take a short piece the same width and touch the blade and then flip the piece and touch it again. Adjust until the kerfs match. Lots of things affect where the blade ends up tracking, feed speed, tension. drift, tension. Dave

[John Coloccia]

I mark a line where I want to cut, usually with my trusty Veritas wheel marking gauge. Then I line up the line with the blade. I can easily cut on either side of the line, or split it if I wish. I can also immediately see if anything is going off line.

[Van Huskey]

First, being 1/32" off isn't bad at all. I would just have marked the center of the board and eyeballed that to the center of the teeth, so I could very well have been off as much or more than you. If I wanted to get really accurate I would have used the kerf (measured not listed) instead of the band gauge and measured off the tooth side instead of the band. I assume you measured of the correct side of the band. In the end I have no idea where your error came in but it seems clear the easiest way to fix it is to do a short test cut before slicing the whole board.

BTW every week is bandsaw week.

[bob hertle]

Rough board thickness-Blade kerf (not band thickness)
Divide by 2
Set the fence

Bob

[Neil Brooks]

Rough board thickness-Blade kerf (not band thickness)
Divide by 2
Set the fence

I geek out on precision in my woodworking (it doesn't show in my results, but ... it IS how I'm wired), but ... resaw is the one place where the more I geek out, the worse it seems to get.

I think resaw, to me, is kind of a Zen/Spiritual/Meditative/Use the Force, Luke kind of process.

Meaning: +1 to Bob's method

[Mike Goetzke]

I made my thickness measurement at the back of the blade where it was flat -no teeth. Maybe part of my error.

Mike

[Kent A Bathurst]

First, being 1/32" off isn't bad at all. I would just have marked the center of the board and eyeballed that to the center of the teeth, so I could very well have been off as much or more than you.

Me too. Mike - you're better than I am, and better than I'll ever be. In my world, yoru results are classified as "dead-nuts". Partly because I don't take my dial calipers with me for the resaw tasks.

[Jim Matthews]

I'm with John C - drop a line and use that.

Relying on the fence for accuracy is not my speed.
Gauge line, fill in with pencil and split the line.

[Van Huskey]

I made my thickness measurement at the back of the blade where it was flat -no teeth. Maybe part of my error.

Mike

In a perfect world measuring the band would actually be easier and should be just as accurate but that assumes the teeth are perfectly centered. I don't think that is where the bulk of the error came from. I think you just made an error that is now "lost". Your methodology is fine but since you didn't "show your work" meaning we don't have a record of what you actually did (versus what you meant/planned to do) I don't think you or we can identify where the error came from. Next time make your setup and a very short cut and like Dave said flip the board and start the cut again, unless the blade goes into the exact same kerf you have an error.

[glenn bradley]

I measure between the fence and the teeth that are set on the fence side. I keep a small metal rule by the saw that makes this quick and easy when I am changing blade types often. When I am going to leave a blade on for a period of time I just zero the cursor on the fence. I add enough to allow me to clean off the mill marks which varies whether I am using a blade for raw speed or one for smoothest cut.

[Brian Tymchak]

I don't do much resawing and I haven't run any 80"+ boards through, but when I want to split a board down the middle, I set up a marking gauge to mark pretty close to the middle, then mark the length of the board from both sides. That way if you don't hit the middle exactly with your mark, the 2 marks give you a small "tunnel" so that it is much easier to center the blade between the marks during the cut. I generally use a homemade point fence as tall as the board to manually correct for drift during the cut, and use the marks on the board to set the fence so that the blade is centered in my marks. I fairly easily get accuracy to 1/16" and often to 1/32" which by the time I run the board back through the planer to clean up the cut face, I've lost maybe a 1/8" in the process.

If I wanted to resaw to yield a specific thickness, then I would follow a process like Glenn mentioned, measuring from the fence-side teeth to account for the set of the blade.

[Mike Goetzke]

Wouldn't you know it I needed to cut one more piece for the project (won't explain why, but, user error when cross cutting). This time I went low tech and just eyeballed a centerline I had drawn on the board - the two pieces were within 0.010" of each other. Guess I was just over thinking this job.

Thanks,

Mike

[Van Huskey]

Wouldn't you know it I needed to cut one more piece for the project (won't explain why, but, user error when cross cutting). This time I went low tech and just eyeballed a centerline I had drawn on the board - the two pieces were within 0.010" of each other. Guess I was just over thinking this job.

Thanks,

Mike

That has to make you smile, one because of how easy it actually was and two a little grin at how too much thought can actually get in your way.

[David Micalizzi]

Wouldn't you know it I needed to cut one more piece for the project (won't explain why, but, user error when cross cutting). This time I went low tech and just eyeballed a centerline I had drawn on the board - the two pieces were within 0.010" of each other. Guess I was just over thinking this job.

Thanks,

Mike

The human eye is an amazing instrument!

Regards,

David