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Need bandsaw recommendations

J

Jim Stoppleworth

Joined
Apr 7, 2005
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Location
Saginaw, Michigan
My bandsaw died yesterday (lower wheel shaft gave out at the bearing) I'm gonna repair it and give it to LOML for her craft projects. It's a 12 incher.

I'm looking for something 14" or larger. Following on the heels of Christmas budget is an issue. $1000 or less.

Main use is cutting blanks for bowls etc. but will also be using it for resawing.

thanks

Jim
 
Good Morning Jim,

I bought the Grizzly 17" heavy duty, 2 hp, 220v, I up graded to a lenox carbide tip 3/4" blade, and have had no trouble with it at all. Came to under 1,000.00 with the new blade. I use it mostly to rough out blanks and some re-sawing, green and dry, oak, cherry, maple, and ash.

Good Luck
Rich
 
I would look at Laguna 14SE. A little over your budget, but if you catchthem at a show, you can buy the floor model (ahead of time) at a reduced cost. As for blades, Timberwolf (Suffolk Machinery). If you are only going to cut green wood, Timberwolf, resawing of hardwoods (as in making 1/4" thick boards) carbide blades work well.
 
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Hey Jim,

What are you looking at for max resaw and roughing thickness?

Figure that you can go for one saw for all work or two saws, one dedicated to finer and quality cutting and one to blanks. The reason I say this is that a truly quality saw that will let you resaw accurately an will maintain accuracy and precision in cuts will easilly hit your $1000 cap for a 14" (a small Laguna for instance).

The same can be said for a heavier duty saw with a large throat and mucho horses, which will gnaw through just about anything but will likely not be very accurate in it's cuts at the $1000 price range (the Grizzly, for instance).

If you want both in one saw, you'll want to spend some serious bucks on a large, high quality saw.

Personally, since money is extremely tight around here and I do almost exclusively turning, I went the el-cheapo, blank cutting route. I got a (un)Reliant 14", added a 6" riser, a junker 2hp motor, a Cobra tension spring, and a plywood table extension. I can cut 11" green wood that is 18-20" wide if I'm patient and the entire cost was under $500. When I'm ready to do cabinetry, I'll chip for a second saw.

Dietrich
 
Dietrich,

The budget is too tight for a serious bucks saw right now.
Thanks for the thoughts. I'm also more into turning than flat stock work. Most of the resawing will be for ornament highlights so extreme accuracy isn't super critical. I'm gonna take a look at some more saws looking more for power for cutting blanks.

So far I like the looks of Grizzly G0513X and the Rikon 10-345, both 17" saws. Either would handle my current and forseeable needs and are a big step up from the 12".

Jim
 
I picked up a Delta 14" with riser block last year and it works wonderfully. I've cut green blanks up to 11" and I've done some resawing with it. I'm quite happy except for one thing. Mine came with a bearing guide system. The bearings don'e work well with green wood. They tend to clog up. I prefer the regular blocks for green wood cutting.
The Jet 14 is a little less expensive but is about the same saw.
 
There ya go then. Sounds like you know what you're looking for.

What do your throat sizes look like on those two saws? I'm personally a big fan of 10-12" at least so that you can halve smaller logs without using the chainsaw. Also, be aware that the really huge skip tooth blades (3TPI, that kinda thing) are what you want to be chasing for cutting blanks. All that extra space helps with clearing the shavings so they don't load up so quick and start to heat.

Are there any sites out there that actually discuss how much load the saws will take before they stall? I know that HP is not definative so.....

Dietrich
 
john lucas said:
I picked up a Delta 14" with riser block last year and it works wonderfully. I've cut green blanks up to 11" and I've done some resawing with it. I'm quite happy except for one thing. Mine came with a bearing guide system. The bearings don'e work well with green wood. They tend to clog up. I prefer the regular blocks for green wood cutting.
The Jet 14 is a little less expensive but is about the same saw.
Click to expand...

Try some ceramics. You can virtually touch the blade with them, and you don't get the uneven wear on the left side that you pick up with soft phenolic guides. I put a set of ceramic thrust surfaces on mine as well, but they have a tendency to spark fires when you're making really fine dry shavings or dust, so be careful. They do as well if not better than the factory bearings, and of course, are immmune to sap and water problems.

One disadvantage to the JET over the Delta is the lower guides are farther removed under the table. You'll wish they were closer for better control on resaws in dry wood.
 
dkulze said:
There ya go then. Sounds like you know what you're looking for.

What do your throat sizes look like on those two saws? I'm personally a big fan of 10-12" at least so that you can halve smaller logs without using the chainsaw.
Are there any sites out there that actually discuss how much load the saws will take before they stall? I know that HP is not definative so.....

Dietrich
Click to expand...

Well, I sorta know what I want.

Both have 12" throats. I had never thought about using the bandsaw for halving small logs. Thanks for the tip.

Wood magazine had a review in Nov. 2005 (issue 166) on step up bandsaws.
They reviewed Bridgewood, Grizzly, Jet, Rikon, and Shop Fox. They used 5 and 15 pound feed forces pulling a 10 inch red oak board. The 15 pound feed force only stopped the Jet. Significantly slowed the Grizzly. It's an interesting review.

Any particular brand of blade in the 3TPI you'd recommend?
What about carbide are they worth the investment?

Jim
 
Wolverines regularly get rave reviews. As to carbide tip, mixed feelings. I figure that cutting lots of green wood and cruddy stuff is gonna wreck the blade no matter what. Cost becomes an issue at that point. I'm lucky in that I'm still working through a pile of blades a friend gave me when he upgraded. Cheap stuff but works fine for what I'm doing and I don't feel bad when I bend or break them.

Anyone else out there have experience with the nicer, carbide tips? Do they handle grit and the occasional nail ok?

Dietrich
 
14" works for me

I have had a delta 14" with riser, its hard to matcht the capacity of it for the price. I also added a 2 HP motor and cut 10" thick blanks with ease now. Note that not all 14" saws are equal the trunion support on the delta is cast iron, on the Jet and other makes they are cast zinc. For hefting green wood blanks you'll want the Delta.

BTW if you are near Maryland I have a second one that I would be willing to sell.

Good Luck!

Chris
 
FYI: Shop Fox is Grizzly. Just white paint instead of green and some cosmetic and perhaps minor spec changes. This was confirmed by a local retailer.
 
Stoppy said:
They reviewed Bridgewood, Grizzly, Jet, Rikon, and Shop Fox.
Click to expand...

I have the Bridgewood 14" steel framed saw. 8" depth of cut, 1 hp motor, nice fence, nice design. I think I paid about $700 for it with PA sales tax. I was just resawing some 8" wide red oak this weekend using a 5/8" blade. Slow going because that's some very hard wood but the saw does the job.
 
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