Wood Magazine's Bandsaw Lumber Maker

[Brian G]

In a (previous thread, Loring asked about sawing into usable boards some oak limbs from a tree in his yard. I replied that I had built a version of the "Bandsaw Lumber Maker" that was featured in the May 2007 issue of Wood Magazine, and that I would post some photos. Wood Magazine does have a video about the use of the jig, so I'll defer to that video for finer details about how to use the jig.

I followed the plans fairly closely, with the exception that I made the jig about 12" longer than described. I wanted a little more length for potential use with longer stock. The tradeoff was that the jig (3/4" baltic birch plywood) is a little heavier.

Please note that the bandsaw was not running during the time I was taking pictures. For some photos, I turned off the bandsaw mid-cut, took the picture, and then turned on the bandsaw and resumed the cut.

The base: I added an easy to remove handle to aid control of the jig and the log. The Wood plan lacked this feature. I'm glad I added the handle (purchased from Rockler during a 2-for-one sale). I think the added control is important to safety.



The underside of the base: I used maple for the miter-slot runner. The t-nut in the center on the outside edge is for locking the fence to the base when both are used in a milling operation. I didn't care for the way Wood Mag designed this part; they had more pieces than necessary.



The base and the bandsaw: The base is initially made so that the base to the left of the miter-slot extends past the blade. Running the base through the blade trims the base to final width.



The fence's backside: I added length to the fence, but stuck with the plan for fence height. The added length required additional slots for attaching stock (if necessary) to the fence. I also had to cut holes into the base of the fence in order to be able to clamp the fence to the bandaw table.



The fence's bladeside: The added length means that I don't have to mess with removing the miter runner attached to the base of the fence when I want to use the fence alone. This miter runner rides in a slot in the base when both parts are used together.



Fence attached to the bandsaw table: Clamping the fence to the bandsaw and setting the thickness of cut can be a little fussy. When funds allow, I think I may purchase two Magswitches to make the process quick and easy.



The log: This is a chunk (about 5" x 7" x 18") of soft maple pulled from the firewood pile. The chunk is about 3 years old. I did use a hatchet to hack off a few high spots so that I could have a flat face for mounting the log to the base.



Attaching the log: I clamp the base to my bench and fiddle with the placement of the log until enough hangs over the edge to give a full flat face. I also make sure that there is sufficient surface area contacting the base of the sled. Then I screw the log to the base from below. I use 1" flathead screws.



Attached log: This just shows placement of the screws from below.



Sawing a flat face: The first goal is to establish one flat face. The offcut gets sent back to the fireplace pile.



I crosscut the end, and use the fresh end to help establish the cutline for the other face:



I reattched the log to the base and squared the log.



For this demonstration, I attached the fence and set the distance to about 3/16" from the blade. I don't have a project in mind for the thin boards.



Slice away: I kept running the log through, making sure to stack the cut pieces in the order they were removed from the log. Again, I stopped the cut, turned off the bandsaw, took the picture, then resumed the cut.



The final stack: The width of ranges from 2" to 4" of usable stock. There are 18 slices, and one larva carcass.



The 18 slices give many interesting bookmatch options, one is below:



Next up: I have some sections of a trunk from a neighbor's ash tree that blew down in a storm last summer. I need to quarter the sections first.

Thanks for looking.

[Hellrazor]

That is a great setup, nice work. What is the longest piece of wood you can safely try to saw?

[cwithboat]

Very nice and superbly presented.

[RAFlorida]

Great show oh how and what you did.

That'll get you set up for a while by doing it that way. Very informative in how you did it too.

[Brian G]

Thanks for the comments.

What is the longest piece of wood you can safely try to saw?

I don't know, but I'm hoping it's 1" longer than whatever I try.

In seriousness, I think weight of a log is probably going to have a greater influence than length, most of the time. I'm speculating that 3' long is about the limit, unless I use rollerstands for infeed and outfeed support.

When I tackle the ash logs, I'll have a better idea of my comfort limit. I still have to keep in mind that this is a 14" bandsaw, not a lumber mill.

[John Hunter]

Very nice presentation!

[HauntedBranch]

Brian, I found the description of your version of the bandsaw lumber maker very interesting since I, too, have wanted to find a way to mill some wood. I am interested in the location of slots, handles, runners, etc. in your longer version of the jig as well as your further experience using it. Thanks for your excellent initial post.

Phil

[gad5264]

Thanks for sharing, this may come in handy in the future

[SARGE..g-47]

Just got around to having a look at this Brian.. and was impressed with your detailed photo shoot of how. I thought Niki had a lock on that, but you have rivaled in this case. Well done on the lay-out.

I have seen similar jigs for doing what this does and use one somewhat similiar. I have salvaged two sweet gums from my yard so far but no large pines I have taken down. Southern Yellow Pine in Georgia is cheap and plentiful and not worth the effort of milling with those factors. Storm-kill red oak is one of my major targets though.

Again... extremely well done lay-out with detailed "how-to" of the jig.

[Brian G]

Thanks for the additional comments and compliments. They are appreciated. I haven't tackled those ash logs, yet. I've got a few other projects ahead of that.

Phil, The fence and the base are 12" longer than what the plans have (i.e., the fence is 30" long and the base is 32" long). The locations of slots and handles are proportional to what's in the WOOD plan. That means that the center slot in the fence is at 15", the slots furthest from the center are 2.5" from the ends (as in the plan), and the slots between the handles and the center slot are centered between the handles and the center slot.

I located the runner in the bottom of the fence so that it extended an inch or so past the outfeed side of the bandsaw table. That way, I could attach the fence to the bandsaw table without having to remove the runner.

Hope that helps.

[HauntedBranch]

That's just what I needed to know, Brian. I did get the Wood article but your version seems like a real improvement. Thanks.

Phil

[dbhost]

I watched the Wood Magazine video on Youtube a while back. That is what really put a fire in me to want a band saw. I am saving my pennies as we speak to pick up a Grizzly 14" with riser block to do just that sort of work. I have some large limbs from one live oak, and another complete live oak tree that I need to cut down as it is too close to the house. I would LOVE to make lumber out of this stuff instead of putting it in the fireplace.

I also have some nice large (10" diameter 16" - 20" long) chunks of Mesquite that came in my last batch of BBQ wood... Those would make some interesting pieces...

[footprintsinconc]

WOW! just saw the pot. i haven't had much time to check online for the last few weeks, except a quicky here and there.

real nice work at both the jigs and the post. real easy to follow. the piece of log sure looks real nice sliced and stacked as you show it! definately going to save this thread.

thanks for the taking the time and effort to show us!