Vertical Bandsaw Lumber Mill

About a year ago, I saw a youtube video of a guy making lumber on his vertical bandsaw, and its been a dream of mine ever since. I built my own system and put it into full scale service for the first time today.

 

Those results look great. How far into the log are you getting? Do you have to re-position it every few cuts? Any tracking issues with the blade?

It looks fantastic. Nice work.

 

Thanks! I used the sled jig in the first few pics to establish a square corner, and then I just ran the rest of the log against the fence. My bandsaw has a 12.5" resaw capacity, and a 17" throat, but I lose 3/4" both ways to my sled jig and auxiliary tall fence.

I had planned to saw this log into 1" stickers for drying the rest of the lumber, as it appeared to be a lower quality piece. Now I'm thinking ill clean up the edges and keep a couple boards out of these.

 

Great idea with the fence. Nice size saw too. Can you clamp the sawn boards on the ends to square off the edges? It looks like the bar clamp can drop low enough to catch the ends.

 

The blade was a 1" Laguna Resaw King 3-4TPI- stainless backed, carbide tipped. Very expensive and worth every penny. It sliced through the log like a stick of butter, and the cut feels sanded-smooth.

 

I really need an upgrade.

Thanks for the pics.

 

Yeah, the sled hangs off the table of the bandsaw quite a bit, so I could clamp boards down vertically with F clamps or something instead of the pipe clamp.

I sent the last message too soon. Meant to include these pics. No tracking issues with the blade, but I had the tension about as high as I could get.

 

I just read about your blade. Carbide tipped, minimal waste, smooth finish. A lot of engineering went into it. Well worth it IMO from looking at the pics.

 

Shawn,
Nice looking stuff. What kind of saw do you have? I just purchased a Laguna 17" bandsaw at an auction and it has that blade in the box of blades that came with the saw. It is nice to see what my saw is capable of .
How do you get the log up on the table? Brute strength and awkwardness.

 

The saw is a Grizzly 513 - with 2HP motor and upgraded guide bearings. Under $1000 to my door.



Yeah, brute strength on the logs.

 

A blade that cuts like this one does is the key I think - the only thing it tracks is how well you're steering it against the fence. I've had steering issues with lesser blades too, even 1" ones. This would also be consistent with what I've seen with chainsaw chain - I used to have steering issues there too, until I got them properly sharpened.

 

Tracking issues occur when one side or portion there of gets dull or the overall blade becomes dull. I have a griz 17" also. Only been doing much smaller pieces. Which drive pulley are you using?

 

It's got the cast aluminum wheels. It also has the low-end, extruded aluminum fence, but I made some improvements there. A bit of rubber tape on the brake mechanism, and it stays put much better now. I made the taller resaw fence to slip over the aluminum one, from some laminated MDF.

 

I sawed up this chunk tonight. There might have been more usable lumber if I had sawn it the short way, but I'm glad I made the wide boards instead.

 

That's a really nice setup ya got there Shawn.
Resawing is fun but turning small logs into boards is funner.
I made a Jig like that with a bar clamp but it was much shorter, I use a 3/4" 3 tooth blade.
Made a jig for the table saw with DE-STA toggle clamps to get straight edge

 

I have a couple improvements in mind for the jig. Ill rout some slots into it maybe 1' apart, and ill put the pipe saddles up on blocks that I can clamp down with some t-bolts and star knobs. That way I can reposition the clamp anywhere and not have to screw it down each time. I have some of the Rockler hold downs that would work in the slots too. I think I can make one jig that will work in my band saw and the right hand slot of my table saw too.