Re-sawing milled lumber

[Brmorgan]

Good idea - I've been using the silicone lube that comes in a spray can. Seems to do a good job but needs to be applied fairly often. Being a bit more viscous, diesel might last longer.

 

[BobL]

Good idea - I've been using the silicone lube that comes in a spray can. Seems to do a good job but needs to be applied fairly often. Being a bit more viscous, diesel might last longer.

Just watch that Silicone lube. It can be a PITA if a glob of it ends on on a piece of wood that you want to apply a finish to. No known solvent gets it out and it ends up spreading everywhere in the shop whereas stuff like diesel and turps eventually evaporate.

 

[BlueRider]

, it has a hard time with wet heavy dense "logs" much over 9-10 inches. It just doesn't have the power that a bandsaw needs to slice up logs. Woodshop bandsaws are also just not built for that... they quickly clog up with wet sawdust, which also eventually coats the tires and sides of the blade, which is very hard to remove, especially when it dries hard as nails.

This is exactly why I prefer solid blade guide over roller guides. there is no difference in performance if both are properly tunned and the solid guides are not as prone to gunking up.

I used to use a 1/2" 3tpi bi metal blade with 2x the amount of set. it took a bit wider kerf but on green wood it also allowed more room for the swarf to exit the cut. I would still use these but I moved and the supplier near me is not as well stocked.

 

[Brmorgan]

Just watch that Silicone lube. It can be a PITA if a glob of it ends on on a piece of wood that you want to apply a finish to. No known solvent gets it out and it ends up spreading everywhere in the shop whereas stuff like diesel and turps eventually evaporate.

Glob? Maybe we're not on the same page here. The stuff I have is aerosol, comes out just like water, and evaporates fairly quickly leaving a Teflon-like coating on the surface. I use it to reduce friction on my table saw and jointer tables as well, and have never noticed it affecting any wood as nothing's ever still wet when I run wood over it. At any rate there is always sanding or hand planing to do after the pieces are through the big machines so I haven't had a problem so far.

I should also note I've used WD-40 in similar ways many times too.

 

[BobL]

Glob?

OK - A large drop.

Maybe we're not on the same page here. The stuff I have is aerosol, comes out just like water, and evaporates fairly quickly leaving a Teflon-like coating on the surface. I use it to reduce friction on my table saw and jointer tables as well, and have never noticed it affecting any wood as nothing's ever still wet when I run wood over it.

Silicone aerosol are probably worse than liquids because the stuff goes all over the place and even when its dry the silicone molecules still transfer by contact. Machining and sanding transfers silicone to your tools and suspends particles of it and timber containing into the air which fall down on other timber and tools. You might not notice the effect for years especially if you use it sparingly and have very good dust extraction but if you keep using it everything in your shed, surfaces, timber, and tools gets contaminated with it as it builds up. You might only notice it when you go to finish something and you will see patches of timber that won't finish properly - by then it is too late the shed and your gear is contaminated. The other big culprit is silicone based car waxes - keep those out of your shed as well.

Years ago at a place I was working we had someone splash their hand with a slightly radioactive material with a falrly short half life . It wasn't dangerous but we were able to follow it spreading throughout our building using a radiation meter. It was amazing to see where it got to. Within 24 hours nearly every office door knob had detectable amounts on them, every toilet seat, bathroom tap, the photocopier and fax, the coffee and food vending machines, all the cups, telephones and lunch room chairs. It was incredible to see it spread even to adjacent buildings. This is how I guess diseases travel as well. Everything was wiped down and everyone instructed to take a lengthy shower and then wash their hands on a regular basis but recontamination kept recurring for about a week until the natural radioactive decay dropped below detection limits. What this goes to show is how easily stuff spreads and getting rid of it later is hard work.

 

[woodshop]

...Years ago at a place I was working we had someone splash their hand with a slightly radioactive material with a falrly short half life . It wasn't dangerous but we were able to follow it spreading throughout our building using a radiation meter. It was amazing to see where it got to. Within 24 hours nearly every office door knob had detectable amounts on them, every toilet seat, bathroom tap, the photocopier and fax, the coffee and food vending machines, all the cups, telephones and lunch room chairs. It was incredible to see it spread even to adjacent buildings. This is how I guess diseases travel as well. Everything was wiped down and everyone instructed to take a lengthy shower and then wash their hands on a regular basis but recontamination kept recurring for about a week until the natural radioactive decay dropped below detection limits. What this goes to show is how easily stuff spreads and getting rid of it later is hard work.

At a local nursing school, at the orientation social for incoming students the instructor does something similar. She sprays a colorless odorless substance on her hands that can only be detected with blacklight before greeting all the members that eve. At the end of the eve she explains what she did, brings out the blacklight and goes around the room with it. As people got contaminated and then spread it to others by casual touch etc, virtually every persons hands, face, clothing... all chairs, utensils etc had at least a detectable trace of this stuff on them, all from ONE persons initial coating of her hands at the beginning of the party. The point of course was to show the incoming "nurses-to-be" how easily germs can be spread from one person to a whole room full of people and objects. It's an eye opener for sure and sure gets the point across.

Silicon in the woodshop... I have used it with success for small things like helping to get sanding sleeves on, but Bob is right about that stuff getting everywhere and unseen at that. It doesn't go away and eventually it does get on wood surfaces. Only a little bit of the stuff can cause problems. Spray the smallest amount you can on a piece of wood and then try and apply a finish... water based, solvent based, no matter. You can see splotching and "weird" effects like fisheye on the wood surface to varying degrees... you will think your stain or finish is defective. It really can cause problems in a woodshop even if you're very careful. The stuff works, but it can also be your worst unseen nightmare.

http://articles.directorym.net/Battling_fish_eye-a908549.html

 

[Brmorgan]

Thanks for the heads-up on that, I'll have to check into it. The reason I started using it in the first place is that we used to use it all the time at the finger-joint mill I used to work at, to keep the blocks feeding into the ripsaws nice and smooth. They had UHMW infeed tables, and that stuff actually seems to absorb the liquid silicone somewhat, so we'd spray them down every hour or so. Of course finishing isn't an issue with fingerjointed studs, so the aforementioned problems never came up! I have many other options here anyway and I never used it that much. Though I should note that I used it in my benchtop planer extensively this summer when planing down the surface boards for my deck, because the Douglas Fir was quite resinous and kept sticking to the bottom feed table without it. And that wood seemed to take the water sealant / protectant finish just fine, mind you I did treat it with oxalic acid to get rid of mildew stains etc. first though.