Official Luthiers Forum! :: View topic - Several Bandsaw Questions

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Kent Chasson [ Mon Dec 10, 2007 7:06 pm ]

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I finally made room for my 16" Laguna bandsaw after leaving it a friend's shop for the last 9 years. I gave him back his 14" Delta to help make the room. So now I am debating whether to dedicate this to re-sawing and cram a second smaller saw in the shop or deal with the blade changes. I'm leaning toward the second saw because, you know, it's another toy.

But I'm not quite sold yet.

First thing is that the terribly ill-conceived old roller guides have to go. Any consensus on the new ceramic ones? Would they work equally well for a dedicated re-saw and/or a saw that was going from 1/4" to 3/4" blades? Carter doesn't seem to make any to fit Lagunas. Any other options out there?

There's quite a bit in the archives about blades but a fair amount of contradictory advice too. So if you folks that do a lot of re-sawing of tough stuff like Cocobolo wouldn't mind chiming in again, I'd be interested in recommendations. I'm not doing huge quantities so speed isn't nearly as important as getting a reliable cut with little waste.

Also, just how good can you get when tuning a saw? Right now, I have some vibration and a Timber Wolf AS-S blade that I think should be taking a .045" kerf is taking more like .065". And how close can you reasonably go to final dimension with a well tuned saw and good blade? Always trying to get that extra set out of a board.

And for those of you still with me, it seems like a sled would have some major advantages over hand feeding against a fence. For one, it seems like most wood has some case hardening that causes problems with cut accuracy when the thin slice starts to cup as it's still against the fence. Also, hand feeding can cause some blips that the mass of a sled could even out. I'm thinking of a sled that would travel about 3 feet for doing sides with maybe 4 - 6 inches of side to side travel. Take a slice, slide it over to an indexing stop on the other side of the blade, lock it down and slice again. Before I reinvent the wheel, has anyone seen anything like that? Seems like it could be done well and simply without spending a fortune on linear bearings and other specialized hardware.

Thanks in advance!

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Several Bandsaw Questions http://w-ww.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10102&t=14906	Page 1 of 1

Author:	douglas ingram [ Tue Dec 11, 2007 2:08 am ]
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One thing that I really believe in is that is cheaper to make a slightly thicker cut and have a useful piece of wood, than to cut to too close to the finish dimension and have nothing but expensive scraps if the cut doesn't go very well. Basically, being stingy is not being thrifty; being cheap can be expensive. Still, I abhor waste as much as anyone.

Author:	Arnt Rian [ Tue Dec 11, 2007 2:50 am ]
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I don't do much resawing, but I still love having two band saws, one 12" and one 24". I say go for it if you can! My big saw is a bit cumbersome to change blades on, especially if I change the blade dimension and have to adjust the guides, I don’t know if that is an issue with your saw. I remember seeing pictures of Shane Niefer's set up. He has a shop made sled arrangement for resawing, I think he said he got the idea from a FWW article. I can't find the thread now, but it is one where he shows his procedure for processing tonewood. As for how close to final dimension you can resaw, that probably depends both on the quality equipment and the skill of the sawyer. Like Douglas, I probably stay on the conservative side.

Author:	JohnAbercrombie [ Tue Dec 11, 2007 4:52 am ]
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Kent- 1- Yes, you will enjoy having two bandsaws- one for resawing and ripping, and a second, smaller 'utility' saw. 2-Laguna now provides ceramic guides with their 16" saw, though I'm not sure the same guides will fit your saw. Laguna Guides I got excellent advice from Don Dedo at Laguna via the telephone- Phone: (800) 234-1976 Ext. 9606 You should give him a call. Cheers John

Author:	Bob Garrish [ Tue Dec 11, 2007 6:29 am ]
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As someone mentioned, the Laguna saws now come with their ceramic guides. They came on my, BobC, and Don Williams' saws and I'm pretty fond of them. I use aluminum cutting blades (not from Lenox, but same geometry) for most stuff and the Resaw King for Brazilian and ebony resawing, as BobC does. With a blade that leaves a really clean cut, you can get -really- close to final dimension with a properly setup saw. I do some precision resawing for people from time to time, usually on Brazilian or something else expensive, and it makes a whole lot of difference to the customer that they can get their six slices out of an inch. The setup for that takes about an hour, just getting everything on the saw lined up perfectly.

Author:	joelThompson [ Tue Dec 11, 2007 7:04 am ]
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Just out of interest i am now using bi metal blades from a company called hankinsson they do a 4-6 tpi bi metal blade that is the best blade i have ever used on my 18" saw. I must stress that it is only the hankinsson bi metal blades that work for me i have no luck whatsoever other bi metals in the past. I will still use lennox for cutting neck blanks and ripping but with the hankinsson i can cut to 3.2mm with saw marks you hardly see. In fact it saves me having to sand with most woods (especialy rosewoods) as the saw marks are so fine. But as Bob says set up is essential and the saw HAS to be cleaned and reset up for every billet. Time consuming but critaical to good resawing. Joel.

Author:	James Ringelspaugh [ Tue Dec 11, 2007 7:13 am ]
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Hi Kent, I have an 18" saw dedicated for resawing and ripping and a little 10" Delta which I use for curves. Having the second cheap-o saw is very convenient, plus the blades for the smaller saw are much cheaper than blades for the big one so that helps recoup some of the cost of an extra saw. For resawing I really like the Lenox Trimaster. It cuts smooth, fast, and reliably. I have the 1" blade and there's absolutely no blade lead so it's really quick to set up. The kerf is large, though, I think I lose about 1/16" per cut. Another downside is that it's a pretty expensive blade. If you need a smaller kerf for a really expensive board you might look at the woodslicer blade that Highland Woodworking sells. There's pretty much zero set so it has a very thin kerf (1/32" if memory serves) and leaves a very smooth surface. It dulls very quickly though and easily wanders once dull - especially in figured wood - which can quickly ruin your day.

Author:	Bob Garrish [ Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:05 pm ]
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The resaw king is a very, very expensive blade (4-5X what I pay for the aluminum-master type blades) and because of the tooth geometry and super-thin kerf, it cuts slower and dulls much quicker than the other blades. When going for six slices, I use the Resaw King. The stellite teeth on it are a lot like a table-saw blades teeth, so they leave a very smooth surface on the wood when it's cut. If you're careful, you can essentially go to finish sanding on the surface that blade leaves. In this case, you'd be able to get 100 to 120 thou slices.

Author:	Don Williams [ Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:17 pm ]
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The new ceramic guides rock. There are basically four contact points instead of two. It holds the blade really well on track. In fact, I never have any issues with blade wander. I never have to set the fence for drift like a lot of folks do with other saws. I'm not sure how much of that has to do with the guides, but I'm betting they help a lot with it.

Author:	fryovanni [ Tue Dec 11, 2007 12:31 pm ]
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I use Lennox Woodmaster for Spruce and cedars(1" 1.3TPI), Lennox Trimaster for most other hardwoods, Occasionally I use woodslicers for low loss cutting. The problem I have found with the thin kerf tight set blades is that they do tend to wander if you do not slow down enough for them to clear extreamly well. This makes them touchy and a little more risky. If you are sawing a lot of wood, it is usually better to go for the trimaster (reliable, and speedy). Cleaning your guides and blade is HUGELY important to me. About the best way I can think of to keep things running well. I am not running ceramic guides, but am running extra wide single bearings(not the standard ball bearing style), and find they give me little trouble. I use my slider table for squaring wood more than resawing(I hate resetting things between slices). I use my fence to do most of my resawing. I did notch the outfeed side of my fence to allow for the problem you mention. As I feed the material I pretty much focus on keeping the material snug to the infeed side of my fence just before the blade. As far as kerf, I find kerf is what the kerf is. I don't have much deviation from cut to cut, which is really important when you surface the wood. You want to be able to set your sander, and feed piece after piece with no resetting. If you think your blade is wandering a bit, you may be having issues with the blade clearing the cut. If you see sawdust building up in the cut then you need to allow the blade more time to clear. I find oily woods like Cocobolo are really touchy about this as the dust really likes to clog if you try to move too fast. Good luck! Rich

Author:	JohnAbercrombie [ Wed Dec 12, 2007 5:26 am ]
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[QUOTE=Bob Garrish] I don't use the Aluminum master blades, I use some sort of bi-metal blades I got from R&D Bandsaws. [/QUOTE] Ah, now I understand- thanks, Bob. I've dealt with R&D 'a bunch' and have always been very happy with the service and the blades- good prices and the shipping is VERY reasonable- under $10 in most cases. I've had good results with their 'Little Ripper' blades (not on a Laguna, though) and at $25 (on special) for any length up to 150", the price can't be beat. Bob-if you find the R&D spec/catalog # for the blades you use, I'd appreciate it if you could pass it on. With the concerns about privacy/identity theft these days, I'm not sure that R&D would look up your invoices and find the info for me. Thanks! John PS- My Christmas present is a Laguna 16HD!

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Author:	JohnAbercrombie [ Tue Dec 11, 2007 2:49 pm ]
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[QUOTE=Bob Garrish] The resaw king is a very, very expensive blade (4-5X what I pay for the aluminum-master type blades) [/QUOTE] Bob- Where do you get your Aluminum Master CT blades? (I wanna know where to get one for $50! ) The best price I've seen online is $162 + shipping at Spectrum Supply for a 150" blade for the Laguna 16HD. Laguna is charging $240 for the Resaw King in the same size. All these prices take my breath away, anyhow..... Cheers John

Author:	Bob Garrish [ Wed Dec 12, 2007 4:00 am ]
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[QUOTE=JohnAbercrombie] Bob- Where do you get your Aluminum Master CT blades? (I wanna know where to get one for $50! ) The best price I've seen online is $162 + shipping at Spectrum Supply for a 150" blade for the Laguna 16HD. Laguna is charging $240 for the Resaw King in the same size. All these prices take my breath away, anyhow..... Cheers John[/QUOTE] I don't use the Aluminum master blades, I use some sort of bi-metal blades I got from R&D Bandsaws. I asked for something with specs as close to the AM blades as I could get since I know the other guys have had good results with them. They cut me an awfully good deal on the blades, and they were good to deal with.