Thinking about trading table saw for band saw

[Kevin Wolfe]

I know this has been discussed before. I read through a number of other threads that I googled. I bought a Bridgewood 10" table saw a while back when I started woodworking as a hobby. Since then, I have come to really enjoy doing more work using hand tools (mostly planes and some chisels to start). Since this is only a hobby and I am sole income in our family, money is always tight.

That all said, I have used my table a couple of times, but after reading a lot, it sounds like a bandsaw might serve me better. I could really use it to resaw lumber and mill some smaller logs which would enable me to tinker more without spending a ton on lumber from the store. I figure with my other tools, I have miter cuts, dados, and rebates covered. I could also use my circular saw with track to break down larger panels in the case that I would like to make a cabinet or bookshelf or something.

Here is the list of stuff that I have besides my table saw:

Ryobi circular saw with a good freud blade
Dewalt 12" compound miter saw
Bosch router with plunge and fixed base (awesome CL find!)
Dewalt ROS
No name palm sander
Ryobi belt sander
Drill
couple of hand planes and chisels etc.


Speed is not essential to me seeing as this is a hobby for me and not my livelihood. I also like the idea of the bandsaw from a safety, noise and dust creation standpoint. Not to mention the footprint is a little smaller (basement workshop).

Any thoughts would really be appreciated. Thanks

Kevin

[nicholas mitchell]

#1 If you don't like using the table saw then go for a bandsaw. It's not a macho thing, bandsaws are safer , quieter and have a smaller footprint .

Looking at your list of tools, without the TS, you have no way of ripping solid wood. A bandsaw can do this. You're not going to get a glue line edge but your planes can sort that out.

Any bandsaw can do curved work. In fact a jigsaw can do curved work. Where a bandsaw must shine is in resawing. To get a new BS that can resaw worth a damn you're starting at $2k. Used is definitely the way to go here.

finally, if you want to start sawing up logs and making your own lumber then paying someone to kiln dry it for you or sticking it and storing it and waiting 3 or 4 years before it's useable...after all that you'll need a jointer and a planer :)

Sell the TS and buy a bandsaw, you'll make more stuff.

[Jak Kelly]

Not trying to change your sense of direction here, but I would not trade or get rid of my 10" cabinet saw for anything! A good table saw cannot be replaced with a band saw in my opinion. If you are a home owner I would definitely lean heavily towards keeping it. When I was tasked with painting our home I knew that I would also be replacing all the fascia board around the house; 1" X 6" rough cedar with a 1" X 2" over the top of it for a drip edge. My trip to the lumber yard revealed that their 1" X 2" 's were in sad shape to say the least. Wound up getting straighter 1" X 4" and ripping them down myself, if i remember right I was also able to purchase those in the 12' length and it worked out that every third 12' piece was practically free. Can't beat a table saw in that scenario! I have used my table saw on all sorts of home improvement projects; last summer painting the interior of the house, we decided to replace all the doors, wound up going with the 6 panel Masonite doors, one of the hallway closet doors was 18" wide, they wanted $90 to do a custom sized door, I told the wife for $20 I would try an experiment and see if I could make my own (cutting down a 20" stock door) and it worked.
I know a table saw takes up a bunch of room, cabinet saws even a little more, but totally different machines than a band saw...........

[Loren Woirhaye]

If you haven't read James Krenov's books I recommend checking them out. For making furniture a modest little table saw does do a nice job cutting tenon shoulders. An old tilt-top 9" Delta table saw can be had for around $100 used and they are pretty accurate for joinery.

I like the band saw a lot. Blade replacement costs used to annoy me but since I started soldering up my own from coil stock, my costs dropped sharply.

[Brian W Smith]

Data point,and I've got to get back to work.........

We have four TS's(3 of which get used daily)and....wait for it,....four BS's(again,3 of which get used daily)

[paul cottingham]

I am seriously considering selling my contractor saw and just using a bandsaw in the shop. I am not convinced I would miss my tablesaw in the slightest. I already do most crosscuts by hand, and would not miss the noise, dust, footprint, or danger at all.
It is possible that I would feel differently if I had a good cabinet saw.
But I doubt it.

[Carroll Courtney]

First welcome to the forum,as you post more and read more you will discover that we all have our owm thoughts on what is needed or have and how to do things.I don't think one can replace the other,they both were design to do certain task with safety in mind and do it the best.In my shop(little and on a budget)both is needed and if I had to get rid of everything and only get to keep two machines the table saw and BS would be keepers in my mind.If your not in a hurry,watch CL all the spare time that you have,try to set it up on your cell phone.I think that you will come across a BS in your price range.Believe it or not I have a Delta/Milwaukee 14" BS that was given to me via CL,yes it needs tires but thats it.So be patience and think positive.Good luck---CJ

[johnny means]

You'll pry my table saws from my cold, dead hands. That being said, I think a bandsaw is a better machine for a hobbyist that can only keep one. A table saw does straight very well, but only straight. A bandsaw will pretty much do any cut you need, it just won't do straight quite as well.

[Andrew Gold]

Briefly after college and before going into home construction work, I supported myself making furniture for other people. I wouldn't say I achieved any insane heights, but did make some large chests of drawers with dovetailed carcasses, drawers etc, custom tables, really a mix of things mostly in the shaker/arts and crafts aesthetic... I didn't have a table saw, just used a nice bandsaw.

Now that I do more home carpentry/construction a table saw is really an important part of my tool pile, as I'm working with plywood and case goods more often. I think it all comes down to what you expect to build.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

You really will want both at some point probably. Most do anyhow. They are completely different tools. You could build a bombay chest with nothing more than a quality butter knife, a good whetstone, and a cantaloupe, but it's not the most practical way to do it. That being said, some enjoy the journey at the expense of the destination, so if that's your way to enjoy this hobby, have fun, and don't let anyone convince you otherwise. Most of us take a different path though for other perfectly valid reasons.

[Mark Carlson]

I'm the exact opposite. I use my cabinet saw all the time and rarely use my bandsaw. I resaw and cut curves on the bandsaw and thats it.

~mark

[Judson Green]

As mostly a hand tooler, I've been thinking of selling my table saw too, haven't used it in months. But the 14" old delta band saw is a keeper.

[scott spencer]

No argument with the BS being safer and having a smaller footprint, but it's worth mentioning that you won't get glue ready cuts from a BS....an extra smoothing step is required. I'd seriously miss my TS, but that's just me....

[John Coloccia]

I don't have a tablesaw in the shop. If I ever move into a bigger shop, I will have a TS again, but when I was crunched for space, getting rid of the TS was the obvious move. I miss it for some things, but it's just not that big of a deal if you're not building cabinets day in and day out.

[Kevin Wolfe]

Thanks for all the response folks. I guess I'll keep my eyes open for amused band saw on craigslist to see what I can see. Might as well post my Bridgewood. Don't have to sell it first but that would be the end goal. I did see a one year old grizzly G0555lx near me for $385 and a ridgid 14" for $250. Not sure if the are worth that or not.

i think I might switch for a while and see what happens. The upside to buying used is, if I decide to go back, I won't really lose much money if I got a decent price to begin with.

[John Sanford]

Unless my main focus was going to be building cabinets, knowing what I know now, I'd get a the best bandsaw I possibly could before getting a tablesaw. A bandsaw is simply more versatile. That said, there's a LOT more out there on tablesaws. Tablesaws are the red meat of the woodworking world, in more ways than one. 95%+ of books, magazine articles and shows that talk about "setting up shop" start with the tablesaw. You can rip straight lines (superb), bevels, curves in ONE direction, crosscuts of unlimited length on stock of unlimited length, cut most "standard" forms of joinery, and even do limited resawing. A bandsaw can rip straight lines (so-so to good), bevels, curves in BOTH directions, crosscuts of unlimited length but only a limited distance from the ends of the workpiece, cut most standard forms of joinery, and of course it rules the resaw roost. You can, with care, duplicate all of the working abilities of a tablesaw using a circular saw and jigs/fixtures/guides. This isn't really surprising, given that a tablesaw is just a circular saw in a good to superb fixture. You can't duplicate the resaw and curve cutting abilities of a bandsaw with any other powertools commonly available to Joe Consumer. It's the depth of cut that sets a Bandsaw apart from a jigsaw and a router, both tools capable of cutting curves.

Good luck with your search for a bandsaw.

[Tai Fu]

If you need better crosscutting capability you can always get a chopsaw or sliding chopsaw.

[Kevin Wolfe]

Well I posted my table saw on the classified here and am going to try and make the leap of faith. I really like the resale and curve cutting capabilities. Now I just need to sell my table saw (hint hint for anyone in the market who wants to help make my dream come true:))

[David Hostetler]

Here is the list of stuff that I have besides my table saw:

Ryobi circular saw with a good freud blade
Dewalt 12" compound miter saw
Bosch router with plunge and fixed base (awesome CL find!)
Dewalt ROS
No name palm sander
Ryobi belt sander
Drill
couple of hand planes and chisels etc.


Speed is not essential to me seeing as this is a hobby for me and not my livelihood. I also like the idea of the bandsaw from a safety, noise and dust creation standpoint. Not to mention the footprint is a little smaller (basement workshop).

Kevin, Looking at your equipment list, and your requirements, I would say yeah, selling off the table saw and going with a band saw is a decent enough idea. You ARE going to make your work more difficult however. A table saw with a crosscut / miter sled can do so much more than a circular saw and a miter saw. Or at least do it easier and faster. However as you noted, a table saw is dangerous. I personally think a circular saw is more dangerous but I have no clue if statistics bear that out...

The argument I see saying you can't do decent resawing without a $2,000.00+ bandsaw is pure hogwash. Yes used is a good way to go. Even a fair 14" bandsaw with a riser block can resaw up to 12". Yes it is slow work, but it does work...

What you may not realize is that a band saw isn't a whole lot easier to collect dust from than a table saw. So your dust collection / creation idea is really, well it just doesn't seem to make sense. My band saw has had piles of dust on it before just like my table saw...

At least for the work I am doing, if I didn't have my table saw, I would rely heavily on the router, with straight and rabbeting bits, with a good router table, and a good cutting guide for my circular saw. Bevel cuts wouldn't be nearly as accurate, but I am sure there is a solution for that, I am just pulling a blank on it now...

[Judson Green]

Yup! The little delta 14" (and its many knock offs) with the riser block installed and perhaps a stronger motor is probably the best bang for the buck. As for dust collection; I've just about given up on trying.

[Tai Fu]

But don't buy a 14" saw and then soup it up... it will cost the same as a 17" saw.

[Kevin Wolfe]

Well I am going to make the switch. Posted my saw here and on CL so we'll see what happens. I would really like to sell the saw first to help fund the BS (hint hint if anyone is looking:D).

I'm not in any real rush (but sooner would be great). Getting hobby time is not all that easy between my wife, kids and work. Keep your fingers crossed.

[Judson Green]

I've got less than $300 in mine. Probably something like $250.

With fence, 1.5 HP motor, riser block, new tires and it came with 2 blades.

And if you stay at 1.5 HP (15 amp) you won't need to be concerned about any special power requirements.

[Jim Matthews]

Michael Fortune of Toronto uses a plain-Jane Delta 14" with a riser block.

He could afford any machine tool he might want.
Seems to be adequate...

285853

http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/arts/bronfman/tra38eng.shtml

Where you are on the rotating ball of mud might limit your choices, or inflate prices
but the Delta 14 is the ubiquitous "Band saw for sale" on Craigslist.

If all the parts are there, and it runs for less than $300 - they're an excellent value.

Buy it right, and you can resell for about the same.

It will even fit in your hatchback if you take it off the base.

*******

A straightedge guide and circular saw can handle nearly all the occasional sheet goods breakdown.

So yeah, ditching the tablesaw makes real sense if it's in the way.

*****

PS - The Grizz you referenced is a solid machine, if the motor is still clean.
Motors to fit any of these are stunning expensive - I would take a flashlight to have
a look at any exposed windings - if they're caked in dust, pass.

[John Sanford]

Bevel cuts wouldn't be nearly as accurate, but I am sure there is a solution for that, I am just pulling a blank on it now... Bevel cuts w/ a router can be done using chamfer bits (dead on for the number of available bits) and intermediate angles are amenable to custom baseplates and/or tilting router tables.

[Andy Pratt]

You aren't going to reliably and easily get consistent width rips on a bandsaw, that's why everyone owns a table saw. Whether or not you get a glue line edge off the table saw isn't really critical since you can easily turn a poor quality table sawn edge into a quality glue-ready edge with a jointer/jointer plane etc. Try the same thing on your bandsaw and you will end up with one board out of five (at least) that has a taper on the end or a bow in the middle that you can't remove on the jointer without messing up the intended width. Bandsaw blades deflect more and have more potential areas for problems in making a perfectly straight cut than a table saw and that is why a table saw is necessary for accurate rips. Keep in mind the size of your typical bandsaw table and compare that to even the lowest grade of table saw...this also plays a part in keeping cuts accurate since you have more control over the piece you are working on.

If you have an adequate length quality track saw and guide clamp you can replace the table saw with that to some extent, albeit at a much greater cost of time and, frankly, annoyance for every single rip cut you will make.

In my view, if you have a small shop/limited budget, the table saw is the first thing you buy...not the first thing you replace. Keep the table saw and get a good scroll saw and/or jigsaw to do the jobs you would otherwise do on a bandsaw, that is the best use of your space and money and leaves you the most versatility and room for adaptation to new jobs.