Ripping Narrow Stock

[Steve F]

I need some advice on using my TS55 to rip around 18 pieces of hardwood into 1.5" x 1.5" strips for some end grain chopping boards. The problem is that the stock is already really narrow.  All of it ranges from 1.5" - 1.75" thick and from 1.75" to 3" wide - way too narrow to clamp to the rail.  I don't have an MFT, but use QWAS dogs with an MFT top to square things up. 

I have used double sided tape to secure narrow stock to the rail, but really need something more precise to get repeatable results.  I was hoping that someone had an idea for a simple (really simple) jig that I could make to secure the stock to the rail.

Also, since I need to use the panther blade for this, the surface will not be glue-ready.  I know that I could use a hand plane, but is there a simple way to get these glue ready with the TS55?  Whenever I use the other blades to rip hardwood, I end up with burn marks.

Thanks for your help!

Steve 

 

[ccarrolladams]

Steve,

On those rare occasions when I have used a TS55 to rip hardwood, I have had the best results with the Universal Saw Blade cat 496 304. Depending on the wood and technique, I think you will come closer to glue ready than with the Panther blade.

To safely rip stock that narrow, you will need to create some kind of fixture. Doing so is far easier if the stock is the same thickness.

To make chopping-block style projects, the finished components much be critically square, absolutely uniform in size and with jointed glue surfaces.

I am on record as a major believer in the TS55. However, before I owned my first TS55 I was a believer in using the appropriate tools to do special tasks.

In the case of the stock for chopping blocks, I would use a jointer to ensure one flat surface and with the fence at right angle, render that adjacent fare square and flat. Then I would perform the rips on opposite faces, leaving just enough so a clean-up pass in the thickness planer would render the stock equal thickness both ways.

To me this is a situation in which woodworkers need to cooperate and share facilities. For me woodworking was less frustrating when I had a well-equipped shop. After I sold that shop I made sure to remain close buddies with pals who had shops. They were willing to rent me time on their machines, either for cash or exchange of favors. When I opened my new shop in 2010, I added to my Festools because some tasks are more efficiently performed with hand operated, rail guided saws and routers. On the other hand there are many tasks in cabinet making more efficiently done on the fixed machines.

Some of my buddies who have subsequently given up or closed their own shops now come to my place to use jointers, thickness planer and various saws. For example, the ripping you need to do is a task I perform using my sliding table saw. For such narrow stock, I use the optional rip fence on the table and slide the normal rip fence well out of the way. The jointed surface is held to the slider rip fence with clamps. The safety advantage is I push the slider, with my hands a long ways from the blade. I save the off cuts. They might be too small for chopping blocks, but eventually they will have uses.

 

[lumbajac]

tjbnwi has come up with the easiest setup I've seen (at least for narrow face frame and door pieces at least):
http://festoolownersgroup.com/festool-jigs-tool-enhancements/how-i-rip-ff-and-door-pieces/

 

[score0matic]

The Best accessory to use with your TS55 to rip narrow stock is a DW 745.  [wink]

 

[mouppe]

I shot this little video which may help.
=youtube_gdata_player

 

[Steve F]

Many thanks for all the responses.  Jointer and table saw are not options. Richard, I like the video.  I can't tell, but does the board that's clamped to the rail butt up against the piece you're cutting to make the cut square or is there a gap?  I will try that tonight with the clamped board set to the correct depth for the cut I want.  That seems to make a lot of sense.

Steve 

 

[mouppe]

Many thanks for all the responses.  Jointer and table saw are not options. Richard, I like the video.  I can't tell, but does the board that's clamped to the rail butt up against the piece you're cutting to make the cut square or is there a gap?  I will try that tonight with the clamped board set to the correct depth for the cut I want.  That seems to make a lot of sense.

Steve 

It doesn't matter if it is butted or not. The piece to be cut is clamped in place anyway.

 

[Steve F]

It doesn't matter if it is butted or not. The piece to be cut is clamped in place anyway.

You're right.  In my mind, I was jumping ahead a few steps.  I don't have clamping elements, so I was combining your technique with the one posted by tjbnwl (that was in the link above) and adapting it to my QWAS dog top.  My thought was to clamp a wider board to the rail, so that the back of the board (farthest from the saw blade) would butt up against a row of QWAS dogs (to keep the rail square) and the front of the board would end 1-1/2" from the front edge of the rail (to give me a 1-1/2" cut).

I didn't build it yet, because I'm having problem getting the wood to behave.  I tried a cut (using double sided tape) and when I started planing the edges to get them smooth, I experienced some of the worst tear out and grain reversal that I have ever experienced.  Need to solve that one too.

Steve

 

[Birdhunter]

I just don't like working with stock that, because of its size or shape, could present a safety issue. I also hate to waste nice wood.

So, I will use double sided tape to affix a narrow or small piece to a large board. The large board carries the piece into the table saw blade or supports the piece under the MFT rail.

Another method is to use clear packing tape to affix the small or narrow piece to the large board. I have to peel off the tape after the cut, but I will have all 10 fingers to peel with. Again, the large board carries the piece into the table saw blade or supports the piece under the MFT rail

 

[Steve F]

I just don't like working with stock that, because of its size or shape, could present a safety issue. I also hate to waste nice wood.

So, I will use double sided tape to affix a narrow or small piece to a large board. The large board carries the piece into the table saw blade or supports the piece under the MFT rail.

Another method is to use clear packing tape to affix the small or narrow piece to the large board. I have to peel off the tape after the cut, but I will have all 10 fingers to peel with. Again, the large board carries the piece into the table saw blade or supports the piece under the MFT rail

Thanks!  Sometimes the simplest solutions are the most obvious.  That's actually brilliant.  I use double sided tape to attach the board to the rail and use another piece of wood to support the back of the rail.  Never thought of using the tape to attach the two pieces of wood to each other.  Much simpler and probably safer as well.  Doesn't solve the problem of making repeatable rip cuts, but I guess that's what the parallel guides are for.

Steve

 

[Nick C]

The TS55 is not capable of ripping 1-1/2" hardwood without burning or stalling. Without access to more appropriate tools, you will not be able to--and should not attempt to--take on this project.

 

[tbellemare]

If you use the correct blade it is.

Tom

 

[Brice Burrell]

The TS55 is not capable of ripping 1-1/2" hardwood without burning or stalling. Without access to more appropriate tools, you will not be able to--and should not attempt to--take on this project.

If you use the correct blade it is.

Tom

Tom is right, I've ripped 1 1/2" Ipe with the panther blade with no trouble.

 

[peter halle]

I have to admit that I have cut water soaked pressure treated lumber with my TS55.  Used dust collection.  The bag was soggy and destroyed.

Turn you speed down for the hardwoods.

Peter

 

[Nick C]

Others obviously have had much better luck than I have. I can rip 4/4 walnut and red oak reasonably well--as long as I use a ripping blade. Maple? That's another story. I have to reduce the speed and feed rate so much that I risk burning. In 6/4? I would not try it, especially on narrow stock. Sounds like a good project for a bandsaw and a jack plane.

 

[tjbnwi]

I have yet to find a piece of lumber (or cement board for that matter) that I could not cut with the TS 55. More often than not    I'll use the 28 tooth blade.

I've repeat ripped down to 1/8" using the (my) method linked above.

Tom

 

[tbellemare]

My experience with maple is that it likes to smoke. I used to, but I quit. Maple doesn't seem to have any such intentions...

As I suspect you already know, slowing the rotational speed of the saw or increasing the feed rate can help with burning. It's sometimes hard to move fast enough to compensate for a Festool saw turning at the fastest rotation, 6 on the dial. Having the correct blade for the task can be really helpful as can slowing the saw rotation down. It's all about feed and speed.

You might want to try the Universal Blade, 496304, which is a good all-around blade. It's 28 ATB teeth and gives a quite good cut in both rips and cross cuts.

As an alternative, use the Fine Cut Blade that comes with the saw for those slick cross cuts and get a Panther Blade, 496305, for ripping.

If you don't mind changing blades, which is pretty easy incidentally, the Fine Tooth plus Panther are optimal. It really depends on your work flow. If you are having to switch between ripping and cross cutting or ripping and sheet goods on small batches, the Universal Blade is better. If you can set up so you are doing a lot of ripping all at once, the Panther will help.

Tom

 

[Steve F]

Thanks for all the suggestions.

Since getting the panther blade, I have not had any problem ripping hardwood (maple, walnut, etc.) almost up to a full 2" with no burning at all.  The problem I have is that the edges aren't glue-up ready coming off that blade.  I was hoping to use the technique I recall seeing in a video some time ago (sorry, I don't remember who it was) where two boards were butted together and then the TS55 used to cut the two boards simultaneously so that the edges to be joined would match perfectly.  I could be wrong, but don't think the surface off the Panther blade is clean enough to let me do that.

Therefore, I am finishing the edges by hand, but it's taking time.  The wood is (I think) African Mahogany and the tear out and grain reversal are absurd.  I finally think I solved the problem by using a toothed blade, but it's a long process.  After ripping to size with the TS55, I go back and forth with a toothed blade in a Low Angle Jack and a #8 until I get a flat and relatively smooth surface.  Then , carefully clean clean up the remaining tear out with a #3.  It's even more time consuming because the plane blades need to be super sharp for any of that to work, so I end up honing the plane blades after every board.

My plan is to do one glue up and see how it looks.  If it's bad, I may save this wood for something else and go get something easier to work with.  Life's too short to try to force a piece of wood to do something it doesn't want to do.

Steve

 

[mouppe]

Steve,

I don't understand why you are using a low angle jack plane in this situation. If you are experiencing tear-out, you need to raise the angle not lower it? Am I missing something? I would go straight to a very finely set #8- so fine that only dust is coming off the first few passes. Then after a couple of very thin full-width shavings, I would ignore the tear-out and go straight to glue-up. Unless the tear-out is so severe that you can see visible gaps along the glue-line, why worry? Over an almost 2-inch wide panel width, the joint will be plenty strong enough.

Again, if I am wide of the mark, let me know.

 

[Tim Sproul]

The TS55 is not capable of ripping 1-1/2" hardwood without burning or stalling. Without access to more appropriate tools, you will not be able to--and should not attempt to--take on this project.

Just do the cut in multiple passes.