If I have a nice board and want a successful resaw I need all my ducks in a row: a good bandsaw with sufficient power, an appropriate blade that is sharp, clean, and properly tensioned, an adequately high fence corrected for blade drift if necessary, good dust collection, and a safe plan to feed and support the board all the way through the cut. The board needs at least one flat face and a straight edge square to the face.

Even with all the mechanical preparations it’s necessary to consider the properties of the wood to avoid disappointment. When I bring new wood into the shop I check its moisture content with a pinless meter and write the date and MC% on the board. I stack and sticker the boards and monitor the MC over the next few days to few months, noting when it seems to level off, accounting for the humidity in the shop. For thick stock, if I can crosscut away from the ends of the board, I like to check for any moisture gradient across the thickness of the board. Ideally, I want a board that has equilibrated to the shop air with uniform MC through the full thickness.

There is one more very important issue. Dried wood can have internal stresses that manifest immediately after resawing. Very often, in resawing a board down the middle the two pieces produced promptly cup toward each other; the sawn faces both become concave across their widths. This immediate change is not due to drying or moisture issues, although those still might later create gradual movement of the boards.

To detect stresses in a board I take a short end cut, preferably away from either original end of the board where end checks may be present, saw out a center section and observe the remaining prongs of wood. In the sample above, the inward bow, especially of the left prong, shows just a slight casehardening effect. The sample on the right, with more of the core removed, shows a bit less bowing. (The moisture content is a uniform 6%.) Resawing this board would probably give good results.

Severe bowing of the prongs would predict markedly cupped boards from the resaw. Such boards would lose much of their thickness after flattening. I would use a fence with no outfeed length (beyond the blade) since the cupped surface coming off the blade would not register properly. Better to find another board to resaw.

A thought on design: in general, I’m not fond of perfectly bookmatched pieces juxtaposed in furniture. There’s something too contrived about that, to my eye. I like harmonious unity with a dose of organic variety better than mirror repetition.

As always, happy woodworking.