woodworking bandsaws

M

magnum .44

Joined
Jun 12, 1999
Messages
1,110
i'm looking for a percision bandsaw in the $900- $1200 range, which would you guys suggest? i like the 18" JET as a favorite, i seen it at a show and it looked nice. i've been checking out the delta 20" wood cutter. looks like one massive machine. although with the delta i'd need to replace the motor with a baldor 2hp, 115v. i also like brigdewood saws. what do you guys suggest. i'm buying another one for only resawing so blade width is important, but accuracy is more important. thanks in advance.
 
20" bandsaw would be a big machine. You may not need that much capacity between blade and frame if your going to be resawing handle slab sized peices. It wuold be nice to have that much room to work with though.
If you don't get their catalogs, you should check out Rockler Woodworking and Hardware www.rockler.com or 1-900-279-4441. Their prices are a little high, but they have a lot of specialty stuff for bandsaws - tables, guides, carbide tipped blades, blade lubricant etc.
I'll have to do some hunting, but I saw a resawing bandsaw in a catalog I got in the mail a long time ago that ran a blade that was 3" from teeth to spine, I think it came with a carbide tooth blade too (about $300 to replace I think). It was an industrial size machine rated for heavy use. I'll let you know if I find it again. Good luck.

------------------
Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
thanks for the advice matt, i scanned over that site a while ago, thought it was pretty cool. i "saw" a hitachi (i think it was hitachi) bandsaw for $2400, it took a 3" blade. it's a little too much money for me. i want a big bandsaw becuase i do woodworking too, i'm even making a black walnut case for the knives i gave a presents, entirely on the bandsaw. it's a little tough with a 3/4" carbide tipped blade, but i'm doing ok so far. i'd like a 20" or 18" becuase of the fetures they add ontop of the added room.
i'd like it if you checked on that bandsaw for me, resawing bandsaws have alot of height. thanks again.
by the way, how much weight do you think i can put on a 1" plywood floor?
 
I'll look ,but I think the saw I was thinking of was the hitachi. I agree on the bigger the better for general woodworking bandsaws. I use mine to cut a lot of stuff. the 7" clearance blade to frame isn't really enough. I use it the most for roughing out carvings though so it usually works out. What kind of walnut are you using, plain or black walnut? Sounds nice. I've thought about a project like that too but as of now I don't have that many knives.
Depending on the framing underneath your plywood, 1" thick should hold a lot. The haymow floor in my barn is only 3/4" thick and its supporting 60,000 to 100,000 lbs of hay over about a 16x32' space. There is extremely heavy framing underneath that though, 2x10 every 12-16"(can't remember exactly think 12")lengthwise, crosswise near the middle 2 4x12's red oak supporting the 2x10's, all on posts made of old telephone poles, big ones. With 1"thick plywood, you should be able to put about as much as the framing can hold. But I'd over do the framing to be on the safe side.

------------------
Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
Generally for most home shops, a 14" Jet or Delta would be more than sufficient. Unless you are going to be doing some really heavy cutting, these should be fine. This is what quite a few jobsites have has well. They are usually in the 500 to 750 dollar(US) range.

If you need to resaw, I would suggest a bandsaw and a good sander. The 6X48 inch grinder from Harbor Freight or Grizzly are in the $200 to $300 price range. You are going to have to flatten the scales once you resaw them and this way you get a fairly good machine for flat grinding and other uses.

C Wilkins


[This message has been edited by C L Wilkins (edited 01-31-2000).]
 
A drum sander or a planer would be better for surfacing the resawed peices.There shouldn't be much flattening to do if you have a good rip fence and table to work with.A belt sander will work but its hard to make peices a uniform thickness over the whole peice because there isn't any real good way to hold it on the sander.Ryobi makes a 16" drum sander with variable speed power feed that looks great. Its pretty expensive though. You can check it out at woodcraft.
Another thing that might help with your resawing is if you made some feather board.Just cut the end of a peice of 1x2 or 1x4 off at about a 45degree angle. Then make cuts lengthwise(with the grain) from the end 4 to 6" into the board. Make a cut about every 1/8".It would probably be easier to make the lengthwise cuts first, then cut the end offat an angle. That makes the end work like a spring that you can use to hold peices against the rip fence while your sawing. I can't think of how to explain the way you use it. There are some pictures of it with the router tables at that rockler store. I would put on on the rip fence pushing down on the board you cuting and one in front of the blade holding the board agains the rip fence. If you put one behind the blade, don't put it to tight or it will pinch the blade and mess you up.

------------------
Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
Just saw something else, if your still in the market for a dust collector, Rockler has a great deal going where you can get a performax 16" drum sander with variable speed power feed and a starter pack of sandpaper, along with a jet dust collector with a bag and a few of the fitings it will need. The drum sander itself is $899.99, and they're marking the total package as $979.99 Thats a steal.It is while supplies last
frown.gif


------------------
Fix it right the first time, use Baling Wire !
 
thanks matt and c l wilkins.
cl, this is my second bandsaw i'm looking for i already have a 14" ridgid with carter guides, and i plan on putting a fasttrack fence on it. it's a fantastic saw, but just doesn't have the height capacity for what i'm doing, or the width. it's a good i dea to use a belt sander, but it is hard to get a uniform thickness, i've been using a stationary disk sander. my cutts are at the most 1/32" off the lines, and perfect vertically, so i don't need to do alot of flatening after the sawing.
matt, i checked out the drum sander, it's a very nice sander, but i just don't have the money to buy that, and a saw. it would be nice though since i cut boards instead of just scales, then i cut the boards into scales. i plan on using my 14" bandsaw for cutting knife handle designs out of scales, and using the 20" or 18" bandsaw for resawing, ripping, or other other tasks that require a big saw. oh yeah, i'm using black walnut, i got it as a gift wheni started woodworking, still have a lot of it. thanks for reassuring me that my floor can hold alot of weight.
i never though of using a feather board on a bandsaw, that's a good idea, i'll give it a try.
thanks for your advice guys
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top