I have no room for a bandsaw now so I need to resaw planks by hand albeit fairly small ones rather than the sort you can hardly lift. I’ve been trying various saws to resaw 3/4 or 4/4 pieces up to 8 inches wide and a foot or so long – but mostly smaller than that – with some success. I never seem able to quite manage a dead straight cut, though.
Elsewhere (i.e. not in the FWW website or magazine) I came across kerfing saws; also a kerfing plane (like a plow plane but with a short saw blade instead of a blade). Does anyone use such a saw to establish a kerf around the edges of a plank before resawing? Such a kerf (about 1/4″ deep at most) is said to steer the resawing saw down the intended line of cut. But does it actually work?
There are a couple of blogs and vids on the interweb in which someone makes a kerfing saw; but they’re very short on details. Should the kerfing saw kerf width exactly match that of the resawing saw, for instance? You would think so ….
Any knowledge of experience of kerfing saws will be gratefully received.
Lataxe
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I tried a kerfing saw once and still managed to cut outside the kerf on the reverse side of the log. Yes, logs are much harder to saw straight than boards. I now start at the top of the log or board with a tenon saw to create a straight kerf across the end grain. I then use a rip hand saw to make an angled kerf on one side with my right hand and on the other side with my left hand. Yes, you can saw straight with both hands with practice. The I use a bow saw to saw the middle part of the kerf on both sides. Then, I repeat with the hand saw but move on to a frame saw. The frame saw cuts much faster but is more difficult to keep straight. As long as I go only from shoulder height to the bottom of my ribs, I can saw straight that way. Sometimes I have to lay the board horizontal on the top of the bench to carefully extend the kerf to the bottom of the log. I have to use a shaped jig to keep the log from rolling and moving and a web strap clamp. After extending the kerf to the other end of the log/board, I flip it and put it back in the vise to continue the same process and meet all the kerfs. Another difficult thing on logs is to make a straight layout line. Whether chalk line, pencil or colored pencil it is difficult to make a straight layout line on an uneven, curved log with occasional knots. A straight guided kerf is better. That is where the saw-kerf plane may be most useful for me.
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