Create and Babble

STAY UP TO DATE

Get the latest crafting and DIY tips, tricks and tutorials delivered straight to your inbox!

How to Cut Wood Slices

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.

Cutting wood slices and making coasters out of them is nothing new. Unless you’re me. I hadn’t done it yet. Until now. Just in time for the Power Tool Challenge.

How to Cut Wood Slice Coasters with a band saw
In case you’re new around here, let me explain the Power Tool Challenge. A bunch of us DIY bloggers get together once a month and make a do-it-yourself (DIY) project using power tools. The point of this challenge is to actually challenge you, our wonderful readers, to use a power tool. Maybe for the first time.

There is also a theme for these challenges and this month’s theme is “Favorite Power Tool”.  I love all of my power tools, but right now my favorite power tool is my band saw. It’s been my favorite power tool ever since I got it a few months ago.

Ryobi 2.5 Amp 9 in. Band Saw in Green

Let me explain why it’s my favorite power tool:

  1. It’s less intimidating than many power tools
  2. I’m able to cut curves in thicker wood
  3. Ability to cut thin slices

 

Don’t get me wrong – it’s still a powerful tool and you still need to practice safety precautions – there is a moving blade after all. But it’s less intimidating to me because the blade is small and the saw itself is not as loud as say a table saw.

I have been wanting to cut wood slices for the longest time. But there’s been a problem. I don’t have any trees. I like in a condo and don’t have a yard with trees that are mine. I think the HOA would take issue with me chopping a limb from one of the trees in the common area. They’re picky like that ; ) However, we just had some very windy weather here in the northeast and I thought my chances of finding a fallen tree limb were pretty good.

I was right!

Here’s my tree limb!

Since my plan is to cut coasters and coasters need to be a consistent thickness, I set up a jig of sorts on my band saw.

Here is what I used to set up a jig to cut even wood slices:

I wanted my wood slices to be 1/2″ thick, so I measured 1/2″ from the blade and secured a scrap piece of wood at this point onto the table of the band saw with clamps.

I then used this piece of wood as a guide when guiding the tree limb against the blade to make the wood slices.

Since my limb was still fairly fresh, I baked them in a warm oven for about two hours to dry them out.

I didn’t bother to do anything else to my wood slice coasters. I’ve seen where some people sand, paint or stain them. You can get creative and stencil designs on them too. I opted to go with the plain (and lazy) method and left mine natural. Just like nature intended ; )

Now go see what my friends’ favorite power tools are and what they have made:

H2OBungalow DIY Horizontal Wood Slat Address Plaque / My Love 2 Create – Triangle Hexagon Tray / My Repurposed Life – DIY Cutting Board / The Kim Six Fix – Scroll Saw Book Letters / The DIY Bungalow – DIY Faux Fur Foot Stool / The Interior Frugalista – Small Portable Rolling Multi Purpose Table / Designer Decor – Ornate Oval Wood Frame Update

Comments

  1. Wendi @ H2OBungalow says

    These are great! Love the tip of securing a piece of wood as a guide to get the thickness just right. We have a peach tree in the backyard that has the perfect branches for projects. I’m seeing a new set of coasters in the near future! Super project..Pinned!

    Reply

  2. gail says

    Okay, now I guess I need a band saw! 🙂 super wood slice coasters Jeanie! I have cut some using a compound miter saw, but you really need the “perfect” specimen to lay well to do that.

    pinned!
    gail

    Reply

  3. Paula says

    I think the band saw was the first tool that I was confident in using on my own. Like you, it’s one of my favorites!

    I love your wood slice coasters and you are going to enjoy using them so much!

    Reply

  4. KAREN COOPER says

    I’ve never used a band saw but now I totally want to! I love how you secured the piece of scrap wood to set the width of the coasters – great tip! Pinned and shared – great project!

    Reply

  5. Marie from The Interior Frugalista says

    Oh Jeanie, you have no idea how I wished I had a band saw when I made my holiday wood slice coasters using my miter saw. It would have made the job so much easier! My branch was already dry but I like your tip of putting them in a warm oven for a few hours – going to try keeping that tip in the old noggin.

    Reply

  6. Kim Six says

    I saw this come through on my Facebook feed earlier and I couldn’t wait to get her to see exactly how you created these! Such a great idea and something I would love to do also! Great job!

    Reply

  10. Leanna says

    Large saws intimidate me. Hubs has a table saw and a buzz saw but he doesn’t yet own a band saw. He cuts all kinds of projects for me using a jigsaw and its really no wheres near as good as a band saw is.

    Congratulations on doing these yourself, you go girl. They are great coasters and I bet they smell really nice as well.

    Reply

  13. John says

    Jeanie I love this idea, such a simple DIY/Hobby task to complete, I love the idea of using an offcut of wood as a fence to ensure that each coaster comes out to the same thickness.

    I can’t wait for the next storm to arrive as it’ll be stump hunting time!

    Reply

  16. Crystal says

    In the mining industry too, powerful jets of water are increasingly being used for cutting and drill and cut rocks in hard-rock mines. In addition to hard-rock mines, jets of water are also used in coal mines. They are cost-efficient and effective at the same time.

    Reply

  17. Mark B. Morse says

    Your cutting is really flat, Jeanie
    Love ideas of your coasters, they are amazing
    I don’t think I can do the same, because I don’t have a bandsaw. I am using an old chainsaw.

    Reply

  18. Mathew says

    Very informative article. I got some good about how to cut wood slices after reading your article. Really its help me lot. We want more article about woodworking from you.

    Keep sharing. Thank You.

    Reply

  21. Kayla says

    Hi JEANIE, This is really nice tips for slicing wood by world famous wood working tool band saw. Nice article for beginner, and your tips are important. Thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  22. Peter says

    WOW! Increadble information on wood cutting. Those are reallly rear info in web and I speacially thanks to you and Will wait for new post on wood related topic. You can visit mytoolslab where i write to wood cutting tools and it will helpful to get more idea. Have a good day.

    Reply

  23. safedoom says

    Hey Jeanie!
    I learnt so much in such a short time. Thanks for awesome research and generous sharing.
    Looking forward to more informative articles on wood.

    Reply

  30. shekhard jane says

    Hello Jeanie,
    This is really beautiful work. Woodworking a beautiful work and only a great bandsaw do the job best in the world. As a passionate woodworker, I can understand the ability of a bandsaw.

    Reply

Trackbacks

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Zots Craft Adhesive Dots

Amazon Associates Disclosure

Jeanie Hevener Emmert is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.


hobby lobby