Roubo Frame Saw

mdbuntyn

Matt
Staff member
Corporate Member
Since my max resaw with a handsaw is 5"-6" wide (depending on the length of the board), and a bandsaw with an 8" or more resaw capacity is out of the question for various reasons, I built a 48" Roubo frame saw.

I used hardware (and plans) from Blackburn Tools. The ash came from GPS Hardwoods. I deviated from Isaac's plans and made my handles 20" wide, instead of 24". The handle "knobs" are smaller as well.

1) After dimensioning the stock with my fore and jointer planes, 2) I chopped the mortises for the arms and bearing plate into the handles, and cut the tenons on the arms. The mortise and tenon joints were a bit "askew," which required me to glue some scrap to the tenon cheeks, and finesse the mortises. 3) The handle shape was laid out using dividers, a straight edge, and french curves. 4) I made relief cuts close to my layout lines, then chopped out the waste with a chisel. I refined the shape with rasps, files, and a card scraper (I need finer cut rasps). 5) After sharpening the blade, I made a test cut – if doing your own sharpening isn't an option, Isaac does sell kits with sharpened blades. 6) I was happy with the test cut, so I did a final smoothing pass and applied a coat of Tried and True Original Wood Finish.
 

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bowman

Board of Directors, Webmaster
Neal
Staff member
Corporate Member
that is a beefy saw Matt! How thin are you planning to resaw with this?
 

marinosr

Richard
Corporate Member
Very cool! I have a large Sandvik blade I squeaked away for the same, but at this point I don't I'll ever get around to making it. Can't wait to see some pics of how your first resaws go!
 

mdbuntyn

Matt
Staff member
Corporate Member
that is a beefy saw Matt! How thin are you planning to resaw with this?

Right now, the thinnest I would try to get off the saw is 3/8". If I don't wander too much, that would give me enough leeway to get a 1/4" final thickness. With practice, I should be able to get around 3/16", but I doubt that I'll use it enough to go any thinner than that.
 

Graywolf

Board of Directors, President
Richard
Staff member
Corporate Member
That turned out great Matt, I look forward to seeing it in action sometime soon.
 

Hmerkle

Board of Directors, Development Director
Hank
Staff member
Corporate Member
@mdbuntyn now you need to make a kerfing saw and you could probably re-saw as thin as you ever wish!
 

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