Blood, Sweat, and Sawdust

Ripped and stickered

I decided to go ahead and rip all of my 2×12 stock in half to speed up the drying process. I knew there would be some tension built up in some of the boards, but a few of them where downright scary. I had one split for the last two feet of the board. This caused one half to slide off my roller stand. The back end kicked up and hit the blade guards fairly hard. No damage was done, but it gave me quite a scare. The split shifted the cut a few inches, making one have too narrow to use for my top. I’ll save this for my long stretchers.

I sorted and labeled all of my boards, saving the best for the front and back of the top. If you’re ripping construction lumber, keep a few extra roller stands handy. Also, be prepared to clean your tools free of pitch when you’re finished. You might even consider buying an extra band saw blade for this project.  Simple Green took care of the blade and a ruler scraped the tires free of debris.

You can find links to my other Roubo posts here:  Project Index