Do you remember your first.....

[Sam Fleisher]

bowl blank cut on a band saw?

Here's mine. Pretty easy should have been doing this when band saws were cheaper.

Only bad thing is this has been laying around the shop on the floor for months and I even killed the ants in it with epoxy a couple of times, was remembering it being cherry but so much for memory because it's stinking catalpa.

Must have been doing something right because it seemed to cut out pretty easy.

 

[Richard Coers]

Let's see, I would have cut my first blank on a bandsaw around Dec 1985.

 

[Sam Fleisher]

Let's see, I would have cut my first blank on a bandsaw around Dec 1985.

ahhh dec. 85. let's see, I was 18 years old then.

 

[odie]

My first band saw would have done the deed around 1982. It was a Craftsman band saw about as old as I am. Then came a Jet 14" band saw, followed by a Grizzly 16" band saw. Now I have the best band saw I've ever had. Grizzly G0817 resaw band saw.

-o-

 

[Sam Fleisher]

My first band saw would have done the deed around 1982. It was a Craftsman band saw about as old as I am. Then came a Jet 14" band saw, followed by a Grizzly 16" band saw. Now I have the best band saw I've ever had. Grizzly G0817 resaw band saw.

-o-

I'm surprised I didn't get a grizzly because my lathe is a grizzly and has been good to me.

Shipping has gone up so much compared to what it used to be that I wanted something local. This one was on sale (and was a gift on top of that) so I couldn't pass it up.

I remember the grizzly 17 inch model band saw being around $800 when I bought my lathe (2017?). Might have been less even. I think my lathe was around $1700 and shipping was $100 or $150.

 

[Phil Hamel]

Well. I had a woodshop class back in high school so my first bandsaw use was back in the late 70's. Yah...don't remember! Can't remember what I had for dinner yesterday! Lol! Projects are long gone too. Lost in the hustle bustle of life.

 

[Lou Jacobs]

Congrats Sam! Looks great. Now you’ll just have to figure out what to do with all the offcuts from your saw that you’ll generate. Do you burn wood? I keep a stack of half round and quarter round offcuts outside my shop door that I put in the fireplace, or make available to a few neighbors with fire pits.

 

[Charles Cadenhead]

ahhh dec. 85. let's see, I was 18 years old then.

You and me both

 

[Gabriel Hoff]

I think we bought ours in the spring of 2019. The band saw was the first tool we ever purchased and is kind of what got this turning thing going. But let me tell you, I was 15 years old and my brother was 14 so we kinda didn't know what we were doing haha!

 

[Alan Weinberg]

yes because it was just a few months ago. Bought a used 14 inch Rikon, took a bandsaw safety class, then cut my thumb on it the first time I used it alone, now in a corner waiting for someone with experience to guide me a bit more while I hope to retain all 10 digits. This is a couple weeks later. Fortunately the saw went behind the nail and in front of the bone, so I held it together for a while, took some antibiotics, and has healed well, though tip still a bit numb and I had to cancel a couple weeks of surgery.

 

[hockenbery]

then cut my thumb on it the first time I used it alone

Glad that you did what appears to be minimal damage.
A friend who was an experienced bandsaw user cut the very tip of his thumb off. He was cutting pen blanks.
Repetitive cuts require continued attention. It can get hypnotic. Cutting and cutting without focus the thumb can closer and closer to being in the blade path. Then it is in the blade path….

The most important safety rule is never push a body part toward the blade.
When cutting thin pieces use a push stick.
Working with an experienced person is good!

Don’t work when tired. Keep focus on the blade.

 

[Richard Coers]

yes because it was just a few months ago. Bought a used 14 inch Rikon, took a bandsaw safety class, then cut my thumb on it the first time I used it alone, now in a corner waiting for someone with experience to guide me a bit more while I hope to retain all 10 digits. This is a couple weeks later. Fortunately the saw went behind the nail and in front of the bone, so I held it together for a while, took some antibiotics, and has healed well, though tip still a bit numb and I had to cancel a couple weeks of surgery.

I met a woodworker who told me this accident story. He reached around the blade on a running, very old saw that didn't have the front guard around the blade. He felt a little bump and realized he had cut himself. He bent his elbow to look and the skin slipped over the elbow and he was looking at bone. After collecting himself a little he made his way to the front stoop of the house, sat down sweating, and called 911. An image I can't get out of my head.

 

[Richard Coers]

ahhh dec. 85. let's see, I was 18 years old then.

I was 33.

 

[robo hippy]

My first bandsaw was a little PM that would cut 6 inches high. For several years I used my 'chainsaw chopsaw' which came fairly close to cutting parallel sides on a blank. then I got a Laguna 16HD which cut slabs 16 inch high max, which is fine because I never go over 14 inch diameter. I get slabs that are almost perfectly parallel, so no worries about cutting circles with an uneven blank and getting the blade trapped in the cut...... Hate that. It is a huge time saver. Some day, I will build better infeed and outfeed tables for my big saw.

Never cut with a dull blade! I ended up getting 2 stitches in 2 fingers from trimming a small piece with a dull blade and pushing too hard. Lucky the damage was only as minimal as it was.... No tendons cut, no bone exposed....

robo hippy

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Got my Grizzly GO550 about 97. Got a riser for it in about 08. I want to say the saw was about 700. Have wished I had a bigger motor but probably my fault for not putting on a new blade and trying to sharpen too many times.

 

[rkriet]

OK, I guess I’m just old. Bought my first bandsaw in 1977. Went to an estate sale and paid $30 for the Craftsman bandsaw, $30 for a Craftsman 4” joiner, and $5 for a brand new Craftsman router. As Archie Bunker would say, those were the days!

 

[Rusty Nesmith]

My first cut on a bandsaw would have been around three years ago.