I've had inquiries from customers asking if I could put one staight edge on the lumber I'm selling them. My question is what is the best way to acomplish this? Should I buy a jointer and just use that or a straight line rip saw (which is too expensive for my budget)? What do you use? ???
A straght line rip saw is the proper tool but my customers who need a "straight" line for flooring, etc. use a skill saw. They build a jig and use a piece of angle iron or a straight board to follow. Then they put the board under the jig and use the "straight edge" to guide their skill saw.
They soon find that they are having to fight the tension in the board just like you did, but it works better than popping a line.
Standing the board on edge on a band mill will produce a fairly straight edge, but is time consuming and still may not leave a square edge because of the movement of the board in the dogs.
Take to a guy with a circular mill for about 2 seconds. :D
Green lumber comes off my mill with a straight edge. I am guessing that your customer wants a straight edge after the lumber is KD which is a whole different ball game.
The angle iron jig that Tom suggested works great but is extremely slow. You also eat a lot of sawdust off the circular saw and it is pretty hard to get a really smooth cut.
Jointer also works good but can be slow if you have to make more than one pass. If your boards are 8 to 10 foot long you need a jointer with long tables (expensive) to get the job done.
Ripping sled for the table saw is the best (cheapest) and fastest way I have found. Not my idea as it was in FWW magazine maybe four years ago. Ripping blade is the secret. Model 1 on the Delta contractor saw (underpowered) will do about 3 (4/4) 10' long boards a minute with a Freud 20T TK ripping blade. With a Forrest blade it will do 2 boards per minute but it is a glue line rip. Model 2 on the 5 hp Unisaw will go as fast as you can shove the boards through.
(https://forestryforum.com/images/03_21_04/rs.jpg)
The lumber comes off of my mill with a straight edge too but then warping and twisting occurs in the drying process.
Larry-can you give more details on the ripping sled. Ive heard of crosscut sleds but not ripping. what mag is fww? Do you still have that article? Thanks,
Fine Wood Working. The sled is similar to a crosscut sled. The carriage board is something like a 1" X 12" 10 to 16 feet long. A 3/8" X 3/4" bar made of hardwood, aluminum, or steel rides in the miter slot. Head stock is just a block of wood with drywall screws that hold the board in place. Thats a pretty simple explanation of how it works.
for ripping with a skillsaw a worm drive saw will beat a regular skill saw two to one, guaranteed. it's a lot heavier but once you get it set up it's easier to push and has much more torque and power.
I too use a sled like Larry's--the outfeed table is key.
Larry, I really like that setup. I assume it works pretty much like a cross cut sled, except the one edge of the sled rides against the blade and the sled slides in the miter saw slots on the table, is that correct? Have you ever had any problem with kick-back? Doesn't seem like you would. Also, does the stock your cutting just rest between cleats on the sled, or is it clamped somehow? Thanks!
R.T.
The FWW issue is December, 2000. Issue #145. The article is entitled "From Rough to Ready". Author did make a clamp to hold the board but found he could do just as well holding it by hand with a lot less hassle - so he dropped the clamp idea. I built a sled using his ideas and it worked slick... Lumber comes out dead on straight if you set yourself up right. As I get my new shop set up, I am building a new, better, more permanent sled. If you need straight boards on one side, this rig does the job.
Thanks Mur, you're awesome. :)
Hi oakie, I know those guys are tough, but hows the wood moving on all those woodworking sights? is anyone buying from you? Just curious as I posted a while back over the big lumber price debate about some of the sawyers here selling on some of the woodworking sights. Thanks man!!!!
I ordered that issue of FWW last night.I have been keeping an eye out for a good deal on a ripsaw for a few months.Now I want to try out the sled and see what happens.
Thanks for the great info 8)
Twoodward15,
Sells going kinda slow. I have to orders of people saying that they are coming. It seems everybody wants what I don't have dried yet. I need two kilns!!! Thanks for supporting me on the web sites.
Oakiemac,
Just curious which sites you've been posting your info on--I'd like to check 'em out!
Paschale,
I've posted on Woodweb.com, Woodworking.com.