I needed to re-saw an 8-1/2"x8' section of the 3/4" bamboo plywood I'musing for our bathroom(s) remodel to end up with a thinner piece toveneer the side of a cabinet.I have an old Jet 14" bandsaw that, like most, can only cut 6" high. Themore I read about bandsaws, the more read about how the guides aren'tthat necessary for a saw that is properly set-up and tensioned. That gotme thinking.....I decided to see how high I could cut without the guides in place. Thesaw's case only allowed about 7-1/2" inches to pass under it. I openedthe front case and noticed the back case was a bit higher, but it stillonly allowed about 8-1/4" to pass under. So, I cut out another 1/2' fromthe saw case to allow my 8-1/2" plywood to pass under it. See the picfor where I cut the case and bent it back, near the bolt at the top.... I needed to set up the saw as perfectly as I could. I adjusted thetop section of the saw to correct for the wheels that were not perfectlycoplaner. I bought a new 3/4" Timber Wolf re-saw blade and installed inon the saw. As I was tensioning the blade, the tires started to comeoff. They were original and pretty messed up, so I decided to instal newones. After new tires, I adjusted the tracking and tension and ran some7" scraps to determine where the blade was leading and marked it on thetable. It was cutting straight and like buttah, so I decided to get thebamboo and go for it.The short story: it worked and did a really good job. It cut straightand the blade didn't bow or wander throughout the height of the cut.The long story.... the saw is way too underpowered for this, obviously.I popped the little 15amp breaker on the power strip in which the sawwas plugged, so I plugged it directly into a dedicated outlet. The sawstalled out a couple times. Near the end of the total length, it wasreally bogging down. The blade was still plenty sharp and I think it wasjust taxing the motor too much.BTW, I made the cut with the front case OPEN. I don't recommend notchingout the...

Nobody!? I expected to catch a lot of crap over this. :-)Too long, maybe.

How to Re-saw 9" On a 14" Bandsaw Without a Riser.

Sep 23, 2012 21 Replies

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Puckdropper 13 years ago

-MIKE- wrote in news:k438n2$t8a$1 @speranza.aioe.org:

Did you spend all your money on the plywood, then? A riser block kit for a bandsaw runs in the sub-$100 range. I think mine was around $60 for the Powermatic kit. (It works just fine on the Jet saw, just doesn't look pretty).

The motor might not handle resawing at the full depth, but just because you have the ability to cut 12" with a riser doesn't mean you have to.

Puckdropper

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-MIKE- 13 years ago

I guess the point is, I wanted to try it to see if it would work, before buying the riser and longer blade. If it didn't work, I lost nothing and I would get the riser and blade and continue. But it worked and the first project is done... I'm on to the second.

I also learned a lot about what's really important when re-sawing.

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