Band Saw recommendations

E

Ed45

Joined
Jul 16, 2001
Messages
52
Yes, folks the fever is getting really bad and now I find myself craving a band saw. If I get one with a rip fence I can slab those wonerful little blocks from the Lumber Lady and then saw out my scale shapes on the same saw. Yes? If so, what brand? I thing a 9-12" size is plenty for this small stuff. Is everyting in machinery made in China? Prices seem to go from $75 on eBay to $400.00 for that fancy little Inca from Garrett Wade. And what about that little 3 wheel Grizzly? Help please and thanks a million; I've learned so much here. Ed
 
HI Ed,
I bought one of those bandsaws that Harbor Freight sells for less then $200 about four years ago and they are well worth the money. I've used and abused it and never a problem with it. I believe there are a lot of knifemakers using this saw. If I tear it up in a few years I'll just buy another one. I cut out 14 blades in the last couple of days on it. I did make me another table for it though. The table that comes on it had a small square opening behind the blade for some reason and small pieces of steel would fall through and jam the blade.
Tom
 
Hey ED

I have one of those cheap bandsaws
somthing like the one harbor freight
sells. Does a good job on cuting out
steel blades & if you buy a wood sawblade
from grizzly (64in.) it`ll do fine on
cuting wood to.
As far as a rip fence I use a piece of
aluminum bar 1x2x8 works fine.
 
Ed,if you are talking a wood bandsaw,it would'nt hurt to go with the harbor freight 13-14",plus they pay the freight on $50.00 and over,no small thing anymore.Whatever you do,dont get one of those 3 wheel bandsaws,they wont do the job,strictly light weight.
 
I'll go with the Harbor Freight model. I've had mine for about a year now. I bought it during one of their sales for $169.00 with no shipping. I wore the blade out that came with it fairly quick. That thing is smooth and accurate if you set it up right. I never use it for cutting high carbon steel though. I generally forge all my steel to shape. I mainly use it for cutting up wood and micarta scales and brass, bronze, nickel silver and aluminum for guards and pommels.

My only complaints about it is that on a longer cut the motor gets really hot. I put a fan on the motor when cutting thick blocks. And also the stock clamp leaves something to be desired. I'm trying to figure out how to modify it to hold shorter pieces without the swivel clamp buckling on me during a falling cut. Anybody figured that out yet? The best blades I've found for it come from Uncle Al at Riverside Machine in DeQueen, Arkansas. Just down the road from me. A little pricey at $21.00, but they last and last. Get the bi-metal one.
 
MaxTheKnife,
I'm not sure this is the modification you're talking about about,
but I saw this one on another site about adding a jacking screw to the swivel jaw. Picture from that site:
bandsa2.jpg

Regards,Greg
 
Greg, thanks for the info, that's a good one.

FWIW, I have the HF saw too, and still running the original blade after 6 month...with three gaps in the teeth. So about half the blade is cutting now, and if I forget and fail to let off the feed when one of the gaps is coming around, POP! goes the blade, right off the tires. :o I'll be replacing that blade here shortly.

But yesterday I cut 17" of bowie out of O-1, and it wasn't all that bad -- sure beat my recollection of the hack saw days! Or grinding out the profile like I used to do. Whew! I don't think there's a better value out there than the HF saw.

Ed, whatever you end up getting, you'll thank yourself every day for getting it.

Dave
 
Uh,folks,I think were talking about two different things here,Ed wants a wood cutting bandsaw,everybody is giving advice on horizontal/vertical,metal cutters.While they can be used to cut wood,with the right blade,for slabbing out big stuff you need a 13-14' wood cutting bandsaw running at 2000-3000fpm,Harbor freight has the 14"four speed on sale now for $249.99.But then maybe i'm all wrong and he wants a metal cutting bandsaw,hard to tell anymore. :confused:
 
Hot damn Ripper! Now why didn't I think of that? It's just too durned easy is all. It cain't possibly work! :) Sometimes I'm a little slow on the uptake.
 
MJH, I do believe you're right! Well, at least Ed is well enough informed now to buy any kind of bandsaw he wants! :D
 
I will be using pre-made knife blades and doing scales and finishing; not where I can do much metal work. I am a bit of a quality nut about tools and am considering very strongly the INCA imported by Garrett Wade. Thanks you guys are teriffic! Ed
 
I just received Harbor freights new catalog to day and MJHKNIVES was right, they do have the 14" four speed on sale now for $249.99. Its regularly $319. This is awfully tempting. I may have to rearrange my shop to accomodate a new piece of equipment;) ;)
 
Ed, if you are thinking in Inca price ranges, the Wilton 14" vertical Metal/wood saw does it all. It has a transmission to slow it down enough for metal cutting and 1hp. Delta has one also, heavier and more $$. Both have fences available. I think one saw for both worlds is a real plus in the shop long term. Enco www.use-enco.com has them in their catalog, probably others also.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top