cutting strips

[Jim Dodd]

Here is a pic of my current saw setup. It is soo simple and effective. When choosing a saw for cutting strips, any saw with at least 13 amps is acceptable.
For the blade I prefer Feud Diablo. It has a thin kerf, and it's a quality blade.
The fence is a 3/4"x3/4" x1.8" aluminum angle. I trim the side that runs against the plank down to about 5/8". This insures that my fence does not catch on anything in case my plank is less than 3/4", and most of them are.
Two C-clamps, and I'm ready to adjust the width of cut.

This system produces the best strips, and at a minimal cost.
The whole setup is less than $100.




https://i1272.photobucket.com/albums/y390/JimDodd/IMG_2022_zpsljrj8mo5.jpg


Jim

 

[Alan Gage]

Simple yet effective - my favorite!

Alan

 

[Jim Dodd]

No Title

Here is a close up of the guide for my skilsaw. The great thing is the consistency is such that planning the strips is not necessary !

 

[Boatman53]

What do you do when the plank gets too narrow to support the base of the saw?
Jim

 

[stripperguy]

I've tried every method known to man...long ago I settled on a band saw. I buy 4 pitch, skip tooth raker stock, 100 ft roll at a time. And then I just weld up as many 93 1/2" blades as I need. Very little waste, very fast cutting, fairly quiet.

 

[Jim Dodd]

Good question. I butt another plank or at least a partial plank, on the far side. It supports my saw until I'm done cutting the first plank.
A picture would help a lot, but I don't have right now.. When I get to about the last 3" I add the other plank.
That way you can get the very last strip. Most of the time that last strip will vary in thickness, so it is not useable.

Stripperguy: It's been a long time now since I've cut a 12" plank, but a 12"plank produced 33 useable strips..
And I don't need to plane the strips when I'm done cutting.
How uniform are your strips when they come from your band saw ? Do you bead and cove ?

 

[Jim Dodd]

No Title

I found a pic that might be of help.
Imagine when I get to the last 3" or so. I move the plank towards me, or to the right and fasten another plank on the far side.
Note all the cut marks on the temporary cleats ?

 

[stripperguy]

Stripperguy: It's been a long time now since I've cut a 12" plank, but a 12"plank produced 33 useable strips..
And I don't need to plane the strips when I'm done cutting.
How uniform are your strips when they come from your band saw ? Do you bead and cove ?

I usually cut my strips to 5/32", typical variation is +/- .010. The trick is all in the set up. (I used to be a toolmaker, or maybe I still am. You know, once a toolmaker, always a...)
The last build that I did (a J Winters Kite) I did cove and bead the strips. 1st time ever, and now I wonder why I didn't always do so!!
For that build, I used some newly cut strips and a bunch of left overs that my nephew had cut. Before I ran them through the shaper, I did zip them through the planer. My strips were OK, but the left overs were not so uniform.

 

[Robin]

That's a nice rig, looks like I could use it to cut long ash for gunnels. Thanks

 

[Jim Dodd]

A strongback is a great aid in building a canoe ! I cut my strips on it, I cut my gunnels on it, using a different saw, but the same setup . And I glue up my accent strips on it. Multi-task ! Oh and it even holds my forms while stripping .

I started bead and coving my strips on my fourth canoe. I slapped my self for not doing it on all of them !!!

I bead and cove a little different than others, but I'll bring that up in another post !


Thanks

Jim

 

[Boatman53]

Thanks Jim for clarifying that about using another plank to support the saw. That is what I thought you did but I didn't know about your cutting strong back. I did find that on your other post. That is a good idea.
I use a table saw with dust collection. After all the years working wood some, in particular Red Cedar, now cause me great respiratory distress if I breath the dust. So please take the necessary precautions when working WRC. Dressing up in a hazmat suit to build a boat isn't fun.
Jim

 

[Jim Dodd]

I hear you on the cedar dust ! All I have to do is get a whiff, and my nose starts running ! I try and do all my sanding outside, with a cartridge mask, and that isn't enough!

One would be smart to upgrade to a full head bonnet type with piped in air ! After all these years I know my lung capacity is diminished.

Cedar dust is nothing to take lightly !

Jim

 

[Alan Gage]

I love my dust collection, favorite part of the shop. I emptied the bin last weekend and other than a few random cuts all I've done is plane my cedar and rip strips (90). I should pop it open and see how much dust is in there. I bet it's a lot, I'm always amazed how fast the bin fills up. Getting good dust collection on the orbital sander was a real game changer. Never going back.

Using the bandsaw for strips was considerably less waste than the table saw, though the table saw isn't bad since I fit it with a 7 1/4" thin kerf blade (1/16") when ripping strips. The dust from the band saw isn't so bad as it's not a fine power and without a blade whizzing at 3000 RPM it just kind of falls straight down into a pile. I was just never happy with the consistency I got from it. But after seeing Stripperguys setup I think it's mostly the way I had it setup and using too narrow of a blade.

I'm happiest ripping them on the table saw and will sacrifice the lost material for time and convenience. Mine has a big table built all around it so the boards are stacked on the table to my left and the strips get stacked on the table to the right as they come off the saw. It's already got plenty of table on the outfeed side to support a 12' board so all I need to do is set a sawhorse on the infeed side for support. I just stand there and feed them through.

It's nice that there are so many ways to do the same thing so that no matter what equipment someone has they can get the job done.

Alan

 

[Alan Gage]

Pretty far from the original topic by now but since I brought it up earlier.......
After cutting the bead and cove on my strips tonight I checked my 20 gallon dust bin and found it full to the brim. That's four 5 gallon buckets full of dust and shavings just from processing the wood for one boat (planing, ripping, bead and cove) that would otherwise have been on the floor, on my clothes, in the air, and in my lungs. Dust collection is a wonderful thing.

Alan

 

[Mihun09]

On the subject of cedar dust... I never had an issue until I started using white cedar. I must be allergic. If I get a shot of it into my throat, I will be ill for 3-4 weeks. I also am now not able to handle any wood dust, including spruce. A regular dust mask is sufficient which is good considering I was using a regular charcoal cartridge respirator in the heat of Summer, not much fun.

 

[Jim Dodd]

Dust collection on the skillsaw method is nil ! I'd never do it inside !

I figure we are throwing at least a quarter of the plank away in saw dust ,when cutting strips!
That's not counting when we sand the hull.

Never calculated the wood lost in running the strips through a planer, beings I don't have one.

Jim

 

[Jim Dodd]

Cut strips today, and made a great modification to my strip cutting skilsaw.

The previous clamps cleared my cleats fine. But these last planks were 11/16". Much thinner planks, than I'm used to.

Scrounging around for small clamps. I found one, and then a Vise Grip came to the rescue as the second clamp..

.
The Vise Grip even provided a great handle !

Also I now use a five gallon bucket as a saw holder, instead of laying it on the ground.

 

[Jim Dodd]

A pic of my strip cutting setup. The versatile Strongback.

 

[Alan Gage]

Looks like a great setup. Are you getting ready to build something or just getting ready for next time?

How do you keep the board from moving around or wanting to fall on its side when you get to the last couple cuts?

Alan

 

[Jim Dodd]

Right now, I'm waiting on epoxy and cloth to arrive. These strips will be used this Summer, as I've ordered enough supplies for two strippers, and a Kevlar. There goes my retirement account !

I pulled out an old plank, a friend gave me, that came from Menards more than 15yrs ago. It was a 1"x12"x16'. These were full 3/4" actual thickness.

With the Freud Advanti blade, I got 33 strips. They miked at a few thousands over .250.

Jim

PS. For a good laugh I'll post a pic of my bead and cove setup, when I get there. Probably next week.