Jonathan
Oud Junkie
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Registered: 7-27-2004
Location: Los Angeles
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sawing the rib blanks
This question might seem kind of basic, but I am just wondering how most of you oud makers are sawing your rib blanks.
I've been using a band saw, but it is sort of slow going with dense woods. My table saw is junk--I'm actually afraid of the thing, and am going to
end up throwing it out. But, I would invest in another if that is the way to go.
Thanks a lot.
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
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Registered: 8-30-2005
Location: Eugene OR
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I use a bandsaw, an old Rockwell Delta 14" with Cool Blocks guides, new bearings, and a (new to me) Timber Wolf 1/2" 3 TPI hooktooth blade, which I
really like. Also an all-the-way-across shopmade flat fence. Works well after a little initial fussing. I tried a friend's Unisaw tablesaw once, but
it seemed like a lot more stock went for sawdust.
My opinion? A nice fresh blade, proper setup of the saw, good tires, bearings and guides, the right blade at correct tension, and you're set. Put that
tablesaw money into bandsaw improvements as needed.
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Jonathan
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Cool. Thanks. Saves me a lot of work space, too.
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jdowning
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My set up is pretty much the same as that of carpenter. I did many years ago use a table saw but the saw kerf was wider than the veneer so it resulted
in tremendous wastage that I could not afford with costly hardwoods. Table saws are also more dangerous to use than bandsaws in my opinion so I no
longer own one - using my bandsaw for all accurate power saw work. Correct blade tension is very important as well as allowing the saw to dictate the
speed of cut - i.e. do not try to force the work through the blade.
I use the standard fence supplied with the Rockwell bandsaw for veneers that are narrow in width but can screw a deeper plywood face to the fence to
cut wider veneers up to 6 inches in width. The Rockwell fence can be adjusted to precisely set the vertical and longitudinal angles as required.
I talk a bit about cutting veneer in the oud projects section "Restoration of an Egyptian Oud - Part 2" see my posting dated 2-25-2007.
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
Posts: 248
Registered: 8-30-2005
Location: Eugene OR
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About all I use my tablesaw for building in ouds is cutting the slot in the neck block for the neck spline; otherwise, its a handy horizontal flat
surface. Bandsaws are pretty benign, for power tools. Much quieter, too.
Another thing to look out for is width of the bandsaw blade. They sell some pretty wide blades, but in my experience, 1/2" is plenty. The wide ones
look good, and the thought is there that all the width would aid in cutting straight, but I don't think the home bandsaw is robust enough to tension a
wide blade properly, for one thing. (I worked as a sawyer cutting recycled timbers for timber home framers. The saw had 30" wheels, if I recall, and
we were using 1" wide blades - maybe 1 1/8". Some of those sticks were 18" + wide, and no problems with wandering.) Also, a high quality steel blade
works great; bimetal blades are a waste for what we're doing.
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Jonathan
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Thanks guys. Very helpful.
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
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Registered: 8-30-2005
Location: Eugene OR
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Fine Woodworking, many, many years ago, had a great article about bandsaw setup and adjustment. Don't know what your local library's like, but it
might be worth a search. There are bandsaw books available, also.
The best blade won't overcome crappy alignment. Start at the bottom, and work up. I'm also liking a link-belt vs a V-belt - less vibration.
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Matthias
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Location: Badenweiler, Germany
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Hello,
for a lot of years, I cut my ribs with a band saw, using a special blade: a) every second saw tooth is missing and b) the teeth were hardened. This
worked very well and I've been able to cut a lot of ribs, before the blade had to be sharpened again. The blade runs quite good, and I did not get a
surface, that was too rough. But anyway, I had to plain the wood sometimes with the mashine and before making a mould all ribs had to be sanded. All
in all a lot of work and time.
With this method I could cut from a block of about 50 mm 13 - 15 ribs for a lute with a thickness between 1.5 and 1.7 mm.
Recently I thought about usÃng my radial saw for this work, and I found a blade designed for longitudinal cuts and a cute wide of 1.9 mm. That blade
costs me 40 Euros ( ~ $ 54 ) and I though this is worth to try.
Meanwhile I do use only this method to cut my ribs, and I get exactly the same quantity, but with betterquality all lute ribs have the same thickness
of 1.52 or 1.57 or whatever you want to cut. And furthermore, the ribs are so smooth, that it is not necessary to sand them to another thickness. They
are ready to make a mould with them.
Even I cut yew with this method to a thicknes of 1 to 1.1 mm.
I will never use a bans saw again for cutting ribs. A radial saw is better, exacter, faster and cheaper ( Without sharpening I saw at least 50 sets
for lutes)
The only disadvantage is the fact, that you cannot saw wood wider than about 42 mm ( depends on your machine ) with asingle cut, as the blade has only
a radius of 190mm. But when is more than 42 mm necessary? I think not so often.
Regards
Matthias
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