# Resawing question



## curly5759 (Dec 24, 2013)

Hi, I am still trying out the various tools in my shop (inherited from FIL). I have been trying my hand at resawing on the band saw (12" Craftsman). I cannot seem to saw straight. I am using a homemade fence that supports the wood I am trying to cut, the fence is square to the table and parallel to the edge of the the table.

I am trying to cut a piece of 1.5 inch square pine in half, just for practice. I tried a 1/4 inch blade and a 3/8 blade with the same results, the blade begins to curve off center within an inch. I do have the blade support about 1/4 inch or less above the wood. What am I missing?

Thanks
Curly


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

Tim,
I'll be the first to respond to your question and at the same time admit that I am not a skilled band saw operator. Due to my lack of knowledge I watched Alex Snodgrass's video on how to set up a band saw. After following his instructions, re-sawing was not a problem. Right now I'm in the process of learning about how to choose the right blade for a job. Generally speaking I have not had much of a broblem with any blade that I have tried. At one time I did some accurate re-sawing with a little 1/8" blade. 

Most of the problems that I have encountered with my BS is that of breaking blades and after some time have started to come to the conclusion that have been "over tensioning" my blades. I'm working on learning about tension. Reading about it has not been of much value to me as most what is written is subjective to one's interpretation which leads me to have to learn from my own experience just like most of what I have learned about woodworking. Some people can follow other people's instructions better than others I guess.

So, Goodle Alex Snodgrass and try to find his video, it should be of great help to you.

Jerry


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## fire65 (Oct 29, 2008)

Have not seen your saw, but as Jerry says. Properly set up with the right blade you should have no problem resawing something that size. Once the blade gets worn you will have wandering. I have always heard about setting drift angle on bandsaws and have always done it. My new saw works fine using the fence, so spend the time to learn to set up your saw.


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## kp91 (Sep 10, 2004)

I don't resaw on the bandsaw a lot, but when I do I use a method similar to this one. This guy's fence is a lot nicer than mine....

Resaw Fence for Bandsaw


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## BrianS (Nov 7, 2004)

Hi Tim. Follow Jerry's advice and check out Alex's video. I've seen him in person at a couple different wood shows and he is really good at what he does. Use the widest blade you can put on your 12" bs and also the coarsest one... 6tpi is good. The fence Doug suggested is also pretty good as it allows you to adjust your wood to compensated for the blade drift.


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## curly5759 (Dec 24, 2013)

Thanks all for the input. I found the video, boy, Alex knows his stuff. I didn't think you could change the direction of the wood as fast as he does when sawing the curves. 
I saw the same model of BS that I own in the background of the video. Too bad he didn't demo on that. 

I'd link to the video, but don't have 10 posts yet. 

Curly


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## Herb Stoops (Aug 28, 2012)

I have a BS with the riser block for extra cutting height. I do all my resawing on the bandsaw. I learned a long time ago that band saws have a drift in the cutting regardless of what others say. 
The way I compensate for that is to take a 1x board around 3' long and draw a straight line from end to end some where close to the'' center of the board.
Put a strip of masking tape on the forward and back edge of the table.
make a cut freehand carefully following the line on the board. Half way through stop and turn off the saw. Then don't move the board and make a mark on the tape both front and back. This shows the drift of the blade. Set your fence and adjust it to the marks on the tape. it will not be square with your table. But your fence will move parallel to the marks when you make your set up. Also I mount a board 6"-8" hi on the fence to make sure the material has support.

Grain in the material sometimes deflects the cut. when this happens I stop switch ends with the material and finish the cut. It will usually straighten out.
Hope this helps,
Herb


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## coxhaus (Jul 18, 2011)

Did you start with new blades or did the blades come with the saw? I would try a new Timberwolf blade just to make sure the blade is not the problem. As blades wear they can develop drift.

One other thing is the guides need to be below the gullet of the blade. If the teeth run on the guide it will trash the blade which can develop drift.


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## sunnybob (Apr 3, 2015)

Theres a very simple answer to the blade drifting badly after 1" cutting..... Slow Down.
I learnt this the hard way, so youre getting good advice cheaply. Let the blade do its job. It cant possibly cut straight if the wood is being forced.

Usually you would pick a blade that has 3 but no more than 4 teeth for every inch depth of wood. If there are, or if the wood is moving too fast, the teeth cant remove the dust fast enough and the blade clogs up, then its just the blade flexing sideways under pressure. If the only blade you have has too many teeth, youre reduced to a snails pace.

Learning the feed speed is 80% of bandsawing. If you go too fast, it wanders, too slow and then the wood starts to darken and burn on the cut.


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## cocobolo1 (Dec 31, 2015)

Even on backyard sawmills with 19" wheels and 1 1/4" wide blades, 7/8" pitch, the blades will wander.

In this case, 99% of the time it is due to the blade getting dull. As long as the blades are kept sharp, with SUFFICIENT SET, there's rarely any trouble.

You are actually starting out with a bandsaw that will have difficulty due to its' small size. Bigger is almost always better for resawing.

Look for a blade with 4 TPI or less if they make such a thing for a 12" bandsaw. Feel the set of the teeth and get one with as much set as possible (within reason) and you will find that it cuts better. Wider is better as well.

You can buy sharpeners and setters, but they are atrociously expensive. I think it would be possible to make your own if you are mechanically inclined. The setter is quite simple, the sharpener is another story.


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## sunnybob (Apr 3, 2015)

The other 20% of sawing correctly is the guide adjustment.
Many people go to great lengths to set the side guides correctly, and then screw up the back guide.

The back guides job is to protect the teeth.

Once the side guides are set so that the leading edge of the guide / bearing is about an 1/8" behind the gullets of the teeth, push the blade back by hand and set the rear guide so that the blade can not go far enough back for the teeth to hit the guides (bearings). If the rear guide is set too far forwards the blade will wander under pressure. If the rear guide is set too far back the side bearings will grind the teeth edges away and the blade will go blunt in minutes.


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

I've posted this before but my resaw fence is a piece of MDF with a couple coats of sanding sealer and I use as wide a blade as my saw will take, in this case it's a 1" Resaw King carbide toothed blade. The guides are set per spec but they aren't touching the blade and the blade is tensioned properly. I go at whatever pace the wood dictates; some I can cut fast but others I need to slow down but either way you have to allow the blade to do the work and clear the chips and I never force it to cut.

I have the same setup on my 12" King-Seeley bandsaw, just everything is smaller - smaller fence, smaller blade, and I cut smaller pieces of wood on it but the principle is the same.


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## mgmine (Jan 16, 2012)

In addition to what has already been said I like to use the table saw first. I make a cut on both edges of the board as deep as I can. This gives me a groove to follow and makes the cut easier because there isn't as much to cut through. This won't work if your blade isn't tensioned enough or if your table isn't adjusted to your blade.


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## chessnut2 (Sep 15, 2011)

Well said, Jerry.


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## Danman1957 (Mar 14, 2009)

While on this subject, I recently aquired some 2'' thick slabs of European Walnut from my landlord. They have been here in the garage for several years and he is not a woodworker and has no tools, so I convinced him to sell them. Is this a very hard and dense wood ? how does it compare with our North American version? how big a band saw is needed to resaw these?


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## David Dickson (Oct 30, 2015)

*Alex Snodgrass's video on how to set up a band saw*



Jerry Bowen said:


> Tim,
> I'll be the first to respond to your question and at the same time admit that I am not a skilled band saw operator. Due to my lack of knowledge I watched Alex Snodgrass's video on how to set up a band saw



Here is a link to Alex's video:-


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

and the blade is tensioned properly. 


David,
The video is very cute, I liked it. My question has to do with your term "and the tension is set properly". That's an area that I have not yet gotten a handle on. I have read many descriptions of how to set the tension on a BS blade but have not been able to get it right so far. 

I think that I have been over tensioning my blades as I keep breaking them. I'm trying to let off on the tension now but all I can do is go by trial and error until I find where the blade cuts like I want it to and the blade does not break. 

Just to be clear, the blades often last a considerable length of time, maybe several months but they eventually break. The break never occurs when I'm sawing but when only when the saw is running and I have stepped away from it, sometimes the break occurs after the saw has been turned off and the wheels are still turning.

I do take the tension off when the saw is not in use.

Any comment would be appreciated, I have listened to several people describe what they do to set the tension on their saws so I'm not sure what good it will do for you to try to tell me what you do, but the term you used just got my attention and I decided to ask anyway.

Jerry


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## difalkner (Jan 3, 2012)

Jerry Bowen said:


> and the blade is tensioned properly.
> 
> 
> David,
> ...


What I've always done on my 12" bandsaw, Jerry, is to tension the blade by tone. With power off, guards off, and on the back side of the blade opposite the guides (on the long left side between wheels), I actually pluck the blade and listen to the tone. If it's a dull thud it isn't tensioned enough and if it is a very high pitch it's probably tensioned too tightly. I've done it this way on several bandsaws and I don't recall having any issues for the last 30-40 years. But I also cook by 'feel' (pinch of this, a dash of that...) and tune my guitars by ear so this just works for me.

One reason I do it that way is because most bandsaws don't have good tension gauges. My 12" doesn't at all and the 14" Jet and 14" Delta I had years ago in my woodworking business didn't have good ones either. My 32" Crescent didn't even have one but it was a 1909 model. Those are long gone but the Laguna 14 SUV we got two years ago has a very good tension gauge so I actually use the one provided. 

If you're putting so much tension on the blade that the frame is flexing then that's way too much. I would try listening to the blade and see what it's telling you. 

Hope this helps!
David


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## sunnybob (Apr 3, 2015)

The best way of tensioning I have come across is the flutter test. Sometimes the blade wont be EXACTLY still, buthave a minor twitch every so often, but overall, this works for me.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

*Nuts!*



Danman1957 said:


> While on this subject, I recently acquired some 2'' thick slabs of European Walnut from my landlord. They have been here in the garage for several years and he is not a woodworker and has no tools, so I convinced him to sell them. Is this a very hard and dense wood ? how does it compare with our North American version? how big a band saw is needed to resaw these?


Hey, Dan; nice score!!!
It's known by several different names, *Carpathian Walnut* is the one most often found when looking for a nursery plant, but *English* or *European Walnut* appears to be the common choice when looking at the hardwood end of the stick. Juglans _regia_ is the botanical name.

English Walnut | The Wood Database - Lumber Identification (Hardwoods)
Hearne Hardwoods a retailer of english walnut lumber, english walnut slabs, figured english walnut, european walnut, english walnut slabs, english walnut hardwoods, flat sawn english walnut, walnut from the eastern united states and united kingdom, w

The tree is fairly common in NA but not as common as our Black Walnut (Juglans _*****_ )
Did I mention that the Carpathian Walnut is the preferred variety for its nuts?


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

To Both Bob and David,
Your posts really meant a lot to me. I am going to confess my gross ignorance that you have helped me with. I have not been not been backing the the guide bearing off as described in both the video and your instructions David. I've heard of the fludder test and until now did not understand it, sure will try it. I'll try your "tone" test too David.

I suppose that like brain. surgery, it's the little things that make the difference between success and failure.

Jerru


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

I just got a 14/Twelve Laguna mainly for resawing, but haven't been home long enough to put in their Resaw King blade (3/4 inch), but by following the Snodgrass video advice I got the half inch blade tracking so it was centered on the tire, just behind the gullets, and used thier built in tensioning gauge which worked like a champ. I wound up with a piece 1/8th thick that only varied by a few thousanths from end to end. I think the wider Resaw King will do even better, in part because there is no offset on its teeth, as there was on the half inch blade. A real resaw blade will have deep gullets and I think most of the good ones have no tooth offset. 

On my 14 inch Delta, however, the gauge was useless, so I did both the pluck and the push with a finger (deflection) test to get tension right. If I press on the side of the blade with the guard out of the way, I want it to deflect no more than about 1/8th to 1/4 inch with moderate pressure. 

The difference between the two saws seems to be the quality and heaviness of the tensioning spring. Over not that much use, the spring on the Delta has weakened, and I think the lower quality spring's resistance to compression really varies from unit to unit and even blade to blade. I know you can order higher quality springs for the Delta and similar designs from other manufacturers. I think the Powermatic has a pretty high quality tensioning spring as well, but I have only seen the diaplay models, so I'm not certain of that.

Don't forget that feed rate has an effect on resawing. You don't want to apply very much feed pressure, but let the teeth cut at its own rate. Applying pressure drives the blade back, where it touches the guide, which will generally trigger wandering on the front edge. If you are getting drift, i think you have to differentiate between a consistent cut not parallel to the miter slot and fence, vs. a blade that changes direction progressively as you use it. As I said, the wandering stopped when I set the blade so it centered on the wheel just behind the gullets. But the fence adjustment is needed to align with the slight, but consisten blade offset from square. Once I did that, i got consistent thickness, so long as I made the cut with a slow, no pressure feed rate.

Hope all this works for you. I'm going to sell my Delta in the shop, and keep the Laguna in my wood prep area in the garage. For shop duties, I will use a small 9 inch delta, which with a wider blade will handle almost everything I use a band saw for in the shop itself. I'm traveling now, but itching to get my hands back on that laguna. Hope this helps. I too appreciated the flutter test video, I have heard of it, but never quite understood how to do it.


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

@Jerry Bowen One last thing I forgot to mention. I round over the back of all my blades. I found a small stone glued to a wood handle at Rockler for this purpose. Blades run smoother and there is a subtle change in how well they track after rounding over and smoothing the back of the blade. Only takes half a minute or so to do this. It will also reveal a bad weld (it happens) by the sound when the stone runs over the weld, and by a slight catch or deflection you'll feel through the handle. You will also find there is a lube stick for the bandsaw blade that reduces friction during a cut, but I always manage to misplace this so I probably have a couple of these somewhere or other.

Here's the smoother https://www.amazon.com/Olson-AC7001...7900&sr=8-10&keywords=band+saw+blade+smoother

Here's the blade lubricant stick https://www.amazon.com/Olson-AC7001...07900&sr=8-1&keywords=band+saw+blade+smoother


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## Jerry Bowen (Jun 25, 2011)

Tom,
You brought up something that I had not thought of until now and that has to do with the difference in the prices of the high end saws and the lower priced Grizzlies. Now I'm knocking the Grizzly product, my saw is a Grizzly as everybody knows and I love it. 

I am starteing to suspect, from what you said Tom, that the high end saws such as your new Laguan or a Jet for example are made for production work and maybe the Grizzly is made for us hobbist, I don't know that of course, but the issue of the tension spring is what I had not thougt of until now. I suspect that the material in the high end springs may make a difference in cost, heck I don't know, but it might be an issue.

I have never had any problem with re-sawing with any blade after setting the tracking as Alex suggests. As I said earlier, even with a 1/8" blade that definitely is not made for re-sawing can be used, I made several cuts from a six inch tall piece of oak that was about 20" long and had only three or four thousandths variation from one end to the other. I made the cuts slow and steady. I only did those cuts for the heck of it just to see what would happen.

I don't think that I wil ever run out of things to learn about woodworking. This forum, as I have said so often, certainly adds to the enjoyment of the hobby. I seriously doube if one could find a source of information for the subject that would be better.

After posting this I looked at the prices of the Laquana and the Jet saws and found that they are not as pricey as I assumed they were.

Jerry


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## DesertRatTom (Jul 3, 2012)

Jerry Bowen said:


> Tom, I am starteing to suspect, from what you said Tom, that the high end saws such as your new Laguan or a Jet for example are made for production work and maybe the Grizzly is made for us hobbist, I don't know that of course, but the issue of the tension spring is what I had not thougt of until now. I suspect that the material in the high end springs may make a difference in cost, heck I don't know, but it might be an issue.
> 
> After posting this I looked at the prices of the Laquana and the Jet saws and found that they are not as pricey as I assumed they were.
> 
> Jerry


 @Jerry Bowen Yeah, the Laguna spring is double the diameter and the thickness of the Delta's. There are a lot of things about the Laguna that are built really well. It uses a rack and pinion to crank the blade guard and guides up and down, while the Delta uses a post you lock with a lock nut. The bearings on the Laguna are really heavy duty and the table casting is really well done. 

I think Laguna's owner takes pride in heavy duty engineering. I waited until the thing was on sale at Rockler, so I paid less than $ 1K for the saw, but got the mobile base. The light they make for this is kind of goofy, so I passed on that. 

The case weighs in at about 320 lbs. But Laguna has a 14 part video on how to set it up, and I managed to do the setup alone. Took the parts out of the top of the box, then slid it off the end of the truck and guided it down to the floor. You "walk" body of the saw to a couple of 4x6's and I just tilted it and let it down gently on one of the 4x6s, then lifted the bottom up onto the other 4x6, which lets you attach the assembled base. I'm 73, but was easily able to tilt the whole thing vertical to finish assembly.

I really love the precision of this thing. I have a Laguna Fusion table saw that I also love. I'm still working so the extra couple of hundred in price over the Griz and Jet was not a problem. I bought a ResawKing 3/4 inch blade but haven't installed or used it yet. But I got a great resawn piece about 1/8th thick with the half inch blade. I'm going to be checking into local tree service people to see if I can score some hardwood to mill. I set the Laguna up in my garage with the jointer and planer, so I intend to use if mainly for wood prep. I'll keep a small 10 inch saw in the shop for the occasional trimming. The flat garage floor will make it easier to set up a jig to hold the log. I do have a 5 ft chunk of ash to try it out on.

I've given up on buying also-ran tools, the difference in performance is worth it to me, and as long as I have the income, I'm going to get what I want. Tom


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## Danman1957 (Mar 14, 2009)

*Walnut*

Thanks Dan, 
Is it very hard ? what other hardwoor would you compare it to as far as cutting and planing or jointing ?


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## cocobolo1 (Dec 31, 2015)

Jerry Bowen said:


> I think that I have been over tensioning my blades as I keep breaking them. I'm trying to let off on the tension now but all I can do is go by trial and error until I find where the blade cuts like I want it to and the blade does not break.
> 
> The break never occurs when I'm sawing but when only when the saw is running and I have stepped away from it, sometimes the break occurs after the saw has been turned off and the wheels are still turning.
> 
> ...


Jerry: All bandsaw blades have a finite life.

Interesting that you say your blades only break when you are NOT actually cutting wood. My experience has been exactly the opposite.

I used to run a Lumbermate bandmill, 19" wheels and cut softwood almost exclusively.

While it is true that blade tension is critical to long life, so is sharpening and setting.

The typical life span of a 144" x 1/14" blade was 2,200 board feet of lumber. During that time it may have been sharpened perhaps half a dozen times. Setting would only need to be done every second or third sharpening, depending on how dull the blade was, which would also depend on the quality of the logs one was cutting.

A blade will develop a crack shortly before it breaks, and if you are quick enough you can get the saw shut off and save some flying steel going all over hell's half acre. The blade guards would stop any part of a broken blade from getting to the operator, but it was always an exciting experience.

Working alone, I may be able to cut 2,000+ board feet of wood in a week. By this time, the blade may not necessarily have broken, but it would be "dead". Having travelled at 120 m.p.h. and going through thousands of lineal feet of wood, that blade will have lost its' temper.

At that point, no amount of sharpening will help.

It might be that when one of your blades breaks but you are not actually cutting wood, that the blade has simply reached the end of its' useful life. It may well also indicate that your tension is indeed too high. You would be surprised at how low you can have the tension and still cut wood effectively.

Yes, it is a good thing to back the tension off as soon as you are finished cutting. If I was going to have the machine off for 10 or 15 minutes while dogging up a new log, I would always back the tension off.

Those machines have a tension guide on them, but frankly, it is just a sticker on the back of the frame. I had no faith in that at all, preferring to use a tension that felt right and that came after a relatively short amount of experience using the machine. 

You will find that if you use the machine frequently, that it will become second nature to be able to tension the blade properly. Just like any other machine work, the more you use it the better you get.


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## mgmine (Jan 16, 2012)

Tensioning depends on the blade. Both the type of blade and the size of the blade. The flutter method is for low tension blades. for a regular blade a good rule of thumb is 1/4" deflection for narrower blades like 1/4" blades and 3/8 to 1/2" for wider blades. As a ball park I tension them about the same measure as the the width of the blade. Meaning that if it's a 1/4" blade I'll tension it about 1/4". A 1/2" blade I'll tension it more and up to 1/2" but not necessary 1/2". Go by what the manufacture recommends. I back off both the top and bottom bearings and clamp a ruler to the trunnions then simply push on the blade until it reaches the measurement I'm looking for. The bearings must be backed off to do it correctly.


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