Resaw or just bite the bullet on waste

[Woodenskye (Bryan)]

Thread transferred from previous forum - Original Post by Woodenskye

Original Post:

So if you needed to create a couple walnut or cherry panels that would measure 11" X 11", need to finish at 3/4" thick, would you buy 6/4 material and resaw hoping to get the thickness or just buy 4/4 and plane down and suck up the minimal waste?  The lumber supplier I was at Saturday their prices between 6/4 and 4/4 was minimal, think 4/4 = $10/BF, 6/4 = $11.00/BF. 

Follow Up Posts:

1)  Ouch..  That's spendy for Cherry!
Because you're looking for a net 3/4, that doesn't leave you any waste.  You'll have the blade thickness plus what ever milling is required to get it flat when you're done.
I actually ran into this yesterday on the utility cabinet that goes with the quilting desk.  All I had was 6/4 material and the HW dealer was closed.  Long story short, I ended up just planing away 3/4" worth of material..  Might have been a little quicker to resaw a big chunk first but, I didn't.
On that note..  My wife came in the shop and asked me what I was doing because saw dust was flying all over the outside end of the shop..  Yep..  dust bit was full and everything was flying outside....lol. Bad enough that I had to get the leaf blower out and clean up the end of the building...lol

2)  I was looking at Walnut, white oak and cherry specifically so the price was for white oak. 4/4 eliminates the resawing step and in the end may be best. I hate hogging off a lot in the planer.

3)  Agreed..  It is wasteful but, if you need 3/4", I don't see how you get around it?  If you could get away with 2ea 5/8" panels then I'd go the resaw route..

4)  Also rough cutting as close to final size before you re-saw, joint and plane usually yields better because you have cut down the amount of possible twist or warp.

5)  For 3/4 I have always gotten there from 4/4 stock. I haven't ran across a piece of wood jacked enough to where I couldn't ... Maybe I'm in the minority? And I do know I have not milled near the qty of most though.

6)  Bryan, if I did the math correctly, using a 12” x12” panel, you would be paying $10 per panel using 4/4 and $8.25 per panel using 6/4. And considering the kerf, you wouldn’t get your 3/4” and then considering planing or drum sanding, you would get considerably less, assuming your re-sawing to be spot on. Me, I’d go with the 4/4. 

7)  Resawing adds an extra step that I'm not sure I want to do. Plus 10+ is pushing the limits of my saw. I think I'm just going to stick with 4/4 stock. I'm really want to try this new to me HW dealer, they are a little further away, but have some great slabs and selection. The place closer to me may be cheaper, but their stock is kinda boring. My old dealer burnt down and they decided not to reopen.