Playing sawyer this morning

creasman

Jim
Staff member
Corporate Member
I was helping a friend cut firewood off his property when we came across a dead cedar tree about 8" in diameter. He gave it to me knowing my interest in woodworking. I cut several sections into 2' lengths and left them sitting in my basement, where they've been for the past ten years or so -- until today.

I made a simple sled out of scrap 3/4" plywood and set the bandsaw fence so the sled just cleared the blade. I then used a carpenter's hatchet to flatten a side and clear off any protruding knots. After that I screwed it to the sled so that just the amount I wanted to remove was protruding. The portion left of the square gives you an idea of how much will be removed by the pass. One of the things I liked about this cedar was that it was mostly red and had very little sap wood.
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With the log fastened securely to the sled I sent it through the bandsaw. I have a 3/4" resaw blade with carbide teeth. These are spaced unevenly at 2-3 TPI. It makes short work and leaves a very smooth cut. Really like that blade.
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Next step was to remove the screws, rotate the log 90 degrees, reattach and send it through again. This left me with two perpendicular faces, and meant that I could begin milling the log into boards. No need to use the sled any longer.
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I estimated the thickness so that I could get the most from the logs. This worked out to be 1-1/4" thick planks. I'm sure I'll resaw these again before they're used. This is just a convenient size for storage and that I can later split into 1/4", 3/8" or 1/2" thicknesses without much waste. I did leave one at 2" thick in case I wanted it for turnings. I left each board with one live edge.
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After all the large sections were planked I went back through the cutoffs and sawed some 1/4" thicknesses as well as several 1/32" pieces of veneer. Here's the result of the four logs.
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Not a bad batch of boards for a couple of hours on Saturday morning. Now I just gotta figure out what I'm going to do with it! No idea yet what I will be making, but the cedar is there when I'm ready. One side benefit is that my shop has the wonderful smell of fresh cedar now.
 

RickR

Rick
Senior User
I saw short logs similarly except I don’t remove and remount. I simply roll the mounted log so the cut face is down and run the plywood base along the fence.
 

Brian Patterson

New User
Bstrom
Charcuteries are nice to make as gifts. Boxes are another obvious idea. Using the thin pieces to line a small box would be awesome. I have a pile of 1” slabs cut from a cedar trunk section. It’s a beautiful wood...
 

bob vaughan

Bob Vaughan
Senior User
I had some cedar once and made a small book shelf type of thing for my wife's shoes in her closet. The closet smelled great for a few years. Now that I think about it, I may take the shelves out and dress them down a little on each side to get the aroma back. 11" deep, 25" high, and 25" wide with three adjustable shelves. I used KV255/256 inlaid shelf track because it adjusts every 1/2". It essentially is an open box with the bottom shelf laying directly on the floor. Shoes go on the top also, so this gives five surfaces to stash shoes. It has worked out very well over the decades she's had it.
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
. Now that I think about it, I may take the shelves out and dress them down a little on each side to get the aroma back.

You could just brush on a few liberal coats of cedar oil instead of redressing the boards. It works nicely for a cedar chest too.


 

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