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Cutting Round on a Bandsaw

Denis's bandsaw post brings up a question - anyone have any tricks to preparing for the bandsaw?

I have no riser block on my 14" Delta, so it's important for me to slab anything I'm going to cut round carefully, to stay within 6 1/4", as well as provide a surface flat enough to keep control of tipping and blade binding. My solution is a scrub and block plane for the small surface. The scrub makes fairly short work of major irregularities, and can be followed by a couple of cross-grain strokes of the block plane for smooth. I can then draw my circle on the larger face and make my cut.

I have also used a plywood "bottom" on thinner pieces, shimming for parallel to the larger face and attaching with woodscrews. I suppose if I had the greater height available with a riser block I would use this method more often, perhaps even with my circle-cutting jig, which steals even more capacity.

Though I generally cut perpendicular to the face to keep all available shape options open, I sometimes nibble off more wood by tilting the table and taking a second pass to help balance an especially wet or misshapen piece. I have also nibbled pieces too tall for perpendicular cutting by tilting and nibbling wedge-shaped circles.

There must be other tricks out there.

Reply to
George
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George I am not sure of the method you are using to cut a bowl blank on the band saw but it sounds like you are trying to put a flat on the bark side of the half log and rest it on the band saw table. This sounds like an invitation to a catch to me. Why not halve the log with a chain saw, take off any excess necessary on the bark side using the saw, and then to the band saw? Place the inside of the log on the table, fasten a cardboard circle to the other side, and cut around it. If this is not clear, let me know and I will put a picture or two up on my web site for you.

Reply to
Darrell Feltmate

I've done that, too, just settled on the one I outlined for convenience, not, as Susan claims, to justify my LN scrub. Also puts me in a position to taper the sides, since the table tilts that way.

Reply to
George

George Anything to justify a LN scrub makes sense to me :-)

Reply to
Darrell Feltmate

Okay ... noob question. What is an "LN scrub"?

Bill

Reply to
Anonymous

Bill a scrub plane is used to rough down a surface before the jack and jointer planes are used for final flattening. A Lee Neilsen (sp?) is cream of the crop for planes.

Reply to
Darrell Feltmate

To answer the question about planing, if necessary I use either an electric plane, or on larger pieces float an electric chainsaw across the surface.

I'm not sure I understand your procedure and have the same concerns and suggestions as Darrell.

One other tool you could add to your arsenal would be a large carving gouge which you could use to take off any corners. Cheaper than a chainsaw if you don't already have one, safer (though not fool proof!), more fun and a good workout too!

derek

George wrote:

Reply to
Derek Andrews

I find the plane preferable to the gouge, though I am also a carver. It's for fine adjustments ( To answer the question about planing, if necessary I use either an

Reply to
George

North Pole, eh? Cool!

Reply to
Bruce Barnett

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