Tool question ?

[Bryan Adolphe]

 I have a couple quick questions for you experienced bow builders the only shop tool I really don’t own yet is a jointer ,when it comes to cutting veneers or  lams say from a 4/4 board that’s not totally true (square &straight) will that cause a problem ? Also  I do understand it would be nice to have riser blocks that are square and true  before starting ?  If a jointer is an asset to have ,  of course the bigger the better is usually the case but what would be the smallest a guy could get away with ?  There’s lots of 6 inch jointer’s out there  that are slightly used for under $400 but the beds seem so short ?  Maybe simple stupid question but love to hear your thoughts  Thanks! Bryan

[kennym]

I don't have one so can't tell you how much it would help.  My table saw makes stuff square and straight enough for me .

If need be, you could clamp a longer straightedge to fence to get trued up for straight, and the blade needs to be square with table anyway...

[Jeff tech]

You need one of these. Forget about the jointer. Grizzly edge grinder. And a decent table saw. JF

[OldRawhide42]

I have a 6" jointer . It is big enough to do a riser block. But I don't use it all the time. I do most of them with the table saw .

[Bryan Adolphe]

 Thanks guys totally makes sense !

[Jeff tech]

And a band saw. You'll be set.

[Kirkll]

Being an old carpenter from way back, I’m a table saw guy myself. But building bows , an edge sander, band saw, and spindle sander , and drum sander is the basic meal ticket. I had several joiners over the years that are fine for milling rough cut stock…. But they eat too much wood, and are very dangerous tools.

A vertical milling machine is very nice too. But a decent drill press is all you need.

Kirk

[jess stuart]

I have a joiner but rarely use it.  I wouldn't  buy one unless I already had everything kirk mentioned plus dust collection.

[Kirkll]

I got to thinking of your question regarding milling veneers and risers. As with anything you do, there is always several ways to skin a cat. Many guys set up their band saws to re-saw limb veneers from exotic woods. The blades are much thinner than a table saw and theoretically you save a lot of wood in sawdust alone.

The reason I say theoretically is because getting your bandsaw set up up for milling veneers is easier said than done. Having The right blade and a good system takes time and effort to successfully do. I bought a second band saw to do just that and  got a deal on a big 17” saw. But….. I wasted a lot good material learning to get it set up right, then once it’s set up, you cant use it for anything else or then you have to set it up again. Half the time I ended up using my table saw anyway and got just as many usable veneers.

The table saw vs a joiner requires a straight line jig to mill rough cut wood. But you can easily mill your lumber dead square if you have a decent drum sander and edge sander with course grit. I use 36 and 50 grit most on both my sanders for milling and rough shaping.

Food for thought…. Kirk

[Bryan Adolphe]

All good info here I’ve shelved the jointer idea for now Unless I need it for other projects I’ve got a 14 inch bandsaw ,table saw ,small Grizz 10?12” drum sander,disk combo belt sander , couple spindle sanders and dust collection if this gets carried away an edge sander would be in my future lol  most of my shop time will be in the winter and it’s so freaking cold up here we don’t open the door as much to blow the dust out so I’ll keep improving my dust collection .  I will attempt to cut some veneers with my Bandsaw I have resawed with it before but never down to the thousands of an inch so we’ll see how that goes lol may  have to cut them thick and work them down .  I walked out to the shop a few times but I think I gotta give my back a little more time before I do anything  or the wife might  Lol  Like that one !   Thanks All !

[Mad Max]

Wood slicer blade from Highland woodworking 1/2"  wide.

Watch the video, it will show you how to tune up your bandsaw and fence for blade cut drift for cutting veneers .

When your blade is sharp cut a veneer and thickness sand it until the saw marks are gone, take note on how thick they were before and after thickness sanding and add .020 or so to your veneer cutting thickness. When you blade gets less sharp you need to add more to you cutting thickness. I made this riser without sanding any of the veneers.

https://www.tradgang.com/tgsmf/index.php?topic=174764.msg2948384#msg2948384

[onetone]

Good info! Thanks 

[Buggs]

Max, you went from the bandsaw straight to glue up with that stacked riser??

[Mad Max]

Max, you went from the bandsaw straight to glue up with that stacked riser??

Yes with a new blade
all the glue line have Bocote next to them so that will cove it up some, I was not worried about glue lines because I thought it would make a rustic look.
I've been looking at it now and I cant see any glue lines but there has to be some gaps.
If you stop pushing when you are resawing it can leave a high spot, I think I sanded some off with a block and sand paper.

I have wondered if you could cut veneers and not sand them, you have 60/80 grit lines on them if you sand them and the glass and epoxy make them disappear.

[Crooked Stic]

Try it Max let us know  my saw ain't that good.

[Buggs]

I have to admit to never using my bandsaw as a precision tool. I pretty much just jam wood thru it and clean up the mess with a sander.

Got me thinking about a Woodslicer blade......and some patience

[Mad Max]

I have to admit to never using my bandsaw as a precision tool. I pretty much just jam wood thru it and clean up the mess with a sander.

Got me thinking about a Woodslicer blade......and some patience

Years ago I watched a video where the bandsaw fence had a crank wheel on it, you turn the crank to .030 and make a cut, turn it again .030 and make a cut. it was very precise.
After watching one more video on adjusting your fence for wood drift, you have to adjust your fence to the way you blade wants to cut. I was thinking you don't need that high $ fence.
After doing that and buying the wood slice blade I was making good cuts.
It's amazing how I can get such good cuts. The fence needs to be square to the table and so does the blade.
maybe I will shoot a video

[Shredd]

My first bows I used a 3/4" carbide blade...  Cut my tapers and parallels on the bandsaw, run a sanding block over them a little just to take off any high spots, matched up lams for thickness and glued up the bow...  Worked pretty good... You might be surprised how accurate they came right off the saw...  That was before I had a thickness sander...

[Kirkll]

I can’t even imagine laying up bow limbs using rough cut lams out of a band saw, or even a table saw for that matter. Considering plus or minus  .010 can give you 10 pounds difference in draw weight on some limb designs, a drum sander is a must for precision lam milling.

Most of my lams are around 30” in length going into the form. When I mill tapered lams I like to make them 36” in length so I can slide them to adjust my stack height. Kind of like a fine tuning technique. If you incorporate a forward and reverse taper, you can adjust a stack height .020 very easily just sliding your lams back and forth, then cut them to length. I thought I’d share that one….

Going back to the shop tools topic. I would strongly recommend building or buying a cyclone system for dust collection. I built my own many years ago using a furnace blower and spare pipe I had kicking around, and it’s served me well. But mine is rather large.  They have smaller versions using shop vacs you can buy, or you could easily build your own. Just Google cyclone dust collection.

Kirk