Bandsaw Veneers - Outboard or Inboard Cut?

You nailed the reason I do it between the fence and blade.

I cut, then joint the new board face.
Then I have my material all with one good face and the same thickness, which I doublestick tape to a piece of 3/4 Melamine coated particle board and run them through the planer. (would prefer wide drum sander but i don’t own one)

-- "_If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves_." Edison

I own a fence called a driftmaster by xxxxxx and it’s pretty spendie for what it is, like most of the tools this company makes I think it’s over priced . It does do veneers.

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/

Dave thanks . I have done the same procedure cutting and planing after each cut for my resawing and that worked very well on my little Delta 12”, so I’m stilling trying to find out if there is any reason whatsoever for outboard cuts. Actually I’m hoping there’s not, because it seems so much simpler to not have to move the fence

JimThanks. If the Driftmaster is made by Laguna I saw it being used on a video. The guy in the video was cutting outboard and adjusting the fence each time. I suppose so many turns on the positioning rig handle equals a given depth as he didn’t look at any scale or measure the adjustments. Do you cut on the outboard side with yours?

I have a shopmade fence adjuster that I use on my router table, but I see no reason why I couldn’t use it on my bandsaw just as well, providing there is some advantage to cutting on the outboard side. My new saw has a stock high fence too, but I could use a shopmade fence just as well to make it easier to attach my positioner. I do prefer to cut thin strips on my tablesaw outboard, but that’s to make it easier to shove the workpiece through and to prevent burning. I doubt that would be an issue on the bandsaw. I get the impression that you don’t think the driftmaster is particularly useful except for cutting veneers.

-- Mike, American in Norway

I have done both without problems… ... the argument for outboard is that when cutting inboard… IE the thinner piece between the blade and the fence is that the pressure of the larger part pushing against the blade may cause it to bind.. and/or drift on the last part of the cut…That has not been the case with my cutting inboard so I continue to do that..
this probably does not help much but my 2 bits FWIW.

-- Drink twice... and don't bother to cut... @ lazylarrywoodworks.com.au For lovers of all things timber...

When I use it Mike it’s on the inboard side . each turn is 1/32” I try not to say the “L” word, that Company,
I don’t wish to give them any advertizing. I guess the reason many might not use the outboard side is if their wood is to wide like a section of log.

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/

Thanks Larry and Jim It looks like I will be cutting inboard. I appreciate the help from all you guys with so much experience.

I saw a neat FWW tip for a shopmade fingerboard which is a sort of vertical featherboard but with adjustable ‘fingers’ with feather cuts on the ends of each one. These are mounted horizontally on a vertical board at a an angle to the fence. The four ‘fingers’ slide horiz. to adjust the pressure after each cut to hold the workpiece firmly against the fence. The idea is that the operator can then concentrate on just feeding the workpiece smoothly into the blade at a steady rate without having to press against it at the same time (I need all the help I can get).

I haven’t got the BS up and running yet because I’m making some small modifcations to my shop so I don’t have to suck in my stomach to walk around it. I’m hoping to to give it a try sometime tomorrow. I feel like a little kid with a new toy! I’ll do a little blog later just to show it off.

-- Mike, American in Norway

Good luck with yoiur new toy Mike. I have a band saw I got last year I still haven’t got set up. Grandkids here for the weekend, so it will be a while before it happens. Not sure if I should work on it or gettting the lathe done ;-)) Sure is a good thing i’m going to live to 100!

-- "some old things are lovely, warm still with life ... of the forgotten men who made them." - D.H. Lawrence

Enjoy Mike

-- W James Brokenbourgh Custom furniture maker http://artisticwoodstudio.com/

stefang,
Congratulations first on your new tool acquisition. I’m sure you’ll wonder how you ever got along with out as soon as you start slicing those veneer pieces. I have a 21” Grizzly that I resaw with and I’ve always cut my veneers with the piece coming off between the blade and fence. I do not see a need to joint the face of the stock being cut between slices. My use of a Wood Slicer blade from Highland Wood Working cuts clean enough that I can glue the veneers directly to my substrate and then drum sand the faces if need be. Book matching those veneers makes such beautiful panels and table tops. Good luck and let us know which way you ultimately find works best for you! Keep on keeping on

Sincerely,
Ken McGinnis

-- woodbutcher north carolina

As a1Jim, I have a driftmaster on my bandsaw. A DVD came with the fence and in the video, one of the selling points is that you cut you veneer between the fence and the blade so that you don’t have to move the fence. I don’t know what type of fence you currently have but the driftmaster is an excellent fence, but is expensive. pkennedy

-- P Kennedy Crossville, TN

Thanks Bob, Jim, Ken and P kennedy.

I really appreciate all of your replies, help and good wishes. This saw has a great fence for resawing. It is 6 or 7 inches tall (haven’t measure it yet) and really heavy stuff. It’s a shove and tighten type (no micro adjustments). I mounted the few things that had to be mounted, replaced the stock pretend blade with a real blade, adjusted everything that could be adjusted and fired it up. So far I have only resawed a chunk of nicely dimensioned pine 6” wide. It came out perfect (I checked it with digital calipers). The cut didn’t look jointed, but it was very good. So far, so good. My biggest problems so far have been getting the machine into the shop and then making some minor alterations to the shop to make it roomy enough to actually use it. All that’s done now except for some trim. I’m going to take a couple of pics tomorrow to show you what I did, how it looks and a sample resaw for you to judge.

Bob I do hope you are going to get your machines up and running soon. I’m really looking forward to getting your take on turning. And of course I’d be glad to help with start-up or other questions you might come up with. Of course with LJ you certainly don’t have to rely on me for help, but it would be fun for me to join in a little.

-- Mike, American in Norway