: Why doesn't anyone use a good band saw and blade to rip strips. I assume the
: finish would be rougher but with all that planing/sanding/scraping you are
: going to do anyway wouldn't the wood savings of very thin kerf be of
: benefit?

: Inexperienced but curious,

Band saws are ideal tools for this kind of work if they are set up correctly. most people have bnadsaws set up to use as a faster jigsaw. They have narrow blades installed as they do a lot of cutting of curves, and the narrow blades have a small turning (cutting) radius.

People who remove old structural wood beams and re-saw them into thinner planks for resale usually use a type of band saw.

For ripping strips you could make afew additions to a bandsaw that would improve your work. Most home bandsaws have tables that are far too samll for supporting the long planks we would cut into strips, so you would need to make table extensions, or a new table. You would also need infeed and outfeed tables or multiple supports (rollers for example) to support your material.

The fences that come with bandsaws are usually inadequate for ripping strips, so when you make a new table you shoud plan to make a long fence. A single board clamped to the table will suffice, as long as you have it aligned with the orientation of the cut.

The simplest modification is to add a wider blade. You want to use a blade that is at least 1/2 inch wide. Of course, if you can't get one that wide, then you use what ya got.

David hazen has an excellent photograph of people ripping strips for canoes and kayaks on a bandsaw. The operation was done outside with in-and out-feed tables clearly visible. They are long ! ! !

A lot of people use tablesaws simply because that is the tool they have around. Personally I use a radial arm saw, as it has a longer table than my table saw, (way bigger than my band saw table) and a much longer fence. It takes a 7 inch blade, although I use a 10 inch planer blade.

there is another matter of convenience and safety. The band saw kicks out the sawdust under the table, the table saw kicks out most of the sawdust under thetable, and the radial arm saw kicks out all of the sawdust above the table, but aimed away from me. More of the fine dust seems to get air borne. A mask is necessary to prevent breathing this dust -- and I would suggest one even if you have a good dust collection system.

Generally, it takes about 2-3 hours to set up a table saw and rip enough strips for a boat. If you have a band saw set up for this operation you can do the job a bit faster. However, if you must go to the trouble of building and setting tables and supports around a bandsaw for this single project, then it is probably not worth the effort.

Hope this helps explain things.

Paul G. Jacobson