You’re Resawing Boards the Wrong Way

Resawing Lumber with a Table Saw

I often get questions and comments regarding how I resaw boards. Since most woodworkers use a band saw, it seems that many people are perplexed by my process, which primarily uses the table saw. Why do I resaw lumber in a weird way? Why don’t I do it like 99% of other woodworkers? The video above (and this blog) answers those questions and more.

Resawing 101

If you don’t know what resawing is, it’s standing a board on edge and cutting down its length. By resawing, a woodworker can slice one thick board into multiple thin boards, such as veneer. Another reason for resawing is appearance. A resawn board can be splayed open, creating a book matched grain that mirrors on each side.

The Band Saw – The Gold Standard?

The bandsaw is the go-to tool for resawing boards because….we’ve been told it is. The bandsaw does a great job. You can resaw some ultra-thin pieces and it really opens up a lot of possibilities for designing your projects. Now, let me tell you how I typically do it and why I don’t start with the band saw.

Table Saw Method

Unless I’m resawing a really small piece or have a special project need, I’ll almost always use the table saw first -not the band saw- to resaw my lumber. I place a jig over my table saw fence that gives me a tall surface area so my workpiece is stable. I then set the thickness of my workpieces by measuring from the blade to the fence. Next, I set the blade height to just under half of the width of the board. I place the board against the fence and clamp a feather board in place so it keeps my workpiece secure and tight to the fence.

I push the board through the blade, slicing it down its length. After the one side is cut, I flip the board over and cut the other side. In total, it takes literally seconds to cut both sides. At this point, the board is not completely separated from its other half because I set the blade slightly shorter than the board’s midsection. This leaves a tiny bit of material right in the middle. Afterwards, I go the bandsaw and quickly buzz the tiny piece left over in the middle.

It is possible to resaw a board completely using the table saw, but I find it safer to finish the operation on the bandsaw. If I resaw the board completely, I risk the offcut falling into the blade and becoming a safety hazard.

Why Use the Table Saw

Why not just use the bandsaw from the start? Well, I have a list of pros and cons that influence my decision. My list may not match yours. Each woodworker has to make his/her own choices based on how they like to work.

Speed

Holy crap, resawing at the bandsaw is SLOW. Very slow compared to the table saw. I can obviously push the workpiece hard into the blade in an attempt to finish the cut as quick as possible, but that makes me uncomfortable from a safety standpoint. Plus, forcing a cut can lead to blade drift and an uneven board. The amount of time it takes to resaw a wide board at a bandsaw can be significant. Depending on the length and width of the board, it’s not uncommon for me to spend 5-10 minutes making one cut. I’m usually under a time crunch so this is a no-go for me.

Another factor related to speed is changing blades. Generally, you want to resaw using a wide blade. A wide blade with fewer teeth per inch helps keep the blade straight and mitigates overheating. But the majority of things I need to cut on the band saw are curves. That means I’m changing my wider blade with a smaller one, and then back again. Ain’t no body got time for that! By using the table saw first, I can keep a thinner blade in the band saw, cut the curves I want, but still resaw boards when needed.

Accuracy

The accuracy between my table saw and band saw are not even remotely close. When I need 1/8” thick boards, I simply set my table saw fence to a hair over 1/8” and go to town. No so with the band saw. For me, there’s bound to be blade drift. Blade drift is when the blade bends, drifting off from where it’s supposed to cut. Band saw blades are not rigid so drift is really common. I’ll say most woodworkers anticipate some degree of drift when resawing. There are some vocal folks who declare they can make a hundred cuts and never once have their band saw blade drift off course. Okay...well, I get blade drift. I do the maintenance, I watch the videos, I read the articles, I do the things. Yet, I still get a little drift. It’s not much; just a tiny amount. But I still get drift.

Cleanup

Band saw blades do not give the cleanest cuts and leaves saw marks I have to plane or sand away. This isn’t the case with the table saw. Resawing on the table saw does leave me with a tiny sliver in the middle of the board, but this is easy to remove.

Safety

There is no doubt in my mind that the band saw is safer for resawing. The table saw does present a risk of kickback, which isn’t much of a thing for a band saw. To play devil’s advocate, let’s say it takes about 27 years for a band saw blade to stop spinning once I turn off my saw. There is danger in a blade spinning for a long period of time well after the operation is complete. However, there’s a bigger safety risk for me, which is not blade drift but brain drift. When it takes minutes to make one cut, my mind wanders. I wish it didn’t but it does. I find myself not concentrating on the cut and that’s certainly not safe either.

Dust collection

Band saw dust collection is awful. It’s not miter saw bad, but it’s bad. My table saw has a thousand times better dust collection than my band saw.

Material waste

A table saw blade is thicker than a band saw blade. There will simply be more wasted material using the table saw than the band saw. However, from my experience, there isn’t as big of a difference as some folks my think. A full kerf table saw blade is 1/8” thick, compared to a band saw blade that is 1/32”. That’s a large difference if all things were equal, but they aren’t. First, I often use a circular saw blade in my table saw. Since my circular saw blade is 1/16”, the actual difference between the band saw and table saw is only 1/32”.

Going back to what I said earlier, blade drift and cleanup play a factor. A blade with just a tiny bit of drift and saw marks means I’m planning or sanding boards down more to get them flat. That’s more material wasted. Once I take in account the cleanup I do after resawing on the band saw, the giant savings in material isn’t very much.

Wrong Blade?

It's fairly common that people will send me a message saying I’m using the wrong band saw blade. I am often told to use a Laguna Resaw King band saw blade and every con on my list will go away. I do own a Resaw King and it is a really good blade. After using it for a few years, I haven’t found that it negates anything I said above. I still have some drift, some saw marks, and prefer the table saw method. All of this being said, I am not advocating for you to use the table saw instead of the band saw. That’s a personal decision for you to make. However, I do recommend you take time to think about every process in your workflow and make sure you are doing things in a way that is safe, enjoyable, and meets your needs.