Rip saws and cutting blank stocks

[Mark Elliott]

Rich,

I am selling my table saw, jointer, morticer, dust collector and existing wood working bench to my brother for his new shop and replacing them with the full size Nicholson bench and the saw benches.   It will give me significant extra work space for everything but is intended primarily for period cabinet work.   I will be using them to saw out my stock blanks; at least the straight cuts around the forearm.    I think it will speed up my stocking by reducing planing of the forearm.   The bandsaw is not suited for that type of work.   It is best done with a rip saw. I am trying to simplify my shop by moving to mostly hand tools and small power tools.   Work space is more valuable to me than big power tools I rarely use.    When I have to move,  it would be nice if everything broke down and packed neatly into the back of a pickup truck.   My existing 8'(rough metal work) and 6'(gunstocking) benches consist of two ladder frames each with legs bolted on the front.  The backs are lag bolted to wall studs.   I could park a car on top of those things, but they will pack down to 8.5" high each.     The existing wood working bench is one of those European type commercial things.   The vises are practically useless to me.   A bench that uses holdfasts  and has a twin screw type vise is much more versatile.  Somehow, we got the idea that we need big power tools to do everything.   They are essential to mass production, but they are not a very efficient use of energy, space and other resources if you are making things that are one of a kind.   
 

[flehto]

After using a "Skillsaw", a hand saw and a hcksaw to cut from a blank, I bought a 14" Grizzly" bandsaw and was disappointed w/ it's erratic blade wander. Bought a set of roller bearing blade guides in lieu of the cheap plastic blocks and now save some time by sawing on the line. This includes not only top and bottom but also the sides of the blank.  At 81 I don't have the wherewithall or motivation to "struggle" w/ sawing out a blank w/ less sophisticated hand tools ....I concentrate my energies on the work that follows. To each his/her own, though. .....Fred

[Jim Kibler]

In my view the bandsaw is suited just fine for cutting the forestock down prior to shaping.  Before I had a bandsaw and at some classes, I've used a rip saw for the task and it worked well, but no better than my bandsaw.  It's much faster with the bandsaw and results are just as good.  I use a 1/2" woodslicer blade on my saw and it works well. 

[bgf]

Probably it is not good enough for anyone but me, but I use a pretty old jigsaw with a Bosch 4.5" (?) T-shank progressive cut blade, when I do not feel up to sawing with a cheap ripsaw (that works good).  My experience with a bandsaw working in a woodshop (of sorts) in college was that I would do just about anything to avoid it.  The jigsaw works very well, and I'm thinking about buying a nicer, bigger one when I wear this one out -- it is about 15 years old and is starting to get a little finicky about holding the blades -- I don't even remember T-shank being around when I bought it, but they fit.  A bandsaw (for wood) would be of limited use to me and take up too much space.

[KLMoors]

I'm with you bgf. I use a bosch jigsaw for lots of cutting and trimming too. I could squeeze a bandsaw into my shop, but everytime I think about getting one, I decide to just stick with my old Bosch and leave a little extra wood on to be safe. I shape things down to my lines with Iwasaki rasps. This process works for me and is actually quite quick.

I have had great luck (knock on wood) cutting out butt profiles with the jigsaw. I have learned to clamp a 1X6 board to my lock panel, so it extends down to the butt of the gun.  That gives me a nice flat, square surface to run my jigsaw on to cut the butt.