crotch cookies on a bandmill

[pineywoods]

Customer brought me some real nice eastern red cedar, wanted 4/4 free edge slabs. Included was a large triple crotch that was under 3 feet long, too short to fit on the bunks. No reasonable way to clamp it to the bed. I suggested cutting it into cookies, should be some interesting grain in a triple crotch. Here's how I did it. Lay a 1X12 plank on the bunks, stand a 2X4 against the backstops. Stand the bolt vertical on the 1X12 and clamp tightly. Cut 2 inch thick cookies off the top. CAUTION  If the clamp works loose, things will go downhill in a hurry, don't ask how I know. :-[





This is the first cut. Woodworker friends had a hissie fit

[KEC]

Pretty neat.

[Walnut Beast]

Very cool 👍

[kelLOGg]

What's the approx. diameter of the cookie?

[pineywoods]

These cookies are approx 24 inches in diameter. If you look closely, you can see where I shaved off about an inch to get past the outboard guide roller. Cut on a standard wm lt40 with a home-made 2 plane clamp.. A wide head would be nice.

[Poquo]

I clamp a scrap board to the mill, then use deck screws to secure the short logs to cut cookies. Make sure you don't cut into the screws. Odd shaped Cedar can be a real pain to clamp for cookie cutting.