Top 5 Uses for a Band Saw | How to Use a Bandsaw

What's up guys, I'm Brad Rodriguez from Fix This Build That today I'm going to show you my top five uses for a bandsaw Now a bandsaw can excel it cuts like no other tool can in the shop and it also helps you repurpose and optimize lumber Say - and I'll show you just how I use it Now the first way that I use my bandsaw is probably one you think about the most it's cutting curves and circles let me show you how I do it a Long sweeping curve like this can be a nice Accent or design element in your work and without a bandsaw this would typically be cutting with a jigsaw But using a bandsaw gives you a bit more control and it makes a whole lot less mess now That's because a bandsaw cuts down word and it pulls the dust below the table While a jigsaw cuts upward and it pulls the dust up onto the cut line With a clear line, you can be more accurate and you can get some pretty good results once you get the hang of following the line I don't do a lot of long curves but I do use rounded corners quite a bit a Can of finish has a nice radius for a 1 by 4 or similar sized board After tracing the curve on the corner of one board You can stack it on top of one or more other boards to cut them all at the same time Now this can be a big time-saver compared to a jigsaw Because with a jigsaw you have to cut one board at a time do the length of the short blade on the other hand with a bandsaw you can cut four six or even more at a time with ease and When you're done you just need to do a little bit of cleanup on the sander and you've got a nice rounded corner That's consistent across all the boards. Now if you cut circles the bandsaw can really show up in aces You can lay out the circles and cut them by hand. Just following along your line Just like I did with the curve but that isn't really a lot better than doing it with a jig saw The thing that sets the bandsaw part is being able to use a circle cutting jig to get a close to perfect circle every time By locking down a pivot point on the table You just have to turn the workpiece and it gives you consistent results without the need for Adjustments or slowing down to follow a line like you do when you cut it by hand There are a lot of different ways to make circle cutting jigs But the most basic is using a cut nail in a board that rests on the table Enjoying a small hole on the underside or the piece that you want to cut You can then put the workpiece on top of the cut nail and just rotate it to make the cut You can also make these adjustable and do a variety of different sizes There's some great videos out there on how to do it and I'll link to a couple of them below now the second one I use my bandsaw is for Resoling a Riesling is basically just taking a larger piece of lumber and splitting it into two or more pieces Let me show you how I do it and why I do it this is probably the way that I use my Bandsaw the most so let's say I want some 3/8 of an inch pieces for a cherry box But what I have on hand is this 1-inch thick piece of cherry I can lay out a mark on the center line on the board and then just split it in half there are a couple different ways to resaw but I like using a tall resaw fence and a 5/8 of an inch three teeth per inch blade it's important to check and set up both your fence and the blade to make sure that they're 90 degrees to the table for a good resaw And then you need a good right angle on your piece of wood as well now on this cheery board I had a flat face but the edge was rough and it wasn't square at all a Couple passes on the jointer gave me a square reference to go against both the fence and the table Now here's where the Reese all capacity of your saw comes into play I have an older 14 inch bandsaw with an MDF table and a fence on it that I used for cutting small parts and tight curves But the resaw on this thing is only five inches with that table Now the newer bandsaw is like this 14 inch bandsaw that jet sent me as a sponsor This video has a much larger resaw This model can go all the way up to 13 inches And it's got a lot of other great features that you'll see me use today I'll have a link down below in the description and you can find out all about this JET Bandsaw I move the fence in and I eyeball where the blade will hit the workpiece and I land it right on that mark that I laid out in the center Using a feather board can help keep the board pressed against the fence But it isn't totally necessary as I'll show you in just a minute Making the cut was slow and steady pressure it gives the best results if you push too hard the blade can bog down and then it will start to wander and it might even burn or Bind up in your workpiece and hey If you're new here and you like what you're seeing be sure to subscribe and say hello down in the comments After three sawing I have two pieces that are just under half an inch and I can run these through my planer to get them down to 3/8 of an inch and I got minimal material loss and I use some boards that I already had on hand instead of Having to go out and buy new material Every stalling isn't just for small parts or veneers though I got this 6x6 cedar post for free from leftovers of a pergola build and the 6x6 material is bigger than I need I'm not gonna really be able to build anything with it, but I can definitely use some 2x6 cedar. I set the fence to 1 in 3/4 of an inch And I made two cuts on the beam giving me three oversized 2 by 6 boards Again with a few passes on the planer. I'll have some nice usable material from a free piece of scrap that I was given them The third thing I use my bandsaw for is cutting notches Making a stopped cut and a piece of wood is actually kind of a hard thing to do Let me show you why and let me show you how I do it Now if you've ever tried to make a notch cut on a table saw, you know It's not easy clean or particularly safe You have to either pull the workpiece back or turn off the saw after you hit your layout line and I don't recommend doing that since you can induce kickback when you're trying to do it and Even if you do it safely since that blade cuts at an arc the topside might look okay But the backside of the notch will have the over cuts on it making it only suitable for pieces with one show side Using a bandsaw is safe and just as accurate here I've reversed the fence and switched it to the low setting So I can lower the blade guides down close to the workpiece and make sure I have the most control possible Now a bandsaw cuts straight downward So there's no concern of kickback when you stop and pull the board back and since it cuts straight down It also leaves a clean cut on both sides The cut edges are gonna be a little bit rough from the set of the teeth But that can easily be cleaned up with sandpaper or sharp. Chisel The fourth way that I use my bandsaw is really a form of wrestling but it is book matching It's when you take a piece of wood split it in half and it opens up Just like a book and its really great for figured wood let me show you how book matching is great for highlighting the movement and figure of the wood grain in a unique way and For this piece the faces are still rough and I don't want to risk a lot of tear out on the jointer or planer So I can just leave them in the rough State I set my combination square close to the centerline of the board edge and then I marked a line the length of the board next I flipped the square over to the other side and I repeated this I ran the opposite edge over the jointer to get a flat edge for solid reference on the bandsaw table and Then instead of using the fence. I grabbed to push blocks on either side of the board to guide it through the cut now This technique works great If you don't have a nice high resaw fence like this jet does and you can adjust as necessary Along the cut and keep the blade as close to that center line as you can Afterwards the cut pieces match perfectly and the two halves look amazing together and By gluing them together and servicing them flat This would make an awesome top to a box or insert in a frame and panel cabinet door Now the fifth way that I use my bandsaw is really kind of a combination of a few of these but it is Repurposing old lumber or lumber from logs. This is a cut-off I'm gonna show you how I'm gonna take this cut off and we're gonna make it into some usable wood using the bandsaw Now this was an off cut from a walnut log that a local sawyer gave me for free I get a lot of wood given to me for free of you Haven't noticed the SAP load was pretty rotten, but there's some solid hardwood in there and there's this really cool knot in it, too. I eyeballed the piece and I decided I could get some panels with a knot in them and then see what else I could get from the offcut I Marked for the first cut and then I went over to the bandsaw. I split it down the line and this gave me two pieces one with the knot in it and the other with some clear wood The two pieces now had rough faces so I ran them both through the jointer to make sure I had a flat face for reference Then using the flat reference surface on the small piece. I cut it into three small half-inch thick boards again This would be great for a little box or something like that. I Switched over to the chunk with a knot in it and I flipped it on its side to get some wide panels After cutting the first panel, I saw that the knot was really looking cool So I went ahead and I cut two more out of it as well Now there was a good bit of solid wood left in that smaller chunk, it'll be perfect for some turning blanks I used my combination square to see what size blanks the piece would give me and it ended up I could cut a pair of two By two blanks out of it Now all-in I turned this off cut into three small boards that I could use for the sides of a box three panels with different knots in them that can leave open or fill with epoxy for a really cool look and a pair of long turning blanks or for smaller ones This is why I love having a bandsaw. You can turn leftover scrap lumber into really great usable pieces If you want to check out some more of my videos they have another one queued up for you right there if you're not subscribed to the channel already I'd love to have you as part of the team and until next time guys get out there and build something awesome

Channel: Fix This Build That

Views: 1,134,128

Keywords: Uses for a band saw, how to use a bandsaw, bandsaw tips and tricks, bandsaw tips, bandsaw trick, bandsaw circle cutting jig, band saw circle cutting jig, resawing on a bandsaw, band saw resawing, bandsaw bookmatching, band saw bookmatching, bandsaw book matching, how to, how to build, how to make, woodworker, wood, wooden, woodworking, woodworking projects, woodwork, diy, do it yourself, diy project, fixthisbuildthat, fix this build that

Id: 6XPK9xJyEPs

Length: 9min 18sec (558 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 19 2018