Woodturners And The Band Saw: Getting A Good Start On Round

Woodturning is the art and craft of taking wood and making it round in decorative and utilitarian ways. In order to do this it is necessary to mount the wood onto the wood lathe. Preparation for doing so, particularly in faceplate work, can be greatly aided by the band saw.

Faceplate work generally consists of turning rounds and disks into various forms. Consider the challenge of getting a ten inch bowl blank onto a twelve inch lathe. While it sounds like a great fit, consider yourself looking down at the top of the blank as it is cut from the log. Most likely it started as a ten inch round and ten inch long section. Once cut lengthwise in two it now has semicircular ends and a flat top. That top measures roughly ten inches on a side which sounds good for the lathe until one looks at the diagonals. They will be roughly fourteen inches long and are going to hit the lathe bed preventing it form turning. The corners need to be removed.

While it can be done with a chain saw, many turners find it easier to do so with a band saw. One method is to flip the blank over so the flat side is down and able to sit on the band saw table. A cardboard or thin wood disk of appropriate size, ten inches in our example, is tacked to the rounded center of the section. This serves as a template to cut around. With the flat side on the table, this is now a supported cut.

Green wood cutting such as this requires a blade with coarse teeth, good gullets and a wide set. Three eighths inch blades with three hook teeth fer inch tend to work well. Care is needed as for part of the cut as the wood curves down there is a lot of blade exposed, but it is easy to keep ones fingers away from the blade with reasonable caution. Sometimes a spray of cooking oil on the balde will help to relieve binding as green wood can swell with the friction of a cut. Once the blank is round it can then be mounted on the wood lathe with plenty of clearance.

Band saws can also be used for straight cuts. Again, if cutting boards and squares for spindle projects and small items, it is important to establish a flat to move on the table. Unsupported cuts can cause the blade to bind pulling the work at high speed and power to the table. This can cause a broken blade or, worse, pull hands and fingers into the moving blade. If round work is to be cut it needs to be stabilized so it can not be caught or rotated by the blade.

The band saw is often considered one of the safest of all the cutting tools in the power woodworking shop as it does not cause kickback as might a table saw or radial arm saw. It also provides for the curved cuts so often needed by woodturners. With simple caution and good set up it is an excellent addition to the craft.

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