Resawing Black Heart Sassafras

[Paul Mac]

I bought a couple of slightly warped quartersawn Black Heart Sassafras boards in Tassie about 10 years ago and have stored them flat ever since with varying amounts of weight sitting on top but they are still warped. I would like to resaw the boards into usable timber and would appreciate any advice on how to go about this with timber in this condition. Should I run the boards through a thicknesser and accept the wastage? Pieces are 1.37x195x23 and 1.2x195x23.
Cheers Paul.

[demonx]

When you say "usable timber", usable for what?

For example, something like a side set, no problem as you'll be bending them anyway, or a electric guitar cap, sure as it'd be able to be clamped and flattened to a more sold piece.

A bit more info on the end purpose will help answer how to approach.

I would not thickness them as you'll end out with veneer thickness trying to get them flat, I would cut down the center with a band saw and then drum sand, you will end out with usable pieces that still have some meat on them.

[Paul Mac]

OK Alan thanks a lot for your input, I'm hoping to get back and side set or sets out of these boards as the thickness would normally allow for two but only if the timber was straight of course. I put the question out there in the hope that there may have been some way of trying to get the timber flatter without sacrificing too much material.
Cheers Paul.

[slowlearner]

Demonx is on the money here. I saved the nastiest, most warped piece of silky oak a few years back about the same thickness as your boards there. The trick is getting the resaw as even as possible and then thicknessing or drum sanding afterwards. I built this with it.



I salvaged enough for a decent drop top and a headstock veneer. Once it's resawn and thicknessed, it's will flatten out nicely if you weigh it down flat for a few days. I was quite surprised.

[curly]

I go the other way . First I dock the boards as close to component sides as possible , both in length and width . Then I buzz one face flat .
Then I go across the resaw against a long , straight fence . Whilst I agree you're going to bend the boards ( even backs to some degree ) anyways , of course , I find I get a much finer , more even finish this way . Narrow curved resaw fences are risky buggers , particularly with wind or worse , cupping . You can easily end up with areas tapering to nothing !
Then again , I sell timber and a buyers expectation as to the flatness of a board is likely different to what you might be willing to work with yourself .
Pete
Curly timbers

[jeffhigh]

I agree with curly.
The bandsaw blade will not follow the warped curvature of the existing board face, so you might as well surface it, having first broken the boards down into appropriate lengths and widths to minimize wastage.

[Paul Mac]

Thanks Pete from Curly timber and Jeffhigh will take on board advice and give it a go.
I'll post pics of results when I've done the damage.
Cheers Paul.

[curly]

The other thing I'd add is to practice first .
Get your bandsaw cutting absolutely perfect . My test for sharpness is to put my thumb to a tooth , it wants to feel almost like a fish hook , like it wants to cut you . Nearly sharp is just not good enough with bandsaws , you might get away with it on a circular blade but not a bandsaw . Even better buy yourself a Lennox wood master ct from Mcdiven saws . They're awesome !
Next your guides want to be just right , the flimsy blade needs that support .
Then pick something mild to cut and not too valuable to get your hand in . Sassafras is damned expensive these days . Logs alone are selling at 2 or 3 k a ton , I couldn't break even at those prices .
Good luck to you !
Pete
Curly timbers

[Paul Mac]

Just updating on my resawing results which were a while coming as I had been away on holidays. I cut one of my boards into user lengths, loaded up the bandsaw with the resaw blade and tightened it up as best I could, tried a test cut and decided to go ahead cutting the Black Heart Sassafras. I managed two good parlor size back sets and one side set but screwed up the second side set due to lack of concentration and pushing through my last cut too quickly. I'm happy with the results after running the backs through the drum sander to a thickness of 3mm and will do the same with the sides when I'm ready to use them. Luckily these boards didn't cost much so it wasn't so stressful to push them through the saw.
Cheers Paul.