Resawing cuts through a board’s thickness to make two or more thinner pieces. It is commonly done on a bandsaw to produce book-matched panels, shop-sawn veneer, or plies for bent laminations. For most wide-stock work, a bandsaw is the practical choice; accuracy depends on a suitable sharp blade, a stable workpiece, drift-aware guidance, and a controlled feed.
What resawing does—and when to use it
Unlike ripping a board along its face or crosscutting it across its width, resawing divides a board through its thickness. The result can be two thinner boards or a series of slices. Because the saw removes material as kerf, the pieces will not add back up to the original thickness.
- Book-matched panels: Resaw a board and open the matching faces like pages of a book.
- Shop-sawn veneer: Cut thin, wide slices from thicker stock.
- Bent-lamination plies: Make thin layers that can be glued over a form.
A bandsaw is commonly used for wide stock and one-pass cuts. Its capacity and relatively thin kerf can make it a practical way to preserve material. A table saw can also resaw suitable stock, but its work support, blade exposure, guarding, and push-device requirements are different.
Choose a bandsaw blade that fits the saw and cut
Blade recommendations vary with the machine, material, and desired finish. WOOD Magazine recommends a 1/2- to 3/4-inch skip-tooth or hook-tooth blade in its bandsaw resawing guide. Woodcraft’s resawing guidance favors the largest hook-tooth blade the saw can handle and gives a 1/2-inch, 3-TPI hook-tooth blade as an example for hard maple. These are examples, not universal specifications: check your saw’s manual and the blade maker’s compatibility requirements before choosing a width or tooth style.
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A sharp, suitable blade matters more than forcing a marginal setup. If a blade is dull, incompatible, or poorly guided, it may deflect or twist under feed pressure and the cut can wander.
Set up the bandsaw for a straight cut
Prepare the stock and machine
For a consistent slice, start with stock that is flat, square, and stable. Follow the bandsaw manual for blade installation, tension, tracking, guarding, and guide adjustment. FineWoodworking’s resaw setup guide emphasizes the blade, guides, and fence: side guides should be close to the blade without constant contact, and the thrust bearing should contact intermittently as the cut loads the blade. The fence also needs to be vertically aligned if the goal is parallel faces.
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- Milled teeth are 50 PERCENT SHARPER than competitors stamped or crush ground blades
- Precision Induction hardening throughout the blade vs competitors flame hardening
- Tooth edge is 20 PERCENT harder than any high carbon steel resulting in extended sharp time
- More ductile steel than any high carbon steel leads to extended flex life and a cooler running blade
Test and account for blade drift
A bandsaw blade may not track parallel to the table or fence. This tendency is called drift. To find the feed angle for the blade in your saw, draw a straight line on a test piece and make a cut along it without forcing the stock. Notice the angle at which the board must travel to stay on the line.
With a straight fence, set the fence to that angle so the work can feed naturally. Recheck the setup after changing blades or if the saw’s cutting behavior changes; a fence adjustment that suits one blade may not suit another. A pivot-style or curved guide instead lets you steer the board during the cut.
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- Milled teeth are 50 PERCENT SHARPER than competitors stamped or crush ground blades
- Precision Induction hardening throughout the blade vs competitors flame hardening
- Tooth edge is 20 PERCENT harder than any high carbon steel resulting in extended sharp time
- More ductile steel than any high carbon steel leads to extended flex life and a cooler running blade
Pick a fence or guide for the work
A drift-aligned straight fence is useful when repeatable thickness matters, particularly for thin veneer. A single-point or curved guide is easier to steer during a cut, but steering changes can vary slice thickness and increase cleanup. A shop-made guide is also a workable option. The choice is a trade-off between repeatability, in-cut correction, setup time, and how thin or consistent the slices need to be.
Make the bandsaw cut without forcing it
- Set the fence or guide: Use the drift test to align a straight fence, or set a pivot guide so the stock can be steered. Position the fence vertically for parallel faces.
- Set the stock against the guide: Keep the board stable and use the pushstick appropriate to the bandsaw cut. WOOD Magazine calls for a pushstick for bandsaw resawing.
- Feed steadily: Use controlled pressure just ahead of the blade, not beside the teeth. When using a pivot guide, steer from the rear of the board. Do not push so hard that the blade deflects or twists.
- Stop if the cut binds: If the kerf closes or pinches the blade, stop the saw and free the blade safely according to the machine manual. Woodcraft describes a slender wooden wedge as one method; do not try to force a pinched blade through the work.
For repeated thin veneer slices, Woodcraft’s bandsaw veneer guidance describes lightly planing the remaining board between cuts to restore a smooth feeding face. Include that material loss in the thickness you plan to yield.
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When a table saw is an alternative
Resawing on a table saw means standing stock on edge and cutting it in one pass or, for suitable stock and setup, making cuts from both edges in two passes. Woodcraft’s table-saw resawing guide describes a rip blade, aligned splitter or riving knife, featherboard, tall fence, and shoe-style pusher as parts of its setup. Its two-pass method is presented as a way to handle wider boards with shallower cuts.
This is not simply a bandsaw procedure transferred to another machine. Use the table saw only when the stock, saw, guarding, support, and your training are appropriate, and follow the machine maker’s approved setup. If the work cannot be held and supported securely, do not proceed with that method.
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- High silicon, low carbide steel
- Ideal for resawing thick stock
- Runs cooler and lasts longer
- Runs under low tension which requires less horsepower
- Thin kerf
Safety points that apply to the cut
- Keep hands out of the blade path and use the push device suited to the machine and operation.
- Do not place pressure immediately beside the blade or force a cut that makes the blade deflect.
- Use the machine’s manual and appropriate training; bandsaw and table-saw safeguards are not interchangeable.
- For a table-saw setup described by Woodcraft, the splitter or riving knife must be aligned, and the featherboard, tall fence, and shoe-style pusher are part of the specified arrangement.
BCcampus Pressbooks’ woodworking machinery chapter also covers bandsaw blade and drift checks, resawing, and safe operation.
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