Bandsaw Rip Cut Direction?


Mark J

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I have to resaw some 5 x5 square bocks from 2 3/4" down to 1 3/8"  so this is a rip cut.  But since the pieces are square I could orient the cut so that the bandsaw blade travels parallel to the grain or perpendicular.  Is one orientation better than the other?  Smoother?  Straighter? Safer?

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So the blocks are 5" x 5" and 2_2/4" thick. So the end grain is 5" x 2_3/4"?

I would feed the end grain into the blade eg a typical rip cut. This is how a typical resaw cut is made. The other way may work but bandsaw blades are designed to cut in a rip orientation. It's not to say the other way won't work or is unsafe, as long as you take care during the operation, it's just not a typical cut.

I believe the chainsaw world calls this a noodle cut.

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The blade shaves along the grain of the wood where as a cross cut and rip cut take shavings 90 degrees to the grain orientation.

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This is a good question. I wouldn't normally consider making a cut parallel to the grain. HOWEVER, many years ago we did demos on Inca bandsaws in 8/4 x 10" x 10" mahogany blocks with a 1/16" blade running parallel to the grain (into the end grain) through the 10" length/width. We made 10" long sliding dovetails in a single cut from edge to edge.

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16 hours ago, Coop said:

Maybe if you have extras, test each way for best results. Let us know the outcome. 

OK, I'm reporting back. 

I had half a dozen 5x5 blocks to cut down from 2 3/4" to 1 3/8".  Used 3/4" RSK.  What folks said about cutting like a standard rip cut made sense so that's what I did with most of them.  I did cut one block with the blade travel parallel to the grain. 

Not much difference.  The wood cuts noticeably more easily in the parellel orientation.  It took very little effort to advance the wood into the blade, but it didn't feel out of control.  

Smoothness was very close.  The saw marks stand out more on the parallel cut.  I did get a wee bit of end grain tear out on the parallel cut, which you can see on the bottom right.

20200304_132011.thumb.jpg.978f8e6b54cfe187d496d6f673f66bb1.jpg

20200304_132138.thumb.jpg.b99007c50234aa8d9e0d658b360d27ed.jpg

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