Anyone else think bandsaws are backwards?

[Greg Roberts]

Is it just me, or shouldn't we be cutting from the other side of the bandsaw? Just like a table saw.

Greg

[Van Huskey]

Is it just me, or shouldn't we be cutting from the other side of the bandsaw? Just like a table saw.

Greg

I have never really thought about it but "backwards" bandsaws do exist, mainly in the meat cutting industry I think.

[Peter Quinn]

Not sure I follow your logic. You mean fence relative to body position? Problem with that on a BS is that large frame in the way of any off cut wider than your BS's throat. Unless you would like to have the entire frame to your right side as a right hander? For curved work I am more comfortable the way most saws sit now than the reverse.

Don't meat cutting BS's work the way you suggest? Perhaps you should look at a Hobart meat saw? I have seen a few wood workers that use them.

[John McClanahan]

I use a "backwards" bandsaw at work (not a meat saw). Other than getting used to it, I don't find any difference.

John

[Mark Ashmeade]

Stand on the other side of it. Job done :)

[Greg Roberts]

Not sure I follow your logic. You mean fence relative to body position? Problem with that on a BS is that large frame in the way of any off cut wider than your BS's throat. Unless you would like to have the entire frame to your right side as a right hander? For curved work I am more comfortable the way most saws sit now than the reverse.

Don't meat cutting BS's work the way you suggest? Perhaps you should look at a Hobart meat saw? I have seen a few wood workers that use them.

I mean we have to use our left hands to push a piece of wood through between the fence and the blade. When I finally figure out what I'm going to buy for a BS, and get it set up at my shop, I'd like to use it in place of my TS for simple cuts. I was thinking about this today, and it seems like it would be a lot better if it was set up to cut from the same side that I stand on with my TS.

I'm going to have to get used to pushing stock through with my left hand. Uggh.

Greg

[mreza Salav]

You are not alone. I have felt that way too. To have to push (for a rim between fence and blade) with my left hand (while I'm a right hand person) takes some time to get used to.

[Keith Westfall]

Turn your blade inside out, put it back on, and fill your boots... :D

Well, except for some guides and other things I guess!

Makes you wonder where and why it started out that way...

[Matt Day]

Maybe table saws are backwards?

[Bill ThompsonNM]

Hmm, my Inca bandsaw operates just as you would like a bandsaw to operate--- so I guess all of those other bandsaws are backwards!!

[Anthony Whitesell]

I was thinking the the table and fence are on the wrong side of the blade (to the left instead of the right). I never gave the frame itself much thought. But then again, I also thought I was the only one that was thinking about this, I guess I wasn't.

[Rich Aldrich]

I mean we have to use our left hands to push a piece of wood through between the fence and the blade. When I finally figure out what I'm going to buy for a BS, and get it set up at my shop, I'd like to use it in place of my TS for simple cuts. I was thinking about this today, and it seems like it would be a lot better if it was set up to cut from the same side that I stand on with my TS.

I'm going to have to get used to pushing stock through with my left hand. Uggh.

Greg

The left handed people finally getting even with the right handed people. The band saw was designed by a lefty!:eek::D Just kidding.

[Robert Reece]

It never really bothered me to use my left hand, but I do see the point. Sometimes I am moving around a bit to get my hands the way I want them. Another positive to using your left hand is that if there is an accident, it will likely be on your left hand (which would only be a "positive" for right handed people). I cut the tip of my finger off on the bandsaw and had it been reversed, it definitely would have been my right.

[Gene Howe]

Hmmmm. I never gave it a thought, but now I realize that I've always pushed the work with my right hand (being a rightie). If it's a straight cut off operation or a resaw, I use the right to push the work past the blade. I set up my resawing operations so that the thinner piece comes off the left side. Always done it that way. I guess, because I favor my right hand. Were I a leftie, I'd probably have set it up the other way.

[Mark Woodmark]

Is it just me, or shouldn't we be cutting from the other side of the bandsaw? Just like a table saw.

Greg

Do mean backwards as in upside down?

[Darnell Hagen]

Do you mean backwards because your fence is left of the blade?

[Van Huskey]

Hmm, I use my right hand to push the wood... until I go to the side and pull the wood with my right hand and push with my left.

[Dave MacArthur]

I could not figure out what you were talking about (which hand pushes the wood between blade and fence). Then when folks posted about it I was thinking, "What? really?". Then it occurred to me that I'm left-handed but actually ambidextrous for most sports and tools, which is probably why it never mattered. Now my problem is that I can never figure out which hand to use with any given circular saw...

[tom blankenship]

Greg,

I too find that I am more comfortable with the band saw fence toward the right side, as with the table saw. I am right handed.

tom

[Chip Lindley]

Being a leftie, I am also necessisarily ambidexterous, being trapped (lol) in a right-handed world. For 25 years I have operated a BS as it is built. You will get used to it too!


Some use a BS in place of a TS. But, I think of the BS as the go-to machine for curved work or resawing. Did you know that the fence can be positioned on either side of the bandsaw blade? If a wide panel will not fit between blade and sawframe, just flip it upside down! (the panel; not the bandsaw) If you still lack capacity, time to look for a bigger BS!

Thot: If the BS had been designed to be normal, just opposite of it's standard configuration, and a dyslexic person tried to use it, the BS would still be backwards!

[Gary Herrmann]

Now my problem is that I can never figure out which hand to use with any given circular saw...

I went with eye dominance. I want my left eye on the cutting line.

[Jay Allen]

As a very left-handed guy, I have always wondered about table saws? It just seems odd to me that right-handed people find it comfortable to push with their right hand, while holding the stock against the fence with their left? I would think that you would want the dominant hand doing that?
It feels natural to a lefty, so I would think it odd to a rightie?

[george wilson]

Put a big mirror behind the bandsaw and look at it while using the saw!:)

[ray hampton]

if the saw blade get flip, will it cut on the down stoke or up stoke

[Karl Card]

I was born left handed but my dad used to smack me every time he would catch me writing left handed. So now I can bat left handed or right handed, I can write left or right handed, when I took martial arts it was just as easy to spar someone leading left or right and freaked most people out, and now that someone has spoken I prefer the bandsaw with the fence on the left, but my bandsaw has reversable rods that hold the fence so I can use it on either side just as easily. I tried this and got rid of the idea real quick because the rods stuck out so far I was constantly hitting them or running into them. You have to understand that I do not have a huge shop either though.

On a table saw however I prefer the fence to be on the left hand side. But I usually go with what feels good for the size of board I am cutting.

Some tools I have to say would be nice to know how they came about and why they are used the way they are...

[Mark Ashmeade]

As a very left-handed guy, I have always wondered about table saws? It just seems odd to me that right-handed people find it comfortable to push with their right hand, while holding the stock against the fence with their left? I would think that you would want the dominant hand doing that?
It feels natural to a lefty, so I would think it odd to a rightie?

? I have the fence to the right of the blade, push the stock with a push stick in my right hand, and gentle pressure from the bottom left of the stock with my left hand against the fence and forward, with the kickback zone to the right of my body. It feels as though my right hand is controlling the cut though.

Sheets are a different matter, not as easy to keep out of the kickback zone. Kickback likely to less likely, and less severe than lighter pieces though.

[Josiah Bartlett]

if the saw blade get flip, will it cut on the down stoke or up stoke

Just turn the band inside out. Cutting on the upstroke is dangerous.

[Curt Harms]

but here's one place where it's handy. I bought another bar so I can use the fence either left or right of the blade. It seems to work well for me. The aluminum extrusion fence has high and low positions and I built a 7" tall resaw fence (I might make another one higher). I prefer the fence to the right of the blade especially for resawing. For me push with the right and guide with the left feels natural. Could be from learning the table saw first.

[Chris Friesen]

Is it just me, or shouldn't we be cutting from the other side of the bandsaw? Just like a table saw.

My bandsaw fence has parallel sides...can use it on either side of the blade. Still limited by throat though.

[Matt Stephenson]

I tried cutting from the other side of my bandsaw.

No good.

Took MUCH longer!

They back side of the blade is relativley smooth.

I think it has to do with those serrated teeth on the front side of the blade. They seem to have a sort of "cutting" action"










:D

[Thom Porterfield]

Ever notice your task light is also on the wrong side of the saw? (At least that's the way it is on my RIKON.) What's that about? The guides and fence cast a shadow on the work. Moving the fence to the outside of the blade helps...turning the blade inside out might help, if there was some neat way of reversing the guides...but then the start-stop switch would be really awkward to reach.


I think these band saws were designed by committee. And none of the committee members were woodworkers.

:D

[Curt Harms]

Ever notice your task light is also on the wrong side of the saw? (At least that's the way it is on my RIKON.) What's that about? The guides and fence cast a shadow on the work.
.....................


The light on Rikon 10-325 saws is poorly thought out IMO. Mine came loose a couple times and was a royal pain to tighten. I removed it and drilled a hole to fit the lamp base threads in a piece of light angle iron. Two magnets from a trashed hard drive hold the angle iron to the frame. It works much better than the factory configuration.

[Gary Radice]

There are (or used to be) left handed bandsaws. Here is one that was part of a Crescent universal woodworker

[Greg Roberts]

There are (or used to be) left handed bandsaws. Here is one that was part of a Crescent universal woodworker

That's a beautiful old machine. See, that seems right to me, cutting from that side. Just like my TS.

Is that a brake on the upper wheel?

Yikes! No blade guards!

Greg

[Gary Radice]

Not sure what you are seeing on the upper wheel, but no, there isn't a brake. It has a tilt adjust and blade tensioner, and a fixture to support the wheel cover.

This was for sale on CL nearby a couple of years ago and I went to look at it an took these pix. It was missing a lower blade guide but was otherwise complete. If you do an internet search for Crescent Universal Woodworker you can find pix of what it looked like when it was connected to the tablesaw, drill press, and jointer. Pretty impressive contraption. They do still come up for sale from time to time.

I have the right-hand version of the the same bandsaw. It is a wonderful machine.

[David Woodruff]

never thought about that one...

[Chris Padilla]

My table saw is on the right side of my shop and the bandsaw is on the left side. My reference (and preference) is to have my back to the house and front to the large garage door.

Works perfect!