Cutting 4" Boards down to 2"

[Connor Aston]

My table saw is too small to rip the boards up the middle and my bandsaw is too small any ideas folks?

[Bewildered]

4" wide, or 4" thick? If wide, I don't understand the problem. If thick, I have used a ts on the top and on the bottom, and then cut the web out with a handsaw or a bs. Of course if your wood is 4" thick and 10" wide, that will not be a great solution.

[cyrille de Brebisson]

hello,

use a bandsaw... or rip on both side with your table saw and finish with a hand saw in the middle..

cyrille

[lwasserm]

Are you trying to rip 4 inch thick stock into 2 inch thick stock? Or? Give us a better idea of what you are starting with and what results you are after.

[C & E]

Hello... Conner??? Are you there? Folks need your input so that they can make the proper suggestions. Drop a line to one or all of these posts. Response is always appreciated. No flame intended.

(apologies for the top-post - just trying to get OPs attention.)

[Donna]

[HerHusband]

A few years ago, I needed to cut 1x8 lumber into two thinner boards, for bending to fit a curved window frame. I didn't own a bandsaw, and my old Craftsman table saw is limited to about a 2-1/2" cut. The boards were also ten feet long, which would have made hand cutting a lot of work.

After evaluating my options, I chose to buy a second board for $40 and use my surface planer to plane the two boards down to the 1/4 inch I needed. I hated reducing 1/2" of each board to planer shavings, but it was still the cheapest option I had available. And, the results actually turned out very nice.

Today I would use my new Grizzly G0555 bandsaw (with riser block) to resaw the boards. But, at the time I couldn't afford to buy a new tool. Sometimes you just have to make do with the tools you have.

A couple of other thoughts....

1. Rip the boards into a size that will fit your bandsaw. Resaw the boards to the desired thickness, then edge glue them back together.

1. Use your tablesaw to cut as deeply as you can down each edge. Then go back and complete the cut with a handsaw. The two cuts will help guide the handsaw.

Anthony

[Michael Hearn Anna Houpt]

Rip one side then turn upside down and rip again. This way you only need a blade to cut 1/2 the thickness. You will need a fence to do this...

[Lou]

I agree Mike, this way you can use a handsaw to finish the job, or spend the $20 for a cheap sawsall and a longer blade and be done. Lou

[Connor Aston]

Sorry folks working all weekend. Thanks for the advice I think cutting the 8" wide x 4" boards each side and finishing with a handsaw is the best option. And as for $40 boards try $200 by the time the redwood travels across the Atlantic to Ireland. Thanks for the help.

[HerHusband]

$200 a board? Ouch. When you start getting into those prices, it starts making financial sense to buy a bandsaw, unless this is a one time deal.

In my case, an extra $40 board was a lot cheaper than investing $500 in a new bandsaw.

Anthony