# Want to make thin slices of pine. Please help.



## wooderson (Jan 21, 2011)

I have a problem here and I'm hoping to get some good ideas. I am making a pine bookcase for my son. I have finished everything but the back panel. I refuse to use any manufactured wood (MDF, plywood, etc.) so I am having a hard time covering up the back side. Here is my plan so far: It measures 33.5"Hx42"W. I have 8 1×6s that I plan on screwing in vertically and edge-to-edge to create the back panel. The only problem is, the 1×6s are too thick and will look horrible from the side and from the top of the bookcase. I need to get the 1×6s down to 3/16" of thickness, thus allowing them to remain out-of-sight. And this is the problem. I DO NOT have the tool to do this. I am thinking a nice, big bandsaw with a well-placed fence would do the trick? Of course, I do not have access to such a tool so it doesn't really matter, right? I tried to use my table saw in the hopes that I could make multiple passes and eventually make it through an entire 1×6 stood on its side but that proved impossible. A handsaw? I really hope I don't have to resort to using a handsaw. I'll be out there for days! Plus, it'll probably look horrible. My latest idea is to get a really long blade for my jigsaw and give that a shot. Its a pretty good DeWalt jigsaw so I think it might work. I'm just not sure how straight a line I could cut. And I don't know if this would even be possible. These planks are 33.5" long and 5.5" wide. Can a jigsasw make that cut? So anyway, outside of buying a massive bandsaw, the jigsaw idea is the best I've got so far. Any ideas? Thanks!


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## BobG (Apr 17, 2010)

If you know someone that owns a 14" Bandsaw they may do it for you. A 14" will resaw a 6" slab.


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## richgreer (Dec 25, 2009)

Can you cut 2 - 2.5" deep with your table saw from each edge? That would leave a 1 - 2" area the middle that is not cut. You can finish the cut with a hand saw. Then run it through a planer to clean it up. If you don't have a planer, you can clean it up with a sander.


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## MikeGager (Jun 15, 2009)

richgreer has the right answer. cut as much as you can with the table saw and finish it off with a hand saw. easy


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## bernwood (Aug 19, 2010)

Sounds like a lot of work to me and then you'll probably end up with a mess. If by some chance you succeed in this wild scheme, I'm willing to bet you will end up with a more serious problem… 3/16th pine. Try slicing a narrow 3/16th inch thick pine and test it's strength. A 33.5 length strip won't even hold it's own weight. Then you have to work with this fragile stuff.

I would swallow my pride and work with a ply sheet. You could cut it short to a 33 inch width and add a thin strip of real 1/4 inch wide wood on the ends. Nobody could tel the difference unless they pulled it away from the wall.

If you want the jointed board look, use ship lap boards and cut the 2 outside ends 3/16th inch thick 2 inches in!


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## wseand (Jan 27, 2010)

I haven't had any success taking 1x down to 1/4" especially if it has knots in it. The thinnest I would go is 1/2" than rabbit joint it. If you do a 1/4" rabbit it will take the reveal down to 1/4", if you do a 5/16th rabbit it will leave a 3/16th reveal, if my calculations are correct. You can make a rabbit on you table saw or if you have a router they sell rabbiting bits. Anyways just my 2 cents.


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## Chriskmb5150 (Dec 23, 2009)

Sounds like alot of work to me too. I would just use plywood. Welcome to lumberjocks by the way.


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## Kindlingmaker (Sep 29, 2008)

If you are in the US and your project would look ok with red oak, Lowes sells red oak 1/4" thick (which is a bit less than 1/4") and at various lengths. If you really need to resaw your pine then I agree with the others on using a bandsaw.


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## cabmaker (Sep 16, 2010)

Sounds like you have interest in the purest techniques but remember ply has been around for a good long time now and used in some of the finest furniture made. Several things you could do: Glue up the panel and rabbit the perimeter thus letting it into the cabinet. Success on the pine glue up, well its a toss up. If your looking to finish with a true solid wood back you might consider tounge & groove or continuious spline with chamferd shoulders. Then again there is always plywood. I dont think I would put forth much effort on the resaw idea with a jigsaw, but you will certainly get an A plus for effort.


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## brianinpa (Mar 16, 2008)

Not plugging the big orange or blue stores, but they each also carry pine waynecoating paneling/molding that is tongue and groved. I think the logenst lenth was 6" tall and width was around 3 inches. Thickness was about 5/16" (I think) which give enough to pass it through a planner and get rid of most if not all of the molding look.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

You should be able to resaw those boards in half on a table saw in two passes.
Use featherboards.

My preference when doing this is to leave a bit in the middle and then
the board can be split apart with a chisel. Then just plane off the excess.

If not sawing through the whole board the resawing operation on the 
table saw is safer and more predictable.

Such a rip is also not too hard to do with a bowsaw (which you can make
yourself) with a ripping blade. That's how they did it in the old days,
before power saws.


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## crank49 (Apr 7, 2010)

This should be fairly easy to do on a table saw. You said you tried the table saw and it proved impossible. You need a good sharp ripping blade (~24 tooth) and the fence needs to be carefully set to be square with the blade. Also, you may have to make two or three passes to avoid clogging the blade with too much sawdust at once, but this should be relatively simple.

I would recommend keeping the finished thickness between 3/8" and 1/2" instead of 3/16" because it will be much more stable. 1/4" plywood is stable, but that's too thin for solid wood. As stated earlier, you can always rabbit the edge to make it 1/4" or 3/16". I have even seen these types of backs made like raised panels using a router or even a hand plane. Just depends what tools you have and how you want it to look.

Using a 10" table saw with a good sharp quality 24 tooth ripping blade:
Set your rip fence to 3/8" clearance between the blade and the fence. Raise the blade to 1-1/2" and check that it is vertical 90 degrees. Set up a featherboard to hold pressure on the board against the fence. Run the board throught the saw using a push stick. Now raise the saw blade to 3" and run the board through just the same as before, making the same kerf deeper. Now lower the saw to no more than 2-1/4" height. Flip the board end for end so that you are cutting on the opposite edge, but with the same face against the fence. Now run the board through one last time. You should have a 1/4" wide strip holding the two halves together at this point. It's important to have this strip; it keeps the board from binding and pinching the saw blade. Don't try to cut the board all the way through on the table saw. It's dangerous and can cause kickback, or worse. You can rip this little strip into with a handsaw. There will be a small ridge where the strip was because a handsaw kerf is not the same width as a tablesaw, but it is easy to plane this off.

Well, I started writing this a couple hours ago and got distracted with some work. Now I see that Loren has said about the same thing. So, I agree with Loren, and you have two votes for using the table saw. Well, Rich also, so three votes.


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## KnickKnack (Aug 20, 2008)

Another possibility would be to tablesaw the 1×6 along the thin rather than the fat edge - that is, into a bunch of 1 inch strips at whatever thickness you need/can manage safely.


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## Eagle1 (Jan 4, 2010)

3/16 I think it would not keep it from racking. You might look for someone that has a bandsaw, that lives near you. Where do you live?


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## wooderson (Jan 21, 2011)

Thanks everybody for all the great ideas. Lots of good responses here. Sounds like I should probably give the table saw method another go. And maybe I'll go with 3/8" thickness rather than 3/16.

Eagle1, I don't have a great woodworking vocabulary. Can you elaborate on the "racking" please? Does this just mean that thinner slices of pine would be more susceptible to warping?

And thank you for the welcome.


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## canadianchips (Mar 12, 2010)

You can buy packages of 1/4" tongue and groove pine at Home Depot. A kit will cover about twice the size you need. In Canada it was about $14.99 a package .


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## wooderson (Jan 21, 2011)

"You can buy packages of 1/4" tongue and groove pine at Home Depot. A kit will cover about twice the size you need. In Canada it was about $14.99 a package."

That would be perfect. What department would I find that in?


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## dkirtley (Mar 11, 2010)

It is marked as bead board or v-grove board. They keep it with the moldings and shelving stuff.


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## Gregn (Mar 26, 2010)

Welcome to LumberJocks. You have been given a lot of good advice here. I would also like to add that when working with Pine there is a tendency for pine to twist and bow or cup after resawing even with kiln dried lumber. I have cut pine and come out the next morning to find my wood was no longer straight. Just thought I would mention the effects of wood movement with pine.


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## greasemonkeyredneck (Aug 14, 2010)

I have the same problem as you are at times. Don't ask me why, because I don't have an actual answer, but I have an extreme hatred for plywood. I use a lot of thin wood for my projects, so between that and my hatred of said plywood, I often have to produce my own thin wood, since it is pretty much unabailable commercially unless you want to pay and arm, a leg, and maybe one of your kidneys for shipping costs. Even if you could afford the shipping, you're still not going to find material as thin as you want and also as long as you want.
All that being said, the way I get my wood thin, especially longer pieces like you're talking about is with a planer. I don't own a good enough bandsaw to resaw wood that thick. So, I just keep running it through the planer. For your specific project, measure how much you need so you can plane it all at the same time. This will prevent thickness differences when you start putting it on. When you know how many boards you need, run them all through the planer. Then reduce the plaingin thickness, and do it again. Keep doing this untill they are as thin as you need. I suggest throwing in at least one extra board just in case of a mishap.
I think the problem you'll have in the end though is racking, like was suggested by someone else. Usually, the backs of bookcases also serve as support to keep the sides, top and bottom square. If there is not enough support, usually from using too thin of material for the back, the whole structure moves from side to side, throwing everything off square. This is called "racking".
Now, final opinion from me, is this. As much as I hate plywood, for somethings, like this example, I bite the bullet and use plywood. That's when I tick off the people at the hardware store. Best plywood selection locally for me is Home Depot. Well, the way I'm using plywood is to get the nicest piece I can so I will be at least halfway happy with it. Sometimes that involves going through the stack till I find just the perfect piece. They won't try to stop you from doing it, but they will give you some funny looks.


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## Picken5 (Jan 12, 2011)

Sorta like Kindlingmaker said, you can get 1/4" thick poplar boards at Home Depot. They call them "hobby boards" (or something like that.) The longest length I've seen there is 36" and the widest I've seen is 5-1/2". They're a bit expensive (about $4.50 for a 36" l by 5-1/2" w, but may be appropriate for your project.


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## wooderson (Jan 21, 2011)

William, thanks for the info on "racking". I had already realized I was having that problem, I just didn't know what it was called. Unfortunately, I don't have access to a planer yet.

I think I've decided on a solution. I've got 8 1×6s cut to size and ready to be attached. I'm going to use my router to bring the top edges of each board and the outside edges of the two end boards down to about 1/4" thickness. I'll probably do this from the edge to about 4" inward. The rest of the back panel will remain 3/4" but will be out-of-sight from the normal viewing angles (unless you go out of your way to look at it of course). This way, I think I'll have the best of both worlds. I should have to aesthetically pleasing look of a thin back panel and the strength of a thicker one to prevent the racking.

I did give the table saw method another shot but it just didn't seem to be working out too well. I don't know if its me or my table saw or both, but I just wasn't looking too good.

I'm pretty sure that this will end up looking great. I'll post some pics when I get it finished tomorrow. Thanks for all the great pointers. Awesome forum.


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## Eagle1 (Jan 4, 2010)

Thanks William telling wooderson what racking meant. I wasn't on here for a bit wasn't feeling that great.


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