If You Use A Portaband To Cut Blanks...I Have A Question

redsquid2

redsquid2

Free-Range Cheese Baby
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
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I have never used a portaband (same as a portable bandsaw, I think). Just browsing online, I see some are designated "Deep Cut." Others have like, "5" Cutting Capacity." I don't know what any of that means in terms of what I want to do with it. I just want to set up one these types of saws for cutting out blanks, and I would attach it to a Swag Off Road table. The question is, how much "cutting capacity" would I need?

Thank you and have a good day,
Andy
 
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As much as you can get. The depth of cut dictates how much cutting you can do on the left side of your blade before you have to make relief cuts and/or turn your piece over (meaning your layout has to match on both sides) to finish on longer cuts. There isn't a ton of room on any of the "deep cut" saws for blade profiles, so it's just a limitation of using the portaband/Swag combo, but there are reasonable workarounds.
 
redsquid2 said:
I have never used a portaband (same as a portable bandsaw, I think). Just browsing online, I see some are designated "Deep Cut." Others have like, "5" Cutting Capacity." I don't know what any of that means in terms of what I want to do with it. I just want to set up one these types of saws for cutting out blanks, and I would attach it to a Swag Outdoors table. The question is, how much "cutting capacity" would I need?

Thank you and have a good day,
Andy
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I have a Milwaukee, I've read the Dewalt's are amazing too.
On 12"x12" sheet of micarta I will have to flip the board over to cut through the sheets.
A little strategy, but not a big deal...... I wish I bought one YEARS ago. I Love it!
Either brand will be great, buy what's on sale.
 
I have an older Milwaukee Deep Cut and I love it. As others have mentioned there are limitations, but I don't think they are unreasonable ones for cutting blanks unless you're doing a large Kukri or similar. But even then you can probably make it work. If mine dies tomorrow I'd immediately buy another one.
 
The Portaband/Swag table setup is a very economical way to get an extremely versatile piece of equipment. I have a Dewalt and love it.
Agree with the others you want to get the deep cut version to give you the most space to cut.
 
I did learn one lesson: If you have steel wide enough for 2+ blades side by side and you're trying to make knives over 10", you can get to an impossible situation.

So I limit my bars to 1.5 to 2" wide. Like Bühlmann Bühlmann said you'll need to make relief cuts if the total knife length is over 10". I've seen Horsewright Horsewright do some pretty clever blade layouts on a single sheet and pull it off.
 
I ditched my horizontal/vertical bandsaw for a Milwaukee with swag table and haven’t looked back with regret. Deep throat with variable speed is very nice.
 
Just my experience, I was cheap and bought the Bauer model at Horror Freight. Mine is a piece of crap, and I wish I'd have got a name brand. I know people are gonna say their Bauer is great, but mine sucks. Should have known better. Take this FWIW.
 
I have a Milwaukee with a swag table. it is amazing. I used to take 1/4" 410 stainless plate to a machine shop and have it sheared. The last time they didn't shear it right so I decided to cut it on the portaband. I was amazed at how quickly it cut the pieces. I will never go to the machine shop again.
 
Skinner79 said:
Just my experience, I was cheap and bought the Bauer model at Horror Freight. Mine is a piece of crap, and I wish I'd have got a name brand. I know people are gonna say their Bauer is great, but mine sucks. Should have known better. Take this FWIW.
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I smiled when I read this. Horror Freight. I bought a benchtop bandsaw there and I can't remember the brand; must have been General Garbage. Seriously, though, I struggled with adjusting it and got some use out of it for a few months and then I noticed that a tiny part from it was sitting on the bench and I could not figure out where that part was supposed to go. I still tried to make it work, but it was futile. It has been sitting idle on the bench since last Summer.
 
I have a regular dewalt but when this one kicks the bucket i will get one that has a deeper cutting ability
 
Funny story, I own and use a Bauer from HF and it has been working great now for the past few years, HOWEVER, the journey to get there was a bit bumpy. I must have returned three units to the HF store on warranty within a few months of each other before getting this one. Once it dies I will be replacing it with a better quality one.

As trash as the machinery is, the return policy and warranty service is great.
 
navman said:
Funny story, I own and use a Bauer from HF and it has been working great now for the past few years, HOWEVER, the journey to get there was a bit bumpy. I must have returned three units to the HF store on warranty within a few months of each other before getting this one. Once it dies I will be replacing it with a better quality one.

As trash as the machinery is, the return policy and warranty service is great.
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Yeah, I screwed up. Should have done what you did. Mine has never tracked correctly. The blade eventually tries to run off the back of the top tire, and I have tried and tried to adjust it. I finally put some shims in a few places and got it to where it actually works, but I've never been happy with it. The tires are all cracked, and I don't know whether you can get replacement tires or not. Maybe the Milwaukee replacements would fit it, but I haven't tried. Plus, when it runs it sounds like you have a blender full of rocks. I kind of hope it quits so I can get a decent one! :D
 
I'm a Dewalt guy and have had one for ages. As someone mentioned above the day it died I replaced it that day. Even though it was a two hour roundtrip. Getting the most out of a piece of steel is preplanning and experience:

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I think Ed Caffrey (or someone else??) made some different blocks a while back to angle the blade a little more/less to get more depth available so the straight cut would clear the frame better?
 
FWIW I have been using a HF Bauer for a few months now on a Rilla stand. I haven't had any problems at all (fingers crossed) and the setup is super handy. I have 2 other bandsaws that just sit unless i need to do wood for scales (it doesn't like that on the portable and I'm on 18 TPI). Anyway, regardless of brand and longevity, I actually think this is the ideal setup for knifemaking and really love it.
 
There's a lot of makes and models out there. I ordered a DeWalt DWM120K. The owners manual says blades should be no thicker than .020". I hope that will handle steel barstock.
 
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