Gang Ripping with the Woodmaster

Of the four operations the Woodmaster is capable of, gang-ripping is my favorite.   It’s easy to set up, you only have to do one quick pass.  Unlike running molding….that has to be done SLOWLY.   When you’re sawing wood, you can crank the speed right up.  I have a stack of poplar that will eventually become baseboards, door casings and headers, and other misc. trim around the house.  Once it was straight-lined, I used the gang-rip operation on my Woodmaster to cut it to width for my baseboards and door casings.

This is the Woodmaster, planer, molding, gang-ripping and drum sanding machine.  I set up the two blades on the right for baseboards and the one on the left for door casings left.  Because the boards are different widths, you can’t set up guide rails on both sides of the boards you are feeding through, just on the side with the straight edge.

Here is my stack of lumber…..after I had finished about half of it ;0). Ready to be cut into the correct width.

Depending on the width of the board it would become either door casings or baseboards.  In some cases the board became one of each.  The important thing is to get the board started straight with the straight edge against the guide.

Ripped lumber coming out!! Two baseboards on in the first picture, a door casing in the second.

Now it was time to plane everything down to the correct thickness.  My baseboards are 7/8″ thick, door casings are 3/4″ thick.   I just set the thicker ones aside as they are done and continue on with the rest.

Like I said at the beginning, this is my favorite part because the stacks of wood transform so quickly and go from random widths of boards to something that resembles the finished product.

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