Band Saw Milling Sled

Fruit wood holds moisture incredibly well it might take a while for them to dry properly glass blowers actually only use fruit wood soaked in water for their wooden tools to work glass due to this property. Some people prefer to turn wood while its wet though, wetting the wood while they turn allowing them to get extremely thin walls. I don’t know much about this process or your turning experience but it might be fun to try if you have not already. These have a tendency to crack while they dry though so try with a sample first.

-- Byron Conn, Woodworking/Furniture Design at Rochester Institute of Technology, http://byronconn.com

That’s cool… I’m thinking of doing something like that also…nice work on the sled.
What size blade is that on your bandsaw? It sure looks like a big one…

-- On the eighth day God was back in His woodworking shop! SteveW

Nice build! Should prove to be a very useful item for you bandsawing needs.

Question: Does it make your blades and saw table rust when you mill green wood?

-- Tom, Surfside Beach, SC - Romans 8:28

Thanks for commenting, guys, it’s greatly appreciated!

Byron, cool tidbits, thanks! I can believe that after finding the lemon log still so moist inside.

Steve, it’s the ShopFox G9970 14” saw. http://www.finewoodworking.com/ToolGuide/ToolGuideProduct.aspx?id=5961

Tom, I haven’t cut much green wood yet, so experience is a bit lacking. But the wet dust I have cut has been brushed/vacuumed away without causing rust anywhere.

-- Leland, OC Calif., www.safetyshowerbars.com

Leland, A very neat looking sled. Is it that you screw the log to the back end to hold in place or are you just using the high back to support the log as you push?

CtL

-- Chris L. "Don't Dream it, Be it."

Cool. I have a table saw sled, but never thought of a bandsaw sled. It would be much more versatile. Thanks for sharing!

LeLand, do you have other pictures of your band saw sled? From the look of what you have posted, it seems that you can not see the cut very well when sliding the log into the blade. I see allot of holes drilled into the back board…is that so you can screw the log to the sled so it doesn’t move around? I am getting ready to make a sled as well, but was thinking of making it so I would attach the side of the log…I like your design better.

-- Hawaiilad Larry

Hey, guys!

Thanks again for your interest—this little gizmo seems far too simple to have gotten so much attention, but please, copy it as you like and enjoy!

Chris: I had intended the back support to be used as a base to which the flat-cut end of a log would be screwed, thus the grid of holes you see on it. In practice, this is unnecessary. I simply brace the cut portion of the log against the support, holding the forward end with right hand (held far back from the blade, of course) and push the sled through the saw with my left hand.

Larry: In fact, I don’t need to see the cut! The sled ‘keys’ off my band saw table’s miter slot, thus moving in a line that is theoretically parallel to blade’s plane of cut.

As mentioned above, I had thought of securing the log in place. I had also thought of a complex system of threaded rods that could both securely hold the log and move it incrementally along X-, Y-, and Z- axes!
Turns out, it’s not needed. The log is simply eyeballed onto the cradle to cut the first slice off the butt end, which is then braced against the support. The log is rotated until it is most stable and presents a good cut to the blade, then the sled is pushed forward. 10 seconds later, my first slab falls off the log, and I now have a plane (perpendicular to the butt cut) on which the log can be stabilized for subsequent cuts.

Total outlay, about 5 bucks. Total time spent building: Coupla hours. Payoff: Way better than anticipated, and totally disproportionate to the input required.

-- Leland, OC Calif., www.safetyshowerbars.com

Hey Leland, and chance you might have draw up of what you made?

-- Hawaiilad Larry

Hi, Larry!

Sorry to be so long getting back to you on this. I don’t have a drawing at this time, but I’ll see what I can do at a later date. Until then, it really is just a long piece of ply with a perpendicular piece of ply on one face and a runner on the other. :)

-- Leland, OC Calif., www.safetyshowerbars.com