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Does anybody here have experience doing this? I bought a piece that was a little over 2 inches thick. I cleaned it up, squared the edges and slice it in half with no issue whatsoever. Hit it with the drum sander and put a couple pieces of tape around it and let it sit for probably over a month. I pulled it out the other day and everything appears to have remained flat. I sliced both 1 inch pieces down into half-inch pieces. Again, hit it with the drum sander and let it sit for a couple days. I noticed some cracks manifest in it. This stuff is really soft so I decided to do a little stabilization to it so that the bark pockets didn't implode on the next run through the bandsaw. I mixed up some T-88 epoxy thinned with Lacquer thinner and brushed it on and let it sit for 24 hours. After which I set up the bandsaw, checked the table and the fence to make sure everything was square, checked all side and rear thrust bearings to make sure everything was spinning and positioned correctly, etc. and began slicing the 2 half-inch pieces into what would eventually be 2 consecutive bookmatched tops.

The first piece was a disaster and of course I am at a standstill right now until I figure out what went wrong. It seems like the thinner this stuff gets the more the blade wants to wander. I wonder if it's because it's so soft? The blade insists on twisting and eventually starts smoking. I end up with the pieces being thinner in spots and thicker and others. Normally a couple trips through the drum sander will work out any blade marks that I have from resawing but this is way beyond acceptable range. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?




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"I'm not going to say that perfection has never been achieved. However, if it has, it probably went unnoticed due to it's lack of character."

After some thinking I came up with a couple ideas. I wonder if glueing the piece to something rigid, like a piece of hard maple that's been trued up, would help keep the buckeye flat enough to get an accurate cut on the bandsaw. Then cut the maple off the same way just leaving a thin veneer that would get sanded off by the drum sander.

The other thought was to use a fretting blade in the table saw to basically score the edges of the buckeye before resawing. Maybe that would give the BS blade a guide to help keep it in the center. I have noticed they tend to take path of least resistance.

Anyone ever done this?


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"I'm not going to say that perfection has never been achieved. However, if it has, it probably went unnoticed due to it's lack of character."

I guess my topics aren't very interesting.


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"I'm not going to say that perfection has never been achieved. However, if it has, it probably went unnoticed due to it's lack of character."

Sorry Aaron,
I don't have an answer for you.
Someone here did a buckeye burl build, maybe you can search and find it.
Best of luck,
Dan

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wah
Wah-wah-wah-wah
Wah

Thanks Dan. I'm just trying to reach some folks that have worked with this stuff to see if there is anything I'm missing. I naturally assumed that a softer wood wouldn't give so much resistance and therefore cut easier. But I know there are often other factors that go into working certain species of wood.


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"I'm not going to say that perfection has never been achieved. However, if it has, it probably went unnoticed due to it's lack of character."

So if you send something else through, like a 2 x 4 it's fine?

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

Yeah I've never cut this stuff either so didn't want to just reply nonsense. I'm with you tho, a softer piece logically should cut easier. You have tried another wood and it's all fine? Possibly a guide bearing or something has moved in your saw. Only a thought, I'll go back to being quiet