Dolmetscher007 Posted October 26, 2019 Report Share Posted October 26, 2019 At the moment, this is more of just an idea than an actual project, but I was wondering... Would anyone on here know of a way to reliably and accurately re-saw standard construction lumber from like a Home Depot into 3/16" - 1/4" slices or plys? I have some bent lamination ideas in mind that I may want to try out, but I want to use southern yellow pine (i.e. construction lumber). I know that if all I wanted to do is glue up and clamp thin wood to a curved frame, I could just use 1/4" plywood. But for aesthetic reasons, I really want to use solid loblolly pine (aka southern yellow pine) There is a guy on the YouTube Channel Lignum that makes a lot of stuff using bent lamination. He lives in some place like Denmark, Russia... who knows... and has access to very industrial machinery like a full on CNC robot arm. He also has this multi-blade slicer that he can feed a board into, and on the other side, it comes out sliced into thin strips. I have a pretty nice cabinet Grizzly table saw and I have the Dewalt planner. With it's 3.5" max cut height, resawing on a table saw sucks and is hella-dangerous. And even if I could get them sliced that way, I do not have a drum sander to get each ply faced and the exact same thickness. I do have a band saw, but it is a very rickety and under powered old Craftsman with no fence, and the table isn't even reliably flat. It is so under powered, that sometimes the blade will just jam and stop, mid cut, and I have to quickly kill the motor and wiggle the piece out through the kerf (not even during some crazy angle or curve, just straight resawing a 2x4.) Maybe a better question to ask is... Do you guys know if a high-output lumber yard would stock 3/16" - 1/4" s.y.p. boards already sliced and thicknessed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wimayo Posted October 26, 2019 Report Share Posted October 26, 2019 The construction lumber should not be difficult to resaw but, your band saw is the weak link here. You might try doing a general tune-up on the Craftsman making sure everything is properly aligned and the blade is properly tensioned. Also, a good sharp 3 tpi resaw blade would be very important. More power would be good but, you may not want to spend the dollars for a larger motor on that saw. If you have an extra motor that runs at the same rpm, you could try to add it in tandem as shown below. You can make an adequate resaw fence out of plywood. So, that should not be a issue If this is a one time project and you don't otherwise use the band saw much, it might be best to fix what you can and make do. Otherwise, it sounds like a good excuse (reason) to buy a bigger better saw. Resawing on the table saw should not be any more dangerous than any other rip cut assuming your narrow strip is on the off cut side. You should be able to rip part way through with one pass and then flip the piece end for end and rip the rest of the way. If the two cuts don't quite meet, finish the cut with a hand saw or saber saw with a long blade. More of your lumber will end up as sawdust this way, however. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
curlyoak Posted October 26, 2019 Report Share Posted October 26, 2019 Using construction grade lumber will be the bogey. If you could find tight and very straight grain you might have a shot. Better if you step up and get some wood that will allow bending. Quartered white oak is a possibility. If you could steam the wood that would improve your chances. With pine maybe 1/8". Not for your bandsaw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wimayo Posted October 26, 2019 Report Share Posted October 26, 2019 I agree with curlyoak that construction grade lumber will not give good finished results. I'm assuming that you are thinking of using this for mock-up or testing purposes. You will have knots and other defects that will cause problems with good smooth bending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhighlander Posted October 26, 2019 Report Share Posted October 26, 2019 Since we aren't coming up with sources for prepared thin pine stock, how about providing some details on your design idea? Understanding the form, and why you want to use SYP, might produce better advice on how to reach the goal. As an aside, stock up to nearly 7" wide can be resawn safely on a 10" tablesaw. Use a low tooth count rip blade. A tall auxilliary fence can help keep wider boards square. The secret to safety is to use a push tool that FULLY supports the stock as the blade exits the cut. A piece of 2x8 would suffice, but I would make a saddle type fixture to go over the fence, with a pushing surface that allows it to fully support the cut over the blade. With this support, the thin strip can not be pushed backwards by the blade, so is safe to cut on the fence side, eliminating the need to re-adjust every cut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drzaius Posted October 26, 2019 Report Share Posted October 26, 2019 If you really must use construction lumber, an almost universally bad idea for fine woodworking, then look for the best 2 x 10's or 12's & rip the pith out. But we really have no clue how to help without more details on what you're trying to accomplish. More info please, and maybe a sketch or 2. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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