Thread: How to efficiently cut slabs for scales?

Japanese pull saws are excellent saws. Because they cut on the pull they can't buckle like a regular push saws would. This allows for some extremely thin kerfs to be used. I have 2 japanese Kataba saws and one dazuki. I love them and use them constantly. They would work for this case but a bandsaw is much easier if one is available to you.

Well thanks gents! That's a ton of great info. As it turns out I have a neighbor that has a bandsaw and is more than willing to slice my stock for me. Don't know why I didn't think of that earlier (old age, decrepitude, proximity of legal weed... who knows). Anyway, you've convinced me that I should probably get a bandsaw at some point. ...and I JUST finished creating a workshop in my garage (100% filled now). So I guess something has to go already to make room for it - but that's the way it goes with this.

Thanks for the great info on bandsaws, Japanese saws, and other things I can use.

Mike

I make musical instruments professionaly.
for inspiration you can youtube the techniques used to resaw musical instrument sides (guitars, lutes, violins etc...) mostly done with a bandsaw and a fence.

If you have large stock of exotic hardwoods a bandsaw will be the way to go. However, one must know how to setup the bandsaw very well in order to reduce the amount of waste. If you have access to a table saw it is also good given the thin kerf blades you can get for them leave a beter finish than a bandsaw and less work will be required to remove the saw marks. Often times though the bandsaw cuts a thiner kerf, more material is lost removing the saw marks and it is equivalent to a table saw which also has the advantage of cutting straighter. now for thin stuff we are dealing with here, a band saw is 10000 times safer and so thats the main reason I favor it.

Ultimately, when I am making razor scales I'll only use handtools as much as I can. +1 on the recomendation on japanese handsaws that work on the pull. If your stock is smaller size or you can cut to size with a handsaw (6"x2"x2") then you can build yourself a saw guide using a scrap peice of wood that ensures you saw is traveling deadstraight, takes the guess work out of that. just insert your blank into your jig/guide you make and use it to guide your saw back and forth to cut slices as thin as you want and peacfully while listening to the birds chirping.

Originally Posted by samircanada

If you have access to a table saw it is also good given the thin kerf blades you can get for them leave a beter finish than a bandsaw and less work will be required to remove the saw marks. Often times though the bandsaw cuts a thiner kerf, more material is lost removing the saw marks and it is equivalent to a table saw which also has the advantage of cutting straighter. now for thin stuff we are dealing with here, a band saw is 10000 times safer and so thats the main reason I favor it.

LOL I tried to explain this once about 3 years ago, but eventually gave up and continued cutting blanks with a Thin Kerf Table saw blade..

I have a very special piece of hardware to make it safer too A piece of 2x6 Pine and a double sided piece of tape You could also invest in a reverse fence

I have a properly set up Bandsaw too but I can cut blanks way faster and way more accurately with the table saw...

Originally Posted by Geezer

I agree with Pix, I use a mag base that I can move and lock down on the table so I can slice some slightly bent stock and blocks. Horn slabs are often bent a bit~

~Richard

Exactly what I do. I might think the same technique could work for a scroll saw, but it would certainly be using the saw in a way it wasn't designed to be used. Resawing stock into thin slabs is the domain on the bandsaw.

My question is in regards to the next step... The final thinning.

So I resaw a pair of thin slabs so they are bookmatched. But I want to thin them down further and remove any blade scrub. Do most of you do the thinning by hand with a plane, hand held belt sander or bench sander? That leaves a fair amount of work to make sure they are the same thickness.

I've been trying to think of a way to run them through a surface planer to be sure the thickness is the same. Possibly adhere them to a larger piece as a carrier block and pass the whole thing through the planer? Am I trying to over engineer this? I know there is something to be said for hand work, but I have the tools and could surface plane a dozen slabs down to under .1 in the time it takes to hand sand just one.

+++++band saw

I have three but the one I use most is a $130 saw. bands are cheep.
here is a link:9 in. Bench Top Band Saw
This thing is a work horse. It forgives me if I leave it be for months. I clean the rubber on the wheels with a paper towel and my finger nail. I rotate the blade manually and pinch with 220grit sand paper and off I go. I can mill rough barn timber with it. My last set of scales were ash and I also cut camel bone for wedges (smells like a dentist office on steroids after a root canal when cutting bone).

So invest in a band saw you will be glade you did!!!!!

sort of spendy,but this tool takes all the the pain out of making precsion slabs.
STEWMAC.COM : Luthiers Friend Sanding Station

After slabbing plates off, I have found that to cut the outlines with minimum chipping it helps to place a thin flat ( 1/8th inch or so) board or plastic sheet on the table and saw to the middle of it. That board when stuck down will support the material being cut all the way to the blade. That always has reduced chipping and breakage while sawing for me.
The reason being that the hole in the table the blade goes through is too large and the vibration of the saw will make a poor cut in brittle materials.
Cheers
~Richard

If I am thinning blanks after sawing and they have saw lines, I usually tape them down on a flat surface and wet sand them through 400 before making the outline cuts. Then i tape them together with double stick tape drill the pin holes and saw the outline with the bandsaw and board on the saw table.
Leaving them taped together makes it easy to sand the outline and contour the scales to perfection and a good match between front and rear scale. A drum sander in the drill press or similar motor tool does the roughing out and a half round file smooths from there and sandpaper completes the job.
~Richard

Hand tools my friend. In my experince its the safest and most rewarding way to go for me.

You can find japanese wooden planes on ebay for very cheap and they perform so well.