Shopsmith Forums

I decided to start another thread because this is no longer about resawing.

While working with the resaw blade on my band saw, I decided to check out a couple other blades. The next on my list is a 1/4" 6-7 tpi blade. The very first thing I tried was to rip a small piece of pine against the fence. What happened, I can only attribute to "severe blade drift". I could cut no further due to the blade binding.
I suspect this blade is a discard even though it feels sharp.

Tooth set is sometimes more important than actual sharpness.
Bill V

Dusty,
Is the blade parallel to the miter slot on the band saw table and is the fence parallel to the miter slot on the table? If one or both of these are true I get them into alignment and check the cut, if the cut is still off I will set for drift. I rarely ever have to set for drift with the bearing setup I use one the band saw.
Larry

Larry, the fence, as far as I can tell with a narrow blade, is parallel to the blade. I did this just because I had just been working with the resaw blade and it worked quite well and I was curious. I have three other narrow blades that I am going to check as a learning experience for me. I have had a band saw for many years but I typically did free hand cuts and was not as sensitive to blade drift.

I also must acknowledge the fact that my blades have all been around for quite some time and I don't know what they might have been used for. The time when I would just go get all new ones is now in the past. They'll come one or two at a time now and only when necessary. I have become frugal.

Hello Dusty:

I have done a huge amount of resawing with different blades from many manufacturers. It has been rare that I install a blade that does not have drift. This is a subject that many can argue over until the fat lady sings and I refuse to get into that. It is something I have come to accept as nature of the beast. Out of dozens over time, I have only had 3 blades that I considered perfect as far as drift is concerned. There is no doubt in my mind that guide bearings play a large part. I think sometimes that feed rate also plays a part. Go slowly and don't push it. I have been using ceramic guides and have not suffered any problems with them

Hi Dusty, Rick Davis here. Sounds like you haven't adjusted the leed. Remember what I showed you in class. Take a piece of 3/4"x 2" x the table length in the direction of the blade. Make sure the width of the 2" is consistent and parallel. Draw a line the length of the board about 1" from the edge. Now you have a long line the length of the board. Get two spring clamps and clamp to the table out of the way of a rip. Now freehandedly and slowly rip on the line till the leading edge of the board comes to the tables edge. Hold in place, turn off the bandsaw and clamp the board where it lays. Now using the allen set screws on the bandsaw fence handle, adjust the fence to the clamped board, now things are as they should be. See how that works my friend. Glad to see your still making sawdust, Dusty.

Thank you again for that advise.

Rick it is certainly good to hear from you and it is pleasing to know that you check in here from time to time. I wish this could be a regular (like daily) conversation.

There's a video of something pretty close to Ricknwood's procedure at http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/wood ... lades.aspx. It's a Wood Slicer re-saw blade demo - the actual fence aligning runs from 5:27 to 6:46 for those not interested the Wood Slicer ad.

Doug Reid also has a couple videos on setting up the ShopSmith bandsaw for resawing.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19KUOXatLPY[/youtube]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCq9lv__UnQ[/youtube]

Anyone have the Kreg Fence set up? I have it and went to set it to the drift of my 5/8" resaw tonight and found that it's so far off I cannot compensate for it. It's a new blade too. I have a woodmieser too that I may try tomorrow, it's getting late and was just wondering if anyone else had any advice for me