Another resaw thread

[Josko Catipovic]

I read the resaw feeder thread with interest. I have a Laguna LT-18 w/5hp, Resaw King blade and am limited by my ability to hold stock against the fence. The saw will easily resaw 16" to 1/8" veneer, but one little slip or waver, and I've got a bad piece. I've got a featherboard against the bottom but have been struggling to both push the work and hold the top evenly against the fence. Problem gets worse as plank size gets longer. If there was a resaw feeder made for the LT-18, I'd jump on it. The Comatic seems too large, but if anybody's tried it on an LT-18, I'd love to hear. Any suggestions welcome, and thanks in advance. I do have a roller infeed and outfeed setup.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

This is the one, or very like the one, I installed on the big Laguna. There is a video back in the archive. It is excellent but can create a small dip right at the end of the cut. I made a partner board for it which helps eliminate the dip and keeps the pressure against the roller fence high. The partner board is a must when the stock starts to get thin. Even with the partner board there is a chance for a problem at the very end of the cut. Sliding a piece of formica into the kerf is a helpful trick. The formica has to be slid in very close to the backside of the blade, right at the end of the cut. It is safest to pause the cut while inserting the formica but the pause also creates a dip.

https://www.shopgearinc.com/products...4HP-p494875645

Screen Shot 2024-01-20 at 4.28.42 AM.png

[al ladd]

In case saving $3500 has some appeal....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpzj...&index=13&t=5s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltjY...7S3WYe&index=2

[Maurice Mcmurry]

In case saving $3500 has some appeal....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpzj...&index=13&t=5s

That is excellent! Your twin rollers solve the dip problem. I liked and subscribed to your channel.

[John TenEyck]

Here's a tall featherboard I made. It's manual but I make beautiful veneer with it. Like a power driven unit, a key benefit to me is the safety it affords.

https://sites.google.com/view/jteney...ard?authuser=1

John

[Alan Lightstone]

Here's a tall featherboard I made. It's manual but I make beautiful veneer with it. Like a power driven unit, a key benefit to me is the safety it affords.

https://sites.google.com/view/jteney...ard?authuser=1

John

As we've discussed in separate threads, I've built one of these also, and it's a great design that does work quite well. But I too lust after a power feeder. That one mentioned above is 225 lbs, so not really an option to remove it from the saw, and installing it would be a challenge. But I bet it works great if you want to make your bandsaw just dedicated to resawing.

[Randy Heinemann]

A company called BOW makes featherboards; more specifically, a high version just for resawing. I don't know how well that one works, but their model for tablesaws works great. Setup is the main thing with it, but if it's set up and located properly it works. Again, I can't vouch for their resaw model but it's comparatively inexpensive and is ready for use when you buy it.

[al ladd]

Tall featherboards like John's and the BOW one solve the hold in problem, but for best results consistent feed speed helps a lot. For much resawing, the ideal speed is tortuously slow, and I find it tests my patience, and I'm tempted to feed too fast. For longer boards it can be difficult to not stutter when changing hand positions. A power feeder solves those problems, and I find it allows me to relax on what used to often be a tense job. The ugly duckling of a feeder I make can also be usefull on the router table and light duty work on the table saw. And changing from one tool to another is fast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvE9...7S3WYe&index=4

[John TenEyck]

Resaw feed rate is dependent upon many factors. With my little 14" Delta it is, as you say, torturously slow. Low tension, low power, small blade. But for my larger saw with a 1.3 tpi carbide blade running near 25 ksi and a 5 hp motor driving it, it cuts 12" wide veneer very fast (I'd est. on the order of 25 fpm for many wood species) and gives an amazing quality surface, good enough to glue directly to the substrate. The fastest rate that does not overfeed the blade's ability to remove the swarf seems to give the best surface quality for me.

A power feeder is clearly the best option for quality resawing, but it needs to be easily removeable, as your device is, unless the saw is dedicated to resawing. Something that weighs more than 50 lbs or so isn't an option for me if I have to take it off the saw for other work. Fortunately, it's not hard to consistently feed by hand once you practice a little and have a featherboard pressing the work against the fence. I use an infeed and outfeed roller stand for the board to ride on and off the saw. With those two things in place, the only thing I have to concentrate on is a consistent feed rate.

John

[John Kananis]

I have a very small power feeder (the 1/8 hp model everyone clones) for my router table that I've been meaning to try for resaw on the bandsaw but I'm afraid it's a little too fast on the slowest setting. I've seen the yt vids al ladd has posted, quite clever.

[al ladd]

Resaw feed rate is dependent upon many factors. With my little 14" Delta it is, as you say, torturously slow. Low tension, low power, small blade. But for my larger saw with a 1.3 tpi carbide blade running near 25 ksi and a 5 hp motor driving it, it cuts 12" wide veneer very fast (I'd est. on the order of 25 fpm for many wood species) and gives an amazing quality surface, good enough to glue directly to the substrate. The fastest rate that does not overfeed the blade's ability to remove the swarf seems to give the best surface quality for me.

A power feeder is clearly the best option for quality resawing, but it needs to be easily removeable, as your device is, unless the saw is dedicated to resawing. Something that weighs more than 50 lbs or so isn't an option for me if I have to take it off the saw for other work. Fortunately, it's not hard to consistently feed by hand once you practice a little and have a featherboard pressing the work against the fence. I use an infeed and outfeed roller stand for the board to ride on and off the saw. With those two things in place, the only thing I have to concentrate on is a consistent feed rate.

John[/QUOTE]

Thanks for this info John! That's really impressive, and very helpful to me! With my 20" Davis-Wells the one time I tried the Woodmaster 1.3 TPI blades i ran into tracking trouble, but I think I'll give it another try. My saw at that time had a hairline crack at the throat I was unaware of, and so I was forced to run it at low blade speeds, and I'm sure that further reduced the low tpi blade performance. A few years ago the Davis-Wells parts guy, who really knows his stuff, diagnosed my crack, and a local blacksmith welded it successfully for me, and i was then able to double blade speed. I don't have 5HP, (an enormous "1 HP" very old motor, I'm sure is more like todays 2 HP) but I'm sure with the coarser blade, (I run Trimaster 3 TPI) I could double feed speeds. It does seem to be chip clearing rather than power that determines fastest possible feed speed.

[al ladd]

I have a very small power feeder (the 1/8 hp model everyone clones) for my router table that I've been meaning to try for resaw on the bandsaw but I'm afraid it's a little too fast on the slowest setting. I've seen the yt vids al ladd has posted, quite clever.

John Ten Eyk gives really helpful info above about feed speeds that are possible with the right saw and blade. But other saws and blades, in my experience and perusal of most YT resaw videos, shows very slow feed speeds, in the order of 2-6 fpm mostly. The baby feeder is indeed too fast for most resaw needs. It's also, in my experience, a bit funky at its lowest speeds. It claims 6.5 fpm, but, from the two I've owned, its sketchy. (I've actually timed these things!) With a Little Proteus, lowest feed speed will depend upon the model of brushless motor drill, which use something like software to determine their speed range. They don't go seamlessly from 0 RPM to maximum, but rather go up in discrete increments. Some model drills allow feed speeds as low as about 2 fpm with the LP--others only allow about 9-12 FPM.

I did use the Baby Feeder on my band saw for some resawing years ago. It worked well with my saw for work up to about 3" thick. But i had an awful time setting it up. Too many joints and adjustments!

[John TenEyck]

Resaw feed rate is dependent upon many factors. With my little 14" Delta it is, as you say, torturously slow. Low tension, low power, small blade. But for my larger saw with a 1.3 tpi carbide blade running near 25 ksi and a 5 hp motor driving it, it cuts 12" wide veneer very fast (I'd est. on the order of 25 fpm for many wood species) and gives an amazing quality surface, good enough to glue directly to the substrate. The fastest rate that does not overfeed the blade's ability to remove the swarf seems to give the best surface quality for me.

A power feeder is clearly the best option for quality resawing, but it needs to be easily removeable, as your device is, unless the saw is dedicated to resawing. Something that weighs more than 50 lbs or so isn't an option for me if I have to take it off the saw for other work. Fortunately, it's not hard to consistently feed by hand once you practice a little and have a featherboard pressing the work against the fence. I use an infeed and outfeed roller stand for the board to ride on and off the saw. With those two things in place, the only thing I have to concentrate on is a consistent feed rate.

John

Thanks for this info John! That's really impressive, and very helpful to me! With my 20" Davis-Wells the one time I tried the Woodmaster 1.3 TPI blades i ran into tracking trouble, but I think I'll give it another try. My saw at that time had a hairline crack at the throat I was unaware of, and so I was forced to run it at low blade speeds, and I'm sure that further reduced the low tpi blade performance. A few years ago the Davis-Wells parts guy, who really knows his stuff, diagnosed my crack, and a local blacksmith welded it successfully for me, and i was then able to double blade speed. I don't have 5HP, (an enormous "1 HP" very old motor, I'm sure is more like todays 2 HP) but I'm sure with the coarser blade, (I run Trimaster 3 TPI) I could double feed speeds. It does seem to be chip clearing rather than power that determines fastest possible feed speed.[/QUOTE]

Yes, if you have enough power, maximum cutting speed is limited by how fast the blade can clear the chips. I forgot to mention that my saw runs at 4500 fpm blade speed, which contributes to how fast it ejects chips. I've never tried calculating it, but I would guess that if you determined the tooth gullet volume of a blade per inch of blade length, there would be a direct relationship to maximum cutting speed.

John

[John Kananis]

Getting a bigger saw (and keeping the one i have for most tasks) is in the eventual plan but for now, I'm limited to using a laguna 14bx but the motor on this little guy is beastly for a 14" saw (2.5hp) so I get by. Feed rate isn't so bad considering that I'm blade-limited but I'm not moving material through the saw as though it were made of rice crispies either.

[Tom Trees]

Tall featherboards like John's and the BOW one solve the hold in problem, but for best results consistent feed speed helps a lot. For much resawing, the ideal speed is tortuously slow,

Hrmmph!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvE9...7S3WYe&index=4

In all seriousness, that powerfeeder solution very nearly made me not despise those battery throwaway tools,
as being a skimper, my leccy in the shed isn't up to much else, bar running the saw, so you can see why,
but then I remembered, a power feeder doesn't suit myself being in the wild west of sorts with a secret workshop.
Though those results can't be argued with, really impressive, I wouldn't have thought it possible.

All the best
Tom