Ripping Beams: Featherboard Suggestions?

[Danny Thompson]

This is related to the project described in my Crosscutting Thick Boards post.

I am ripping 12/4 x 9" x 72" boards to width. Each board is 50 lbs.

When ripping a board this big, do you find a featherboard is substantial enough to keep the board snug to the fence? Any particular kind of featherboard (or other gadget) best for this?

[John Thompson]

I use a spring-board which is about 13" wide and I made it that width. The main thing if you use a featther-board on stock that thick and heavy is to use one pretty wide as the weigh of the stock tends to throw a "bad boy" attitude at you.

If your fence is not tall enough to clamp a piece of scrap to it to help hold it down.. I would add a sacrificial fence that is tall enough. And you are wise to use friction support tables front and rear as again a thick.. heavy piece of stock is just a natural "bad boy".

I cut this kind of stuff fairly regularly as I hire out to do so lenghts averaging 10'-12'. But.. I use the proper supports all the way around to keep it on the safe side. I realize this may a one time thing for you but still.... it only takes one time for a situation to get out of control and bite you.

Good luck...

Sarge

[Frank Drew]

Danny,

If the board has a straight edge it shouldn't be too difficult to keep the wood against the fence with hand and arm pressure alone; I never (or rarely) used featherboards or other similar accessories and regularly got good results. I agree with Sarge about the utility of supports fore and aft, as needed.

[Chris Padilla]

Ugh, this sounds scary. Make sure that blade is sharp, sharp, sharp and clean, clean, clean!

I'd use a bandsaw. In fact, I find myself using my bandsaw more and more.

[Danny Thompson]

Brand new Freud Premier Fusion blade. Each board has a freshly jointed edge. Outfeed support is good. Infeed support could be better. I'll look into that.

A "spring-board," huh?

[Peter Quinn]

Good rip blade, good out feed support for the full length of the stock, a splitter to keep the kerf open if possible and a knee kick to shut the saw off would be helpful, no problem. I do this sort of thing and bigger at work daily without issue. It might be safer to make the cut in two passes, same fence setting, the first cut with the board a bit higher than half the height of the wood, flip the board end for end, finish the rip and joint the saw marks off. It relieves tension if it exists more slowly and puts less blade in play and less teeth in the wood at a given time.

Johns pressure board sounds good, but I use left hand pressure and a study right hand to guide the board. I doubt any feather board is going to hold that much wood to the fence without your help! I don't see kickback on a piece that large being a major issue, but having that much blade exposed is always a real reason for caution. I have in fact stopped a 7HP 12" cabinet dead with a similar piece of stock that sprung and bound the blade, not cute when you can't reach the shut off.

[Dino Makropoulos]

This is related to the project described in my Crosscutting Thick Boards post.

I am ripping 12/4 x 9" x 72" boards to width. Each board is 50 lbs.

When ripping a board this big, do you find a featherboard is substantial enough to keep the board snug to the fence? Any particular kind of featherboard (or other gadget) best for this?

Danny,
I just build this CrossRiper for our production needs. Not for sale...yet.
You can easily build something similar to get the job done easy and safe.
The new 10-1/4" Makita CS is a fine tunned machine
and the results are unbelievable.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=94411

You need a SLR saw, a good RAS and a good tablesaw to get the job done.
Or, build a simple bridge and solve all the problems.
The other way is to find a commercial shop and they can cut the boards in few minutes.

Good luck and post some pictures.