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Bandsaw sled

C

Cary Hulse

Joined
Sep 24, 2024
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Location
Front Royal, VA
Hi. Wondering if anyone uses a sled of some kind on their bandsaw for holding roundwood stable when milling for bowl blanks. And if so, can you share any pics or plans you might have for them?

Recently destroyed a bandsaw blade when a round shifted and grabbed. Glad it wasn’t my hand. Live and learn.

Thanks.
 
I'll roll it around until the cylinder seems to settle. I'll then take a hand saw and saw a kerf in the bark as a guide to be held straight up. Do hold it tight but I I think that should be intuitive.

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I let the log or whatever settle to a flatter spot if there is one, and note where that is. Then it gets mounted (in that orientation) to a piece of 3/4 plywood via 2 or more hefty screws countersunk (so screw heads don’t scratch bandsaw table) through the bottom of plywood into the log. I align it so blade will not cut into screws. The plywood runs against the bandsaw fence, giving me a sled of sorts. Then rotate 90 degrees so the new flat side is down for another cut. Then I strictly use the bandsaw fence alone, having the two flat-ish faces produced by the plywood ‘sled’. I don’t use with logs longer than 2 ft or so and not so heavy I can’t safely control. Purpose made bandsaw sleds are sold by Carter Products and others that may be more convenient. In any case, exercise due caution.
 
I don't have a fancy sled or anything, but I will use scrap wood (either rips/cutoffs, or corners I cut off with the chainsaw, etc.) to keep the orientation I'm looking for during the cut. I find whatever points the piece wants to settle on, then tuck pieces under or alongside to create wider multipoint support. I don't worry about the ends because they won't be on the table much. (it's a small table and I don't do long stuff) Once I feel comfortable with it, I'll shoot a bit of hot-melt glue to keep them in place.
 
Cary, I cut a LOT of log sections on the shop bandsaw, made many 100s of blanks for turning and drying. I have a variety of ways to hold the wood securely and safely while cutting but I don’t use a sled. If interested, I made a video for a covid pandemic video demo showing some of these ways. It’s long and a little slow moving but some of the ideas might be useful, especially a few near the end of the video like flattening one side with a chain saw or using scrap plywood pieces held with screws. It does show how I crosscut round sections safely. I didn’t include some other ways to hold smaller round pieces such as special v-blocks and woodworkers handscrew clamps.

I’ve posted this several times in the past - sorry if you’ve seen it.

View: https://youtu.be/4Rbdas-jtD0


I made the video in a rush and later realized some things that need changed, but maybe some would be interesting.

JKJ
 
I usually do initial crosscuts and rips with a chainsaw. If a log section is small enough to handle on the bandsaw I will rip it on end rather than using a carriage. If the crosscut base is out of square I may tilt the table to adjust the rip angle. My saw has 5 hp and 16" resaw capacity, with a smaller saw and different orientation a carriage or other method is required to keep the work from rolling. As you found out, things can go south in a hurry when the work is not adequately supported.

If I needed a long rip for spindle work I would mill a flat face on the jointer and go from there, either freehanding a rip parallel to the pith or squaring off an edge on the log and then using the rip fence.

For bowl blanks I usually attach a round cardboard template and take off the corners. I don't obsess about getting the piece exactly round. I visited a production bowlmaker recently who uses a sled for that operation. His sled ran in the miter groove and had a series of holes for dowel pins that engaged in center holes in his blanks. He would pull the sled back, set a pin for the desired radius, drop the blank on the sled and run it forward to cut off a corner, rotate and repeat.
 
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I've been in the process of building one for quite awhile. Mines similar to the ones you'll find on you tube except I'm making mine longer so I can end up with a spindle blank 38 inches or so long. (one piece cane shafts)
It's a 3/4inch thick 2 foot wide by 40 some inches long. miter slot track on the bottom to keep it in the band saw table slot. On the one end there's a piece of angle iron for the end of the log to go up against. And down the length of it I have cleats to vary the length if I need to and then have this apparatus to put pressure to hold the log in place. It's an experiment and I don't know if it will work but I have nothing but time.

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This is mainly going to be for the pile of hedge posts I want to convert.
 
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