Ripping a large hard wood timber

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 6:44 pm

Do not try the 12" blade. You would still be short anyway.

A 12" blade if 'raised' too high begins to nibble on the table and / or insert. It also rquirese 20% more torque to maintain the same cutting rate.

Bottom line, do not try it, it isn't going to help anyway.

Thin kerf or slowing down is the best option.

Rip fence alignment is very important also.

Lastly a rip blade(not a combination blade)will work best.

myoung44708 · Post by **myoung44708** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 7:06 pm

Thank you all for your information. I will not consider trying a 12" blade.

I purchased a thin kerf rip blade today and will give it a trial tomorrow with a 4x4 of white oak. I also bought a new blade for my Craftsman Bandsaw and will give that a go. Why not the Shopsmith?? The craftsman has a much bigger deck, a solid fence and a slow steady motor that feels much safer than the small deck on either Shopsmith

Thanks to all!

robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Sat Oct 08, 2011 9:53 pm

You can also make about a 1" cut top and bottom the finish with the bandsaw and the two tablesaw cuts will help guide the bandsaw cut...

mtn goat · Post by **mtn goat** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 12:19 am

I think I would make the case not to even try to cut through them all at once. In my experience your asking for a rough time...I not sure my SS could even turn buried 3.5" deep in pine, let alone oak. Why not rip 1 side 2" deep, flip the stock over and cut the rest of the way through from the back side? Ive done this quite often on thicker stock and with great results.

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 5:08 am

Martin

Do you have either a jointer or a surface planer?

myoung44708 · Post by **myoung44708** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 5:46 am

Dusty.

It came with a joint planer. I just found out yesterday morning that dad has a surface planer still in the box...never opened...from 1985! I'm going to get him to break a path to it in his garage and see what condition it is in.

His SS has a serial number starting with 147xxx and my Mark V starts with 151XXX, so I guess they are from the same year. He gave me his book to go through and make copies.

I did not get to test ripping yesterday. With all of the nice weather the last couple of days, who wants to be cooped up in the garage...

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Mon Oct 10, 2011 5:56 am

This is good. With a jointer and planer available, there are no logistical reasons why you cannot get good smooth stock from your timbers.

keakap · Post by **keakap** » Sat Nov 05, 2011 4:45 pm

paulmcohen wrote:There 12" saws operate with smaller motors then the Shopsmith for crosscutting where the operation is short, also the PowerPro at 220 would have no issues even for long cuts.

None of the guards would fit. The table insert also would be an issue and maybe even the main table would have issues.

I don't know where you would be a 12" blade with the correct arbor hole size and if you could you would have to figure out the correct blade speed because the FPM would be much faster on a 12" blade.

Bottom line I would not consider it.

The Shopsmith sanding disc is 12". If it clears everything, why wouldn't a saw blade?

swampgator · Post by **swampgator** » Sat Nov 05, 2011 6:22 pm

The sanding disk is outside the table not inside through an insert as the saw blade is. At least, I've never seen the sanding disk through the table insert. On my old 500's, I don't even like the idea.

paulmcohen · Post by **paulmcohen** » Sat Nov 05, 2011 10:09 pm

swampgator wrote:The sanding disk is outside the table not inside through an insert as the saw blade is. At least, I've never seen the sanding disk through the table insert. On my old 500's, I don't even like the idea.

On a 520 the sanding disk goes through the table and clears the guards. I still would not put a 12" blade on the machine though thinking about it I am not sure why. Since I can control the speed so it is safe and with the PowerPro I have more than enough HP to do the job.