Crosscutting Big Slabs

[YellowHammer]

What is the best way to end gran trim, or crosscut, large slabs?  They are too wide for my Hitachi crosscut chop saw, too wide for a single pass in a radial arm saw, and my circular saw just seems a little rough.  For example this weekend, I had a customer ask me to crosscut three of my twenty five inch, two inch thick slabs to exactly five feet long, so they could be glued up to form a table.  I was able to painstakingly crosscut them by cutting from one side, then flipping them and cutting from the other, but it seemed pretty awkward and it seems I am lacking the proper tool.

Is there a better way?  Something that doesn't take up much room, not too expensive, but allows me to chop saw wide slabs nearly as easy as cutting the end off a board while the customer is paying their bill? 
Thanks

[Ianab]

Well I've used a chainsaw before   :D

But a hand held circular saw and a straight edge clamped to the slab seems to do a good job. At least you get a straight edge, and then tidy that up with a coarse grit sander. 

[sandsawmill14]

what about one of those plywood saws like lowes uses to cut plywood  ??? i dont know what you call them but they will rip a 8' cut or cross cut the 4' way without moving the plywood sheet i have never looked at it close enough to see how the saw works but they are ripping something on it at least 1/2 the time that im in there

if the circular saw is splintering the is the problem try using the blue 2" wide masking tape center of the cut and mark cut line on the tape i have had pretty good luck with that but most of what i cut doesnt matter anyway because i will normally run a router around the edges anyway

[longtime lurker]

what about one of those plywood saws like lowes uses to cut plywood  ??? i dont know what you call them but they will rip a 8' cut or cross cut the 4' way without moving the plywood sheet i have never looked at it close enough to see how the saw works but they are ripping something on it at least 1/2 the time that im in there

No lowes here, can you grab a picture of one next time your there... that sounds interesting.

I'm with Ian..  never been afraid to mark it couple inches long and take to it with a chainsaw... I run a sawmill not a cabinet shop.
Other then that circular saw, if you don't want it to chip out cut 1/2" deep from one side, roll and cut through from the other. That gives a better finish then my radial arms do anyway.

[jcbrotz]

Festool tracksaw I know you said not to expensive but mine works great, you will be limited to 3 inches if I remember right I will try and look today. Just thinking aloud on this but maybe a big old radial alarmsaw. :D

[xlogger]

Festool tracksaw I know you said not to expensive but mine works great, you will be limited to 3 inches if I remember right I will try and look today. Just thinking aloud on this but maybe a big old radial alarmsaw. :D

I've watch on Youtube of the tracksaw cutting across the slabs. Cost about $800

[red]

Long Arm radial arm saw 3 phase 16 inch blade

[WDH]

I use the straight edge clamped to the slab as a guide for the circular saw like Ian said. 

[Joey Grimes]

We had a radial arm saw at a shop I worked that would crosscut 24 inches another thought is a top saw that's used to cut prefab  countertops

[GeneWengert-WoodDoc]

A portable electric circular saw, commonly called a SkilSaw, does have the ability to crosscut 2" deep.  The saw can be used with a fence (that you make quickly using a straight edge and  several clamps) in order to crosscut precisely.  The bed plate of the saw rides against the fence...easier to see then to describe.

An brief section from an article in SAWMILL & WOODLOT:
Although circular saws were invented in 1777, the portable circular saw was invented by Edmond Michel in 1924. He, along with his partner Joseph L. Sullivan, started Michel Electric Handsaw Company. The name was changed to Skil Corporation in the 1950's, from which we derive the common name today of Skil Saw. (R)

Skill saws come in various sizes and styles, including left-handed models for "southpaws."  In all cases, the saw moves so, unlike a circular table saw, the wood must be well secured.

The skill saw is used for cross-cutting most often, but is also can be used for ripping and for cutting sheet goods including plywood.  [Crosscutting (XC) is cutting the end of a piece to make it shorter.  Ripping is cutting along the length to make a narrower piece.] Although the saw may be a bit heavy, if the wood is properly supported, the saw rests on the wood for most of the cut and the operator only steers and pushes the saw forward to do the cutting.

[Texas Ranger]

I have one, and they work great.

http://www.woodworkersjournal.com/track-saw-review/

[logboy]

I use my Festool 75EQ and various track lengths. Theyre not cheap though, and unless youre doing finished pieces like me it might be hard to justify the cost. You cant cut it all in one pass either. I have to take three. The blades need regular sharpening as well as they get dull.

[YellowHammer]

Lots of good ideas, thanks. I have recently geared up and have been producing live edge and wide, thick slabs routinely by the pallet load, and just like my regular boards, many of them need post kiln trimming and dressing to optimize their value.  I'm in a little bit of an unusual situation, and it greatly pains me to say it, but I've found that I don't have the right equipment to process quantities of large slabs adequately, and I've tried to optimize my operation as much as possible, but this slab processing has been a swing and a miss. 

My original strategy had been to produce as wide a slab as possible, and let the customer handle the post processing.  Unfortunately, I've found that if I can't handle and process large slabs of wood, then there is no way most of my customers can, and it actually drops the value of the largest pieces I've so painstakingly tried to produce.  I've also found many customers want a straight edge one side of the slab, even if it was originally sawn as a double live edge.  If the boards are too wide to plane, and need some trimming or work, then I can't rip them in my straight line rip saw, as it cannot tolerate rough sawn wood causing any shift or wobble in the boards or bad things happen real fast.  So then I have a board I can't quickly rip, while a customer waits, and can't plane and can't trim, and a customer doesn't buy.  I can eventuality manhandle these large hunks of wood, by ripping them to size in my sawmill, or a circular saw, or free handing with my chainsaw, but each has its pros and cons. 

Of course, once I do get them ripped, and planed, then I still have to crosscut which is the origin of my post.  To make it more complicated, if a customer pays several hundred dollars for a slab and wants a straight edge on one side and crosscut to a precise length, they and I want it to be a high quality cut.

Also, since we have been producing a good amount of slabs, it's also beginning to eat into my time, due to my inefficiency of production.  Two weeks ago I spent pretty much the better part of the day just trimming, optimizing, planing, ripping and crosscutting dozens of slabs, and it was a total pain. 

Anyway, that's the backstory.  I am looking hard at the track saws, I have one customer who has a business, buys slabs from us and processes them himself and says the track saw is the best things he has used.  Most only cut to a couple inches deep and my boards are a little thicker, about 2 3/8".  Certainly, all options are in the table. 

[willmyers0169]

a beam saw should handle that just fine.

[jcbrotz]

I use my Festool 75EQ and various track lengths. Theyre not cheap though, and unless youre doing finished pieces like me it might be hard to justify the cost. You cant cut it all in one pass either. I have to take three. The blades need regular sharpening as well as they get dull.

That's what I have also and cheap is not a word that goes along with the word festool but to crosscut or rip a line they cannot be beat and the cut is real close to 3 inches just shy due to the track thickness. 2 7/8 would be closer. breaking down plywood couldn't be easier.

[red]

Makita 5401n 16 inch circle saw , there is also a 10 inch saw but I forget who makes it .  Lots of blade options too , someone even makes a blade with chainsaw teeth

[Weekend_Sawyer]

If you are just cutting a couple than Ian and WDH nailed it.

Jon

[Peter Drouin]

I think I missed it, What kind of wood are the slabs? Pine?

[Bruno of NH]

Festool has a new track saw out that is geared more for rough work .
If it was me I would look in to that one for cutting the slabs .
Bruno

[Dave Shepard]

The large Festool cuts 2 3/4" on the track. If you want to cut thicker, I'd buy the 16" Makita and clamp a straight edge like an aluminum level on the slab. Not a fan of that saw, but this is one area where it does ok.

[YellowHammer]

I think I missed it, What kind of wood are the slabs? Pine?

A bunch of pine, for sure, but a decent amount of hardwoods, too.  The fast drying pine is letting me cycle it fast.  The picture shows some that I have already edged one side on the mill so I won't have to struggle with it later.


Some nice ambrosia maple, with a few wides,


And a whole shed full of pallets of walnut, curly maple, burly maple, cherry, and red maple that I milled last year and is ready to finish and sterilize in time for the Christmas rush.  You can barely see them stacked way back in the darkness.  At this point, I'm trying to crank these out as fast as possible, as I have people waiting in line to buy these as soon as they come out of the kiln.   

I'd guess with these and a few other stacks, a couple hundred, maybe three at a finished price of $50 to $350 each.  Plus the several pallets I've already done.


I've routinely started taking the jacket boards of the best logs as live edge slabs, so most every log will yield at least two slabs, sometimes four, and I've been sawing pretty hard, so its stacking up and I've got plenty  to replace these.

These pics show why I'm trying to figure out how to be more efficient.   

[btulloh]

It wouldn't be too difficult to fab up a one-axis panel-type saw using the 16" makita circular saw. Similar to a panel saw but limited to maybe 30" width (or whatever) and a single direction.  It would only take a couple special parts.  Mount the assembly to a simple saw saw bench. 

Or you could make the saw fixed and have a sliding bench to pass the slab under the saw.   (Just thinking out loud.)

[Ianab]

Stacks of wood like that should justify a decent track saw. It's a more elegant version of the straight edge and skillsaw.

My theory is that at some point it's easier to leave the large piece of wood stationary, and move the saw over it.

[sandsawmill14]

anyone else find it funny that ALL of us band sawmill guys have recommended a circle saw to make straight cuts ??? :D :D :D

[WDH]

I also think now seeing the extent of your problem opportunity, that a track saw is the way to go.  I covet all those slabs.  I am low on slabs, and it takes some time to saw them, dry them, and get them ready  .  It is very hard to handle them by myself, and even with a helper, 2 3/8" thick, 20" wide and 10' long slabs like red oak are a killer to plane, I don't care who you are.