Cuttings sled

[bohdon]

I made myself a little sled for cutting up small branches into pen blanks.
I thought I would post some pictures.

The red X's mark the one piece that is not attached to the sled, the reason is it can be changed for different thicknesses of branches.

The green arrows point to two screws that are sticking up from underneath, they keep the log from twisting or kicking out from the bottom.

To use I set the log up, make sure my top pins are back far enough (away from the blade) & tap them in gently with a hammer. Then I tighten the hold down bolts.

To make it first I put a runner on the bottom of a piece of plywood, then I ran that through the bandsaw to make the edge run right past the blade. Then I attached the rocker bar (after cutting the holes for the trapped nuts). Then I made the hold down bars out of birch & put a t-nut(?) in from the bottom.
When I realized that wouldn't work because the bottom would kick out I put 2 short screws in from underneath to hold the bottom of the log in place.
I also sharpened & hardened the top pins (nails) before I put them in.

After using it a few times I would have to say it works really smooth, I never had any movement from the logs at all. Nice straight cuts & best of all my hand was on the farthest corner of the jig...no where near the blade. Also you can cut down the center or you can just slice off the edge if that's what you prefer.

Front
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh4/ibohdon/Misc/cuttingssled6630.jpg

Back
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh4/ibohdon/Misc/cuttingssled6625.jpg

Rocker bar, hold downs, trapped nut.
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh4/ibohdon/Misc/cuttingssled6626.jpg

Bottom screws.
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh4/ibohdon/Misc/cuttingssled6629.jpg

Thanks for looking.

[Toby]

Thanks for sharing your idea and making the effort to include pictures. The result of getting such nice, straight cuts while not having to worry about the log moving is very appealling. The safety improvement is just as important, too.

[Sawdust]

Deja woo hoo... I did almost the same thing. Instead of the nails I used threaded inserts and ground points onto a bolt. I wish I thought of the nails as that would have been easier and faster. Thanks for posting. Some solutions are universal if not obvious.

[simomatra]

Beaut a safe idea thanks for sharing

[Brad]

great fixture idea, simple and very practical. Thanks for sharing.

[Barry in London]

Thanks for sharing Bob. I have a small piece of Sandalwood a friend brought me back from India and I need to cut it up for pen blanks. I was a little concerned about running it through the bandsaw freehand.

[big dipper]

I like that idea, Bob! Sort of a mini sawmill. Gonna have to make a copy of it.

[wm460]

Great idea Bob.

[jack]

clever & in the can do spirit..thanks for sharing it