Thread: Resaw/Ripping Jig

you can make a homemade feather board that does the same

Thanks for the responses, guys.

A bandsaw will definitely be Item #1 in my letter to the North Pole this year. If you’re reading this, Santa, consider this thread advance notice to the little elves to get to work. (Silly me - Santa has a full bushy beard and therefore probably isn’t a frequent visitor to SRP. Then again, Glen sports a beard, so I guess you never know. :-) )

Anyhow, until then I’m limited to a table saw or other primitive methods. When I was doing my internet sleuthing on this matter, feather boards and items simpler to the Rockler rip tool did surface. I think both feather boards and the rip jig would be great for ripping a thin slice from larger stock. But can these solutions be used to resaw a piece that is already fairly thin, say < 0.5 inches? When resawing thin material, you end up with two very thin pieces, one to the left of the blade and a remainder between the blade and the fence. What tripped me up before making my jig was trying to control both these edges – using push sticks – in a way that was both sufficiently safe and offered the proper level of precision. With the 2x4 blocks, I can maintain full control without the use of clumsy push sticks and my hands never come close to the blade.

I agree with Glen, that sanding the roughness out of bandsaw cut scales takes off enough stock that it would be a wash, if you use a thin kerf blade. I don't have a table saw in my shop, and I am not about to try ripping scales with my radial arm. I really like your system on a table saw, diyguy. You might think about adding something to hold the 2 two by fours together - that would make it a tad safer. If you do end up trying to use a push stick, make sure you have the scale your are cutting off on the blade side of your workpiece, NOT the fence side. I think your system is better that trying it that way, anyway. Good luck, and keep us informed on your progress.

A properly tuned band saw and good blade (not the cheap stamped steel hardware store blades) will cut very clean. If you use a table saw you need a think kerf blade. Keep in mind you are ripping not cross cutting so you need a relatively aggressive carbide blade for the rip cuts. A cross cut blade will not have enough room to adequately move the chips out of the way during the rip cut and will overheat and burn your wood and blade. I like Forrest blades but a good one will set you back about $100. You should also have a stiffener/dampener to go on your table saw for the thin kerf blade. That will help keep the blade from flexing under load and run true and clean.