Record Power Heavy Duty Bandsaw BS400

[Matthew N. Masail]

I know I've asked a lot of bandsaw question in such a short time, and I apologies if this irritates anyone.
I have one more option, I have no idea about the price, but I'm looking to find out about quality, any takers on the Record Power BS400?

[david brum]

Mathew, that looks suspiciously like a Rikon 10-325, 18" saw. I haven't used one ( I have a Shop Fox 17") but reviews look pretty good. It's way more saw than either of the others that you proposed earlier, something that you could grow with and wouldn't necessarily have to upgrade.

[Matthew N. Masail]

Hi David, that's exactly what I'm looking for, something I can grow with. I have plans for resawing logs one day, like at the end of this video
http://www.hammerusa.com/us-us/video/hammer-n4400.html

when you say suspiciously, do you think it could be that it's coming from the same factory as the Rikon?

[Van Huskey]

Based on price and design it most likely comes off the same assembly line as the Rikon that David mentions. I can't be 100% but I think it is a safe bet. You can search the Rikon here, there a LOT of owners as they go on sale here quite often at $999 to 1099. It is a solid saw, probably the weakest past of the saw is the guides, which can be fussy. The good thing about guides is they can be upgraded where most others issues can not. I would find some UK woodworking websites and find out about Record and specifically this saw. It is unlikely anyone here has been hands on with the Record and will, like me, have to guess based on the fact it appears to be essentially a Rikon.

[Brian Deakin]

Hi Mathew
I live in the united kingdom here Record are based .Can you lease confirm if you are based in the UK or USA

regards Brian

[Matthew N. Masail]

Thanks Van, I guess most of what I'd be looking at it different from the US. from what I've found on the UK is seems to be good, but has people recommending other saws which I can't get instead of it. I guess I'll just have to go look at them all, one by one and make an informed hands on based decision. are the Carter guides worth the investment?

Hi Brian, I live in Israel, so most of what we can get is the 220V Europe models. but often only 1 or 2 models are imported. I believe in the UK you can get the BS400, and the Seheppaeh Basato 4, I think those are the 2 models we have in common.

[Matthew N. Masail]

I can also get the Metabo BAS 505 but it's 1000$ more expensive than a new Basato 4, so can't imagine it being worth it. but still would love to be told otherwise..

[Van Huskey]

Regarding the Carter guides they are very good. I have used several sets on different saws and have a set on one of my saws now. If they are worth it to upgrade this saw (assuming that the mount is the same as the Rikon and takes the Carter guides made for the Rikon) depends upon you. The main issue people complain about the Rikon's guides is the fact they are fussy to setup not that they do not work properly once adjusted. The more often you change blade the more likely you are to appreciate the money spent on Carter guides.

[Brian Deakin]

Hi Mathew,
if you are importing a bandsaw I would suggest looking at the Record website but investigate http://www.startrite.co.uk/ which is the industrial arm of Record power

NB you need to consider the height of some bandsaws as they may be larger than some door openings

regards Brian

[James Carmichael]

I have plans for resawing logs one day

First, let me say the extent of my experiernce bandsaws bigger than 14" is having researched, salivated, and determined I can't justify the expense.

I've also researched portable mills quite a bit, and unless you're talking about fairly small & short (5' long, 12" or less diameter), I'm not sure a stationary bandsaw is going to work, unless you add something like this: http://www.lagunatools.com/accessories/TimberMaster. Then you still have the logistics problem of transporting big logs. I decided the first thing I would need to mill my own lumber would be a tandem-axle trailer, and finally dismissed the idea.

Anyway, that does look like an awesome saw. I understand the Europeans often get by with a bandsaw only, which may explain the versatility.

[Matthew N. Masail]

Hi Brian, Thanks about the door opening thing, I didn't think of that. in any case, I'm not importing my own, if I were I'd probebly get the Hammer, I have to buy from whats already here. in any case when you say industrial arm, does this mean Startrite are better saws than the power record? I've seen them recommended over the record.

James, I intend to get along with a circular saw, a sliding compound miter saw and a bandsaw, table saws scare me, and that's another reason to get a strong bandsaw, I have no problem with the need to true an edge with a hand plane, I love hand tools.
I don't intend on sawing huge logs, 5' long and 12" diameter or less are more than big enough. it would be nice to go larger but I agree it's a whole big deal. but I think you could build something like tha Laguna Accessory, with a miter track and all for rather cheap. or I suppose you can always rough saw them to manageable size with a chainsaw and then cut on the bandsaw. I would probably try to quarter-saw them anyway.

[ian maybury]

For what it's worth the Record Power line seems to be a somewhat built down to a price brand. Perfectly OK at that price point, but with a definite DIY flavour. Record was a very well regarded brand in years gone by, but seem nowadays to be mostly a front through which to sell Eastern sourced stuff.

Haven't used them, but the better Startrite saws seem to get a consistently good press in the UK magazines, and on the forums. They seem to be a decent enough choice for a heftier and more capable model that's getting towards industrial capability rather than DIY.

I had a Scheppach Basato 5, and while nicely made I found it just wasn't solid enough to do decent job on re-sawing - I went for one of the big Italian industrial saws.

The Hammer N4400 if it's anywhere near your range is the stand out saw at its price point in my opinion. It's a slightly economised industrial saw rather than a DIY model, has capability to match, and is very solidly built with lots of power. It seems to give very little away (apart from its size) to the full size industrial Italian models...

ian

[Van Huskey]

One thing not to lose track of it this is Saw Mill Creek and we LOVE to spend other peoples money! I would love nothing better than tp "help" someone spend the money to get one of the big Italian bandsaws even if their initial question was what 8" benchtop to buy, if nothing more than the fact I know they will be happy with one for many years and it will handle most anything they are likely to throw at it. There is almost always a better saw and you have to watch "budget creep". I feel confident that the Record saw you are looking at shares most of its genetics with what is imported here by Rikon. If you read the reviews here you will find the Rikon to be a solid saw for the money and likely will cover all your needs. It is not a perfect saw but then again neither are the Italians they all have flaws (or perceived flaws depending on what one plans to do) and you just have to pick the one that best fits your needs and your wallet.

[Matthew N. Masail]

LOL, Van you killed me. and I hear you it always exciting to shop for tools file:///C:\DOCUME~1\Matthew\LOCALS~1\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\ clip_image001.gif also thank טםו for making me feel more comfortable here. unfortunately non of them are "in my budget" when we're talking 1900$ + for the Record which is almost two pay checks for me, and I make more than minimum wage. so you better enjoy this because it means big savings lol
budget creep already has my butt... but I'm trying to rethink what I need. I could always resaw narrower board and glue them together if needed, it not the best but it could be good enough. what do you think? there is an exhibition this week for power tools and I can go get a special price on the Record. also they are finally importing Kreg Jigs and stuff to Israel, we are moving out of the dark!

Ian. if I could get the Hammer I'd mortgage whatever I could, just for being such an easy choice. which Italian saw did you get?
also I thought the Scheppach Basato 5 was strong saw, what kind of work was too much for it?

[ian maybury]

I wanted a fairly decent re-saw capability Matthew, and thought the Basato which I'd had for probably ten years should be fine - it has of the order of 12in of vertical capacity, and is priced in the same sort of territory as the Startrites etc.

Perhaps some genius will pop up to say he regularly re-saws 12in deep with one, but I simply couldn't get it to do what I wanted. It'd re-saw up to about 5in in oak, and after that this squealing vibration would set in, and it would start to drift. No matter what I did I couldn't find a way to tune it out.

It was set up with the wheels, fence and guides carefully aligned, and I spent a lot of money trialling various blades, tensions, feed rates. As best I could establish it was running into the problem of being unable to apply enough tension to the blade (or maybe more to the point the chassis wasn't stiff enough to prevent a vibration setting in) to balance the cutting force with lots of teeth engaged in a deep cut. It was 100% up to that limit - no drift or any other issues. It's possible that it might have done better with a finer/less hooked blade than the typical 3tpi i was using, but it was already pretty slow at that.

I bought a used 3phase 24in Agazzani, and have never looked back - it's smooth, and has sailed through whatever has been thrown at it up to 10 or 11in depth of cut (with the seeming ability to handle more), and doesn't seem even slightly picky about set up....

ian

[Van Huskey]

Perhaps some genius will pop up to say he regularly re-saws 12in deep with one, but I simply couldn't get it to do what I wanted.

There will always be someone who can resaw 12" Jatoba with 1hp for hours on end with not a single issue, though my example is hyperbolic it does ring true to me. The problem is although I don't out of hand think they are mistaken or bending the truth I think it sometimes does a disservice. There are plenty of things one can do at the outer edge of reality but rarely is it something that is repeatable by most people nor is it anything most people would want to do more than once.

Agazzanis are fine saws built by ACM one of the two leading bandsaw manufacturers in Italy that are imported to the US, Centauro being the other.