Resawing for book matching with the MFT and the TS55

Dan Lyke

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Jan 22, 2007
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We've got a bunch of maple, some of which has some interesting figure on it, and I was going to try to use it for some panels. I don't have a bandsaw, or room for one so book matching grain patterns requires some other solution, but I think I've got one: Use the Festool MFT table to hold the board, and with careful alignment I can use the TS55 to cut 2" deep from either side to resaw 4" thick lumber.

First, I started by measuring the blade kerf.
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Next, I started by moving the rail down along the end of the table, and clamping the board in place. Note the spacer under the rail, I wanted to raise up the board so I wasn't cutting the clamped section.
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I measured the board thickness, at a couple of places.
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Then I set up the rail so that the saw would cut down the middle of the board
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I found that a light mallet helped me to fine tune the rail adjustment.
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When I'd cut the first side, I flipped over the board, placed spacers in the gap. The spacers were a little large, which was the wrong thing to do, I should have tried to match the kerf directly. Here are the final boards. Alignment could be better, these will work with a few passes through the planer. Note also all the burning, at least on one side this is the result of those large spacers I mentioned, and could be solved with some spacers that are the saw kerf thick at the top, and a little narrower at the bottom, so that the clamping tries to pull the new cut apart.
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Did you clamp the rail at all when you made your cuts? What did you use to support the rail over the table (i.e., not on the piece you were cutting)?
 
Dan that is unique, ingenious and quite neat, but yikes! I am glad I have many band saws to choose from.
 
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