Bookmatching

sometimes I look at both sides of a board and can see that the center will look nice. I then just run it thru the table saw on edge, leaning against the fence, raising the blade in increments until it is cut down the middle.

welcome to lumberjocks !

-- I made a cool back scratcher !!

Resawing, and keeping the pieces in sequence, is the way to get bookmaching. You can place a “V” or some other mark on one edge of the board, to help keep all the resawn pieces in the proper order. You always start by jointing one face and one edge, to have good reference against the fence, and on the table of the band saw. Keep good pressure on the workpiece, to ensure the most even thickness; and make sure to compensate for blade drift.

Most people will use a band saw, to maximize recovery from the resawing. I normally aim for thickness between 1/8” and 1/16”; at this thickness the resawn pieces are easiest to handle, and also allow for runs through the drum sander, to remove any blade marks and to prepare the pieces for glue-up, as your best bookmatching requires identical thickness for each of the halves.

I have written about resawing on the bandsaw; you might want to read these posts on my blog

-- Al Navas, St Joseph, MO, http://sandal-woodsblog.com

You can also just take any board and resaw it. The thickness doesn’t matter. I’ve done bookmatching
with 8/4 stock before. No veneering at all.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

I sell bookmatched full demension lumber…no resawing required.

-- Wonderful new things are coming! - God

What dirtclod said. I mill my own lumber and bookmatch most of it and keep it organized that way. No veneer.

-- Urban logger, http://nelsonwoodworks.biz/

You can bookmatch in any thickness you’d like Restowood. In the first photo is a pic of a walnut burl that was sawn to 3/8” and was finished to 1/4”.

The next one is a bookmatched cherry burl piece. It’s currently cut 1” thick and when I find a use for it I will probably cut it to 1/2” thick each side and have 2 sets from these pieces.

-- Allen, Milwaukee, WI