I was just out in my shop working on a project. I was cutting 4" maple branches into small blocks for a kids camp project. Some of the pieces I had sliced off were very thin and I thought if I run a Exacto knife along these I would have a bunch of scale lumber. That got me wondering what kind of saw do they use to cut all the Balsa wood etc. that you spend a bundle on in the hobby and craft stores. Anyone know?
Brent
All the D-I-Y stuff you find on the web seems to be guys with table saws and special jigs/fences (a few mention bandsaws and coping saws). They seem to be able to really churn out the scale lumber.
I wonder if the commercial guys use tablesaws or some sort of multi-blade cutting machine you feed in stacks of boards (cut/planed to scale thickness) and get scale lumber out (like something you’d see on ‘How It’s Made’)
Special ultra thin saw blades are used, and some small specialty woods are cut by laser, don’t try cutting HO scale 2x4’s on your old Sears table saw, you will end up with a surprise.
Yeah, wood chips for your wood chip hoppers.
Scale lumberjacks, how else? [:D]
Thank’s for this thred, Brent
My budget is now $0.00, and I’m hungry for any kind of project I can do. I guess this will keep me entertained for a few hours (as long as the saw doesn’t explode into a fire-ball, like it normally does[swg])
If anyone has any tips for someone like me, for getting cheep materials, please post it.
Any success North East? I ran an exacto knife through some of the paper thin scraps left on the saw table and was surprised at the result. I am wondering how Maple and Alder dries out and whether these little 4x4s will stay straight over time.[:)]
Brent
I ran scrap boards through my table saw with a smooth cutting blade. I made a kerf gaurd so nothing falls down by the blade. I cut slabs of all the scale thinknesses I wanted.
I then ran the slabs through my band saw with the finest blade I can get. Again, a kerf gaurd needs to be made. I ran the various thicknesses of slabs through a variety of cuts and got sticks of any scale size I wanted.
A good fence is needed for both steps and a micrometer.
For me it was not hard, but took a lot of time, and may not have saved much money in the long run. What it gave me was scale lumvber out of Walnut wood, which makes beautiful trestles and buildings.
If you think you might like to cut dimensional lumber–2X4s; scale ties; etc–you need to think bandsaw; if you think tablesaw you need also think sawdust, a special made splitter, and a picture of B. Franklin. Bandsaw blades can be purchased with kerfs in the vicinity of .020-.025"; there are, I believe, some ultra-thin 100 tooth tablesaw blades–you need a blade that size to minimize that sawdust–with kerfs about .050" which is about two to two and a half times the thickness of that to be found on an ultra-thin bandsaw blade.
My budget is almost at your level since paying the AC guy to revive our central AC. One of my best freebe fines was the stirring sticks available gratus at Starbucks coffee shops. Once trimmed to 12’ lengths they make great sawmill fresh cut boards. It also helps make up for the cost of their overpriced java. Since my town has only one Starbucks I have to space my raids of their stirring sticks to once a week (but that also saves me from buying more expensive cups of coffee) Roy
this discussion may or may not interest you…
http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/p/172075/1888894.aspx#1888894
Brent I have a pair of cutting pliers I bought from Midwest products and they work great and were cheap too under $10.00 what also works is a regular old paper cutter.
I gotta get me a pair of those. That built in protractor is great.
I think experimentation is in order here. As Art said cutting the wood is not difficult, just time consuming. Don’t expect to do the finer work with big power tools.[:O] I think I’ll round up some hardwood scraps and see how it goes. I may end up with a trestle made out of Oak. I wonder how well Oak takes Creosote[:-^] I have some Oak scraps in the waste box. A small scrap of wood is a lumber yard full in HO.
Brent