Skie_M
Member
I got a new blade on the bandsaw and I decided to have some fun ...
I set up a section of aluminum angle, with 2 clamps (one on either end) for a fence, and ripped some pen blanks from a board of Ancient Kauri. (50,000 year old wood from a peat bog in New Zealand.) Once I was done making the normal pen blanks, I grabbed a short board and cut some crosscut blanks too, and had some fun turning that round on the lathe.
Afterwards, I was looking at the pile of scrap left over from that project, and realized that even though what was left was too small to really use for pen blanks, and beads would still be nice, I could REALLY use some veneer for small projects! I set the fence REALLY close to the blade ... I ended up cutting some veneer that is around 1/32" thick, roughly 6 inches long, and perhaps 3/4" wide.
I made a LOT of dust in my kitchen (bandsaw is in kitchen with the new combination sander). It was still a lot of fun, so I grabbed some leftover chunks of wood that came off that tree in my yard (that looks kinda like Chinese Elm), and cut some veneer from that too .... rounded out that project with some Gabon Ebony veneer as well.
It's all fairly rough cut with a 10 TPI blade (fine cut, I think). My original bandsaw blade was a 4 TPI for rough cutting, but this one did the job quite well and didn't bog down on me.
I'll probably need to do some sanding on these little slips of veneer if I plan to use them for flat surface work, but they'll do great for inlays and segmenting like Celtic Knots.
As I expected, the issue I was having with my first blade not cutting straight was that I had been abusing the hell out of it, cutting alabaster and other very hard materials. The new blade cut straight like a laser ... the bandsaw is set up perfectly!
edit - almost forgot!
I took some of that beautiful blue turquoise truestone (segmenting pieces) and turned that into veneer too ... look forward to more fun adventures!
I set up a section of aluminum angle, with 2 clamps (one on either end) for a fence, and ripped some pen blanks from a board of Ancient Kauri. (50,000 year old wood from a peat bog in New Zealand.) Once I was done making the normal pen blanks, I grabbed a short board and cut some crosscut blanks too, and had some fun turning that round on the lathe.
Afterwards, I was looking at the pile of scrap left over from that project, and realized that even though what was left was too small to really use for pen blanks, and beads would still be nice, I could REALLY use some veneer for small projects! I set the fence REALLY close to the blade ... I ended up cutting some veneer that is around 1/32" thick, roughly 6 inches long, and perhaps 3/4" wide.
I made a LOT of dust in my kitchen (bandsaw is in kitchen with the new combination sander). It was still a lot of fun, so I grabbed some leftover chunks of wood that came off that tree in my yard (that looks kinda like Chinese Elm), and cut some veneer from that too .... rounded out that project with some Gabon Ebony veneer as well.
It's all fairly rough cut with a 10 TPI blade (fine cut, I think). My original bandsaw blade was a 4 TPI for rough cutting, but this one did the job quite well and didn't bog down on me.
I'll probably need to do some sanding on these little slips of veneer if I plan to use them for flat surface work, but they'll do great for inlays and segmenting like Celtic Knots.
As I expected, the issue I was having with my first blade not cutting straight was that I had been abusing the hell out of it, cutting alabaster and other very hard materials. The new blade cut straight like a laser ... the bandsaw is set up perfectly!
edit - almost forgot!
I took some of that beautiful blue turquoise truestone (segmenting pieces) and turned that into veneer too ... look forward to more fun adventures!
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