Cheap Bandsaw for Resawing

[Jimmy Harris]

^^^^^^ This ^^^^^

I've done more resawing than most, and cheap/low powered saws are a terrible choice for any sort of thickness for resawing. 12" of hard maple puts you out of any home owner tool and into big commercial/industrial saws.

If you're only occasionally doing resaw, consider joining a local woodworkers guild and using the big saw at the shop. It's a lot better deal than buying a giant 24" bandsaw, custom resaw bands, a sled setup, and paying for the upgrade electrical service to power it.

Never mind that precision resawing becomes considerably more expensive as thickness increases. Most any decent saw will rip 1/2" or 3/4". 4" takes a lot more careful setup. 8" is challenging, and you better leave plenty of stock for clean up unless you've got an A-1 perfect setup, band, and fence. 12" deep? Your best bet is sending it to a pro who resaws veneer slices and just pay the premium, or you'll end up with a big pile of wavy, tapered scrap and no wood to work with.

I'm okay with having to flatten the board after resawing. I do that now when I resaw by hand. Plus, any wood I buy has to be planned flat. I'm not part of a production shop and don't have schedules to worry about. In fact, the whole point of woodworking for me is to waste my time. It's a hobby. It keeps me from watching mindless television or yelling at my crazy uncles on social media.

Also, there are no woodworking guilds near me. There's no shop where you can go to rent or borrow equipment, outside of one on a military base that requires a military ID (which I don't have). And it would probably be really difficult to find a pro who would be willing to do something like that, as most woodworking near me are either cabinet shops that work primarily with plywood or general construction. And most don't like wasting time on small jobs.

We don't have furniture makers here, or like I said, a history of woodworking in this area. Oklahoma was Indian territory up until 1907, and by the time it became "settled", we had oil money and railroads, so stuff like that was always imported from the east. Plus our trees are really small and there aren't too many of them.

[John C Cox]

I'm okay with having to flatten the board after resawing. I do that now when I resaw by hand. Plus, any wood I buy has to be planned flat. I'm not part of a production shop and don't have schedules to worry about. In fact, the whole point of woodworking for me is to waste my time. It's a hobby. It keeps me from watching mindless television or yelling at my crazy uncles on social media.

Also, there are no woodworking guilds near me. There's no shop where you can go to rent or borrow equipment, outside of one on a military base that requires a military ID (which I don't have). And it would probably be really difficult to find a pro who would be willing to do something like that, as most woodworking near me are either cabinet shops that work primarily with plywood or general construction. And most don't like wasting time on small jobs.

We don't have furniture makers here, or like I said, a history of woodworking in this area. Oklahoma was Indian territory up until 1907, and by the time it became "settled", we had oil money and railroads, so stuff like that was always imported from the east. Plus our trees are really small and there aren't too many of them.

I don't think you understand what we're saying. Even fairly expensive commercial bandsaws WON'T reliably resaw 12" deep stock without very careful and expensive setup, fresh special purpose bands, custom blade cooling, custom dust collection, etc.

It's not going to be a little slow, and a little wavy and require some surface prep. It will end up wrecking blades while making wood completely unusable. I did some 10" deep Sapele on a big 24" saw at a woodworker's guild shop near where I lived, and it was so tapered and wavy that I had to scrap it.

I have since bought my own Rikon 10-325 14" saw, and mostly use it for resaw, but I found that it's really not good over 9" deep. It simply can't run a wide enough band to handle the chip removal. The next move up would be a much bigger Laguna Resaw King that's custom built for that... But that's a big cost jump.

[Edward Weber]

I don't think you understand what we're saying. Even fairly expensive commercial bandsaws WON'T reliably resaw 12" deep stock without very careful and expensive setup, fresh special purpose bands, custom blade cooling, custom dust collection, etc.

It's not going to be a little slow, and a little wavy and require some surface prep. It will end up wrecking blades while making wood completely unusable. I did some 10" deep Sapele on a big 24" saw at a woodworker's guild shop near where I lived, and it was so tapered and wavy that I had to scrap it.

I have since bought my own Rikon 10-325 14" saw, and mostly use it for resaw, but I found that it's really not good over 9" deep. It simply can't run a wide enough band to handle the chip removal. The next move up would be a much bigger Laguna Resaw King that's custom built for that... But that's a big cost jump.

With all due respect, That's your experience, mine and others are not quite the same.
I have resawn Sapele, 9 1/2" with my Grizzly GO513 and did not have any of the issues you mention. Yes it's a little slow going but proper setup and patience are all that's needed.
I understand that you're sounding the caution warning for the OP but not everyone has had such bad experiences.

After I cut mine, it took the usual trip through the drum sander and all is well. A capable machine is only half the battle, method of work has a lot to do with it, even more so if the machine is under powered and/or undersized for the task.
Sapele 1 (600 x 400).jpgSapele 2 (600 x 400).jpg

[Jimmy Harris]

With all due respect, That's your experience, mine and others are not quite the same.
I have resawn Sapele, 9 1/2" with my Grizzly GO513 and did not have any of the issues you mention. Yes it's a little slow going but proper setup and patience are all that's needed.
I understand that you're sounding the caution warning for the OP but not everyone has had such bad experiences.

After I cut mine, it took the usual trip through the drum sander and all is well. A capable machine is only half the battle, method of work has a lot to do with it, even more so if the machine is under powered and/or undersized for the task.
Sapele 1 (600 x 400).jpgSapele 2 (600 x 400).jpg

Thank you. This also helps out a lot.

I think I'm learning what I need to know. And I'm leaning towards a new G0513, depending on what I can find on the used market. I think it, or something like it, will be the best compromise.

[Edward Weber]

It's a good middle of the road saw, IMO
It's a step up from a cast iron 14" Asian import or Delta clone and not so expensive that it kills your budget.
IME, They claim to take a 1" blade but as someone earlier said, it won't tension it adequately. A 3/4" blade works well when needed, with proper tension.
Good luck in your search

[John TenEyck]

Same here. This is 7 or 8" white oak, but I cut 10" veneer with it, too. It takes careful setup, but it can be done, slowly.

[Jimmy Harris]

I don't think you understand what we're saying. Even fairly expensive commercial bandsaws WON'T reliably resaw 12" deep stock without very careful and expensive setup, fresh special purpose bands, custom blade cooling, custom dust collection, etc.

It's not going to be a little slow, and a little wavy and require some surface prep. It will end up wrecking blades while making wood completely unusable. I did some 10" deep Sapele on a big 24" saw at a woodworker's guild shop near where I lived, and it was so tapered and wavy that I had to scrap it.

I have since bought my own Rikon 10-325 14" saw, and mostly use it for resaw, but I found that it's really not good over 9" deep. It simply can't run a wide enough band to handle the chip removal. The next move up would be a much bigger Laguna Resaw King that's custom built for that... But that's a big cost jump.

With all due respect, I think I understand a lot better what you're saying than you understand what I'm saying. And that's perfectly understandable. At this point, I written a lot and there's a lot to read. And I'll freely admit that I'm not a very concise communicator. So I'm not making it easy. And I apologize for that.

But again, I'm not looking for a good solution to resawing 12" wide boards. I just want that possibility. Besides, I wouldn't expect to glean much from the capabilities of a guild-maintained machine. That's a bit like judging the quality of car based on a model you rented from Hertz.