I keep getting asked how I am able to cut all my own wood when I start a build from plans. I belong to a really nice wood working club and we have all the machines required to do most anything. Today I had foremans duty and there weren't a lot of people so I took a few photos. I won't bore you will all of the tools but my main tools are what we just call the re-cut saw, band saw and our micro over head sander.
I buy my balsa in blocks, 4X4X36 then just rip the size I need for the sheeting required, I make it a little over size then run it through the small sander until I get it to size. I use either the re-cut saw or band saw to rip it. For all the different sizes of bass wood spars we use I have some 4 inch by five foot blocks and rip it to width on the re-cut saw then rip that to size on the band saw. I cut all my kits now in the shop plus take my planes there to sand instead of messing up my own shop.
We have a lot of retired cabinet makers and we teach new members how to operate the machines. We have quite a few women in the club too that do some fantastic work, it isn't just a boys club. Bruce is on the re-cut saw with the small band saw behind him then the little over head micro sander. Susan is finishing up a cutting board she is making for a gift, all inlay work she did in the last week. I also use the orbital sander and router tables a lot.
Gene