Get my drift?

As I have said before, band saws kind of have a mind of their own. And, when the blade you are using starts to get dull, it’s time to shell out a little bit of dough and pick up a new one.

Since every blade is a little bit different, setting up your fence for drift is something that you have to do when changing the blade. It takes a little time, but it’s not an impossible task. It uses a few materials and takes a little bit of time. This is the process I followed on my Laguna.

A straight line

The first thing I had to do was to mark a straight line down the face of a board parallel with one of the edges. I did this on a piece of southern yellow pine using a combination square and a pencil. This is going to be your reference line to work from.

Rip that board!

Push your fence away from the board, and freehand that board through, following the line carefully. Because the bandsaw pulls down toward the table, there’s very little chance of a  kickback, unlike at a table saw. Once you get about halfway down the edge, stop the saw, and do not move the board. That’s important, because that’s the angle your blade wants to drift, or cut off of square. I have seen some bandsaw pros – like Michael Fortune – advise that drift can be eliminated. And, when Michael wants to come to my shop and show me how that process works, I’ll make him dinner and give him plenty of beers. Until then…

Now, loosen your bandsaw fence’s contact at the point where it rides on the front rail. The Laguna uses an allen wrench for this purpose, but you should check your manufacturer’s guidelines to find out how to do that on your saw.

The pine cut

Once I got that locked in, I decided to test on the board I was working on. The results were pretty darned spectacular. But, that’s pine. What about something harder, like this block of Ash I had sitting around?

Nice ash!

Wow. That’s a clean cut that will require very little sanding. Hmm, I have a few boards that I need to cut up for some projects… with the new blade on the saw, I think it will be easy to tackle.

3 thoughts on “Get my drift?”

  1. In my early bandsaw days I read the articles on drift and would attempt to set an auxiliary fence to compensate with decidedly mixed results. Amount and nature of drift seemed to vary significantly depending upon thickness of the material being cut as well as the nature of the boards (hardness or whatever). I also listened to Michael Fortune’s take on drift.
    These days I just freehand and follow the line for my cuts and trust my hands and eyes to get where I want to go. Yes, cleanup is required, but that is the nature of band saw cuts in my corner of the world.
    My take is, pay attention and be willing to give various techniques a try when you are in the mood, but mostly, use your eyes, be sure to breath and do not push into the cut beyond the blade’s ability to cut and clear.
    Thanks, Tom

  2. Check out the Alex Snodgrass bandsaw setup video on YouTube. It works great on my 14″ delta saw. No drift at all with a sharp blade.

  3. The funny thing that Alex pointed out is that my Laguna has flat wheels, not crowned ones. So, his method won’t work for my saw… Oh, well…

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