"Now THAT'S a resaw!"

[Erik Loza]

Back in my trade show days, guys would come up the the MM16 we had in the booth, tug on the 1" blade (as if they were tying down the load on a flatbed truck and wanted to make sure it straps were all tight; is that the bandsaw shoppers' equivalent of kicking a car's tires?), then proclaim, "Now THAT'S a resaw!". This was always a little funny because after you're around them for a while, none of our bandsaws really seemed that big at all.

The guys in our shop were doing a blade change on the big McDonough we use for ripping planks and for the first time in my life, I said to myself, "Now THAT'S a resaw!"

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Erik

[Eric Keller]

I used to have access to a Hitachi resaw bandsaw with a 4" blade. It was really nice, used it a lot

[Prashun Patel]

Out of curiosity, how expensive are those blades?

[Darcy Warner]

Out of curiosity, how expensive are those blades?

Expensive, but they can be sharpened a bunch of times.

[Bruce Page]

It took a moment for my brain to wrap around the blade in pic 2, but holy cow, that's a BS blade!

[Dave Stuve]

Wow, what do you guys re-saw with such a beefy saw?

[Van Huskey]

Wow, what do you guys re-saw with such a beefy saw?

I am guessing siding...

Erik, how many horse power?

[Darcy Warner]

Wow, what do you guys re-saw with such a beefy saw?

Anything, great set up for busting up moulding blanks.

[Frederick Skelly]

Wow, what do you guys re-saw with such a beefy saw?

Cars, Cuts 'em right in two, doesn't it Erik?

(I'll bet Van's drooling over that baby.)

[Rich Riddle]

That's the size of Van's little saw......

[Bill Rhodus]

Used to maintain this type of machinery, McDonoughs in particular. Totally different class of machine compared to what we would have in a home shop. The mill I worked in used a larger saw as the primary breakdown for logs and sent the "bolts" or sections of the logs to smaller resaws such as this for secondary bteakdown. Also, you might find it intetesting to know the upper wheel has an air bag charged with nitrogen to tension the blade. The issue of blade tension is a hot topic no matter if you are using a Sears 12" bandsaw or a 6' mcdonough

[Erik Loza]

Out of curiosity, how expensive are those blades?

Expensive, but they can be sharpened a bunch of times.

No idea but they never re-sharpen them. We have about half a dozen blades for the McDonough but they last a long time, since we rarely do salvage wood with them. Salvage wood is what kills the blades: Nails, screws, etc.

Wow, what do you guys re-saw with such a beefy saw?

Actually, mostly used for ripping 2X8's or 2X10's into 3/8" thick stock for a few of our cladding products but I believe it was originally used for ripping big salvaged beams and that sort of thing. If someone needed some LL pine flooring, we might use it rip up a reclaimed beam, for example.

I am guessing siding...

Erik, how many horse power?

A LOT... Actually I have no idea. But the motor is huge.

Cars, Cuts 'em right in two, doesn't it Erik?

(I'll bet Van's drooling over that baby.)

I have an occasional nightmare about getting pulled into the feed rollers. Nothing could stop that thing if it got a hold of your shirttail or something. Like the giant plant from Little Shop of Horrors.

Erik

[Van Huskey]

That's the size of Van's little saw......

Rich, my dreams are unfortunately different from my reality. My shops have always been built subject to HOA rules and so is my next one. The rules always limit the size of my doors which kills the huge saws, easy enough to tilt a 1,000 pound saw harder with the 2500 pound versions. I have actually been thinking about building this next shop around a big saw or two, move them in when the slab is cured, cover them with tarps and let the framing crew build around them.

I picked the wrong machine to fall in love with, most of the other big woodworking machines don't require the vertical clearance, then again maybe it is a good thing.

[Bill Rhodus]

The resaws were were running of a similar size were 250 hp.

[John K Jordan]

Used to maintain this type of machinery, McDonoughs in particular. Totally different class of machine compared to what we would have in a home shop. The mill I worked in used a larger saw as the primary breakdown for logs and sent the "bolts" or sections of the logs to smaller resaws such as this for secondary bteakdown. Also, you might find it interesting to know the upper wheel has an air bag charged with nitrogen to tension the blade. The issue of blade tension is a hot topic no matter if you are using a Sears 12" bandsaw or a 6' mcdonough

A big mill near here uses a vertical bandmill with blades that appear to be about a foot or so wide. Debarked logs go around a circular conveyor while the operator sits in a climate controlled booth in the middle. Each time around, the log is checked with a laser and another board is sliced off, maybe 6 seconds per cut. The boards go down another conveyor for edging, then to a gang of circular saws to cut to length, all waste automatically fed to a chipper. The grader has only a few seconds per board then about 10 guys pull and stack on trailers. What an operation!

Takes a crane to move a blade.

I didn't get close enough to see the tensioning method.

JKJ