Hardwood Mouldings - 3hp Enough?

[James Malcolm]

Looking at getting a Belsaw to do hardwood mouldings. The two I'm going to look at 3hp known running or 5 hp been sitting for 20 yrs but still spins fine. There is another at an auction and is unknown hp. Worried about trying to cut a big 4"+ moulding w/ 1/2"+ depth of cut with only 3 hp and a single knife blade. Wouldn't be such a big deal if I could slow it like a woodmaster, which I've been thinking of converting the Belsaw to, but in the mean time it would be nice to do what I want to do. Any thoughts on how many hp I really need to do fairly large sized hardwood mouldings? Unfortunately the auction is at 9am tomorrow so I sort of need opinions soon.

[Don Jarvie]

A little late but..

If the Belsaw has an old R/I motor on it the 3hp will cut anything. Obviously you need to take small passes like any other tool but the old R/I motors are very strong.