: I get to use the big bandsaw at work for cutting blanks, but if I didn't I
: think I'd just laminate the blank out of pieces I'd pre-cut so you didn't
: have to make that cut in the first place. Would take a little planning but
: you should be able to laminate a blank that will closely resemble the
: final shape so you'd need far less hand finish work.

: Just a thought, not tried it.

Good idea if I didn't have the big block already. But I do! Splitting the heartwood out of a big black walnut tree gave me quite a few chunks that were just too big to handle with the power tools I already have. The chainsaw will cut it, but I lose a lot to sawdust, and I'm having problems getting things square. The guide I have for the chainsaw (Harbor-Freight's Lumber Maker)doesn't work as well as I had hoped. Milling things on a table saw limits me to working on materials which are 3 inches thick, at most. Least expensive 14" bandsaw near me is around $300 --far more than I want to spend on this project-- and it can only handle materials up to 6 inches thick.

Looks like I may end up doing this the hard way, with a handsaw and some type of a guide for it--something like an oversized miter box.

Thaks for the thought.

PGJ