Creative Woodworks & crafts 1999-04, страница 30

WES' WORKSHOP

Subject: Resawing and Safety

by Wes Demarest

It's the blade

In the last column, I mentioned watching Barbara Peters of PS Wood Machines demonstrating Timber Wolf brand band saw blades. She conducts her demonstration on a band saw with no tension—and she makes intricate cuts. Her demonstration really got my attention.

I own a 14" Delta band saw onto which I eventually installed a two horsepower motor, as Lhe original 1/2-horsepower motor kept heating up and the thermal overload would shut the motor off in the middle of a cut. I have resawn a lot of stock to 3/8", 1/4", and 1/8" thick. I've used blades from 3/16" lo 3/4" with every tooth configuration imaginable, all with varying degrees of success. Normally; if the piece we are cutting off is not important, it turns out perfcct; however, if it is absolutely critical—look out!

Most resawing failures are the result of a dull blade, or not keeping the stock perfectly flat against the fence or table. Well, Lhe Timber Wolf blade has made Lhe chore of resawing stock a pleasure. After a lot of use, I haven't managed to dull lhe blade yet, and 1 must be keeping the board flat and square because every cut is coming out better than expected with far less effort. It's really neat to cut a slice lhat you can nearly see through, especially when that was your intention. Be sure to follow the instructions included with the blade for best results, as it docs not require as much tension as other brands.

Resawing a fiberous wood. In this case, douglas fir.

Unsightly fiber build-up

There is one thing that can throw-any blade off regardless of how well your saw is set up, Lhe build-up of long, fine slivers and wood fibers that accumulate in the throat of the tabic behind Lhe blade. As lhe fibers build up, il puts a bump on the table that can cause the board to change its alignment with Lhe blade while it's cuLting. Once that happens, you are going to geL a cut other than you expected; usually, a lot thinner on one side than you want.

This is particularly troubling when you make a long, full width cuL, especially if you have inslalled a riser kit or have a saw that will cut a 12" slice. Be sure to remove any build-up between each cut. if you have an air compressor and can blow the fibers out you may not even have to shut Lhe saw off. Bui if your saw is equipped with a throal plate, by all means, shut il off. The air pressure may lift the plale off and inlo the path of Lhe moving blade.

Imagine a speeding plale in a cloud of dust, talk about exciting! Or maybe you feel thai you can take a skinny

Fiber build-up behind the blade.

little stick or two ancl pluck the mess out, just like using chop slicks, and saving a little time. Ha! If you try that, you are filing your membership application to the F.U.O.R.B.P.A.P.O.M.F.W.W.G (Federated Union of Reconstructed Body Parts and Partial or Missing Finger Wood Worker's Guild). We don't have a secret sign because some of our members can't do one, so we had to give up on secrecy. Heck, all anyone has to do is look at us and we'd be exposed anyway.

But seriously...

Don't think thai I take safely lightly. 1 don't! If you haven't had a woodworking accident, don't stop doing what you've been doing to avoid Ihem. NEVER EVER do something in the shop wilhout planning your moves first. Think the operation through in its individual steps looking for anything that can go wrong anc allow yourself enough space around your equipment.

Space is my biggest problem. I col- I lect wood. Not for the sake of just having it, but to use someday..eventually! We even bought a Woodmiser LT 15 so that we could Lake advantage of logs that were normally destined to | be firewood.

The wood we like to use is seldom I found in a lumberyard, and with the mill we are no longer short of Lhe unusual stuff. Alice will not let me throw out ANY scrap pieces. She says there is no such thing as scrap wood. If we can't use it in one of our | projects, one of the olher woodworking members of our family will. That I number is now up Lo six or seven. (I have trouble counting on my fingers, and I've got Lhe better pari of ten of [ ihem!)

Now, besides the boxes of "scrap" wood, we have a whole bunch ofl stickered and drying wood that usually blocks my bench, my lay-up table, and generally takes up enough floor spacc for another shop. But you jusl can't put that kind of sluff outside, even under a larp, and it does have its benefits. 1 don't need an exercise machine what with lifling all that wood | lo make room for the nexl project.

As I menlioned in my first column, I don't prelend to I know all the answers. What I have learned I usually learned the hard way, but I am willing to pass along my experiences and any information that I might have, or possibly steer you in the right direction. Just drop me a line at: Uncle Wes' Workshop, P.O. Box 7138, Sussex, NJ 07461. Please include a self-address, stamped envelope, or e-mail me at <unclewes@warwick.nct>. Until next| time, be careful.!