Cutting a Log on a Bandsaw
George VondriskaDescription
George Vondriska provides tips on how to use your bandsaw as a sawmill. A WoodWorkers Guild of America (WWGOA) original video.
Did you know that you can use your bandsaw like a small scale sawmill, it's pretty cool, not real hard to do. I'm about to do it with this bandsaw. Now a couple things I've done to get ready for this. I've got an elm log here the log is dripping wet green, it was fairly freshly cut, you do wanna cut the logs while they're wet, while they're green. I've got a right angle fixture that I fastened to the log there screws through the fixture and into the log, and then acts like a little outrigger here, it helps stabilize everything. Without this right angle fixture, the log might roll as you're starting to cut into it could bind up your blade to all sorts of bad stuff. On top of the log. I've got a line that I snapped with a chalk line that goes basically from pith to pith. I'm gonna freehand follow that line for my first cut. Get these babies cut right and to then I'll show you what it looks like inside here. Now you can see what that elm looks like inside. It's got beautiful gray. Now here's a question for you. Where would you buy elm? And the answer is you can't really buy it commercially made. But here's a way that you can cut it out of stuff that otherwise would have gone into your fireplace. Another great application for this, let's say you've got a tree in your front yard that's been there forever. But the day comes when it's got to go down. It's the tree that your kids had swings on that they climbed in. Wouldn't it be cool to take some of those pieces, cut them into planks and make them into lumber that you can use in your shop to make heirloom gifts for your family. For the next step, we'll get a resaw fence set up on the saw, put this face and a half section against the fence and start cutting planks out of the half section. Now one step in between making the half section and using the fence is I cut another flat here on the bottom of the half section. That way when the half round comes up here onto the bandsaw it's less likely to be able to roll away from the fence. I put my resaw fence on the saw and I did a drift compensation there to make sure my fence was correctly set. I've got the distance between the blade and the fence set to the thickness of the material that I wanna make. I'm gonna cut four quarter or one inch material in this case. So between the blade and the fence is set for an inch. Now with that set, we can just start ripping pieces off of here making planks just like a sawmill would. Now I'll take this piece and run it against the fence. Let's have a look though at good reasons for doing this. I already said one thing that we can't buy is elm planks. Now, when I look at this piece, I have a beautiful book match between these two parts. So what I'll do with these is I'll set them aside, I'll keep them numbered, let them dry. And then if I keep track of which pieces which when I use these in a project, I can get a beautiful book match in my project between these two parts. I'll finish cutting this one up. I hope you try this technique out in your own shop. Again just using a regular bandsaw you can do a little bit of sawmill work.
How much trouble is it going to be if the logs have been drying for a year or two? I've got some quartered mulberry trunk sections that I've been meaning to convert into usable lumber, but the "insulate the workshop area" project took longer than expected so they've been drying for about two years now...
What tooth spacing did you use?
one thing you failed to mention. before running lumber through the bandsaw, it would be wise to run a metal detector over it. nails suck.
Cutting log on bandsaw: what size blade is best to use?
How long would you let it dry before you attempted to build with it?
Turners need to use the bandsaw to make the initial cut you showed. The weakness in this set up is the need to follow a line by eye, which is not likely to produce a truly flat cut. The jig I made solves this problem. The base of the jig is a piece of 1/4" plywood about the size of the bandsaw table. I added a piece of hardwood on the bottom to fit into the slot on the bandsaw table so it would run dead straight. This was done so the plywood just reached the throat of the bandsaw. I then ran the plywood through the bandsaw about half way. I then made some upright pieces perpendicular to the bandsaw cut, 2-3 at most, to each side of the plywood. I then cut a few (equal to the number of uprights) pieces with an angle (say 45 degrees) at one end. To use this, I pull the plywood jig almost out past the blade, place the log up against the blade and passing through the pith, and add the front two loose pieces so the angle cradles the front of the log in place. Then I go to the back of the log draw a line perpendicular to the table up through the pith on that end, and place the back two angle pieces to cradle the back end of the log. Now as I run this through the bandsaw, it will be just where I want it down the pith, and dead flat (provided the blade doesn't have much drift). When I store this jig, I place a small piece of wood with a groove equal to the thickness of the plywood, over the opening cut in the plywood, so it says flat. (Very hard to describe this only in words -- sorry) Gordon