What type of TS blade to "resaw" QS White Oak?

Jan 21, 2008 9 Replies

I need to split some 4/4 x 2" QS White Oak to make some thin stiles approximately 3/8" thick (minus half a saw kerf) for a paneling system. The exact finished thickness is not important but I do need to resaw the wood in half so that all pieces have very close to the same finished thickness.



I don't have a bandsaw but I do have a 20 year old reasonable quality Sears contractors saw.


- What type of blade is best to use for this?



- Will this work reasonably on a table saw or do I need to find someone with a bandsaw or other tool to do it properly?


A good quality, sharp rip blade.

I did it before I had a band saw, and it can work OK. You might get a touch of burning. You'll need a handsaw to finish the cut.

- Adjust the cut depth to remain inside the limitations of your saw, you may need to make multiple passes.

- Use a short splitter or riving knife. There's LOTS of wood for the saw to grab here! You can easily make a short splitter like shown here:

- Leave a decent uncut center rib to be finished with a handsaw. Do not try to cut all the way through or leave a center rib small enough to break on it's own.

He's only talking about resawing boards that are 2" wide, so I don't think this is necessary.

Chris

I agree. For some reason, I was thinking 2" thick, but wide enough to need top and bottom passes.

For 2" thick stuff, it might be worth building a quickie holding / pushing jig to get the final for through the blade as the stock gets narrower.

Barry - What is the purpose of the handsaw? Given that wood is only 2" wide, shouldn't it cut in a single pass since I have a 10" blade.

And yes, I will use a push stick to finish up the cut

My concern was more about the burning since the cut surface won't be showing. Given that my primary concern is uniformity of the cut so that the wood lies flat on the panel and lines up with other pieces, am I better off going through in one pass (at the risk of some burn) rather than doing it in multiple passes?

(and unfortunately, I don't have a thickness planer either :)

There isn't one. ;^) I had a bad mental picture. When resawing wider stock on the TS, you'd cut one side, flip it, and cut the other. I missed the 2" cue.

You don't need multiple passes, see above.

A good, low tooth count (20-24 teeth) rip blade will eliminate a lot of burning.

Don't forget the splitter. It'll help both quality and safety.

If I understand you correctly, you want to cut stock that is 1" thick and 2" wide so that you get two equal pieces, approximately 3/8" thick and 2" wide?

If so ... What I do/would do:

~ Install a good quality/sharp combination or rip blade on the table saw.

~ Use the formula: (stock thickness - blade kerf thickness)/2 = distance to set blade from fence.

Example with stock thickness of 1" (16/16") and a blade kerf of 1/8" (2/16"):

(16/16 - 2/16) = 14/16 / 2 = 7/16 distance from blade to fence.

~ With your blade high enough to make your cut through the 2" stock, and using a featherboard just in front of the blade to hold stock against the fence, use a push stick to make your cuts.

Providing you measure your stock thickness and blade kerf carefully, this should get you close enough to have two, equally thick, pieces of usable stock from each cut ... with only some judicious sanding left to do.

On a table saw, use a thin ripping blade.

With a 10" blade you can cut one side and flip it around and cut the other side. I like to position the blade such that 1/4" is uncut after both cuts, then separate the two with a hand saw. I found this method is much faster than a band saw, although the width cut is limited on a table saw. I'm very comfortable using a table saw, but others prefer a band saw.

18 tooth flat ground thin kerf 20 degree hook rip blade You could go as many as 24 teeth or have a saw shop modify a thin kerf 24 tooth rip blade into a tripple chip configuration. Fewer teeth =3D less burning.

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