Band saw purchase help

[Robert A Jordan]

I am wanting a band saw for resaw and normal cutting use. I have been doing research for a while online and was thinking of buying a 14" with riser block to get up to 12" resaw even though I probably will not need that large. Anyway I came across a General International 90-240M1 on my local CL, I am going to look at it tonight and was looking for insight. What is it worth used and any first hand experience out there?

[Mike Cutler]

I am wanting a band saw for resaw and normal cutting use. I have been doing research for a while online and was thinking of buying a 14" with riser block to get up to 12" resaw even though I probably will not need that large. Anyway I came across a General International 90-240M1 on my local CL, I am going to look at it tonight and was looking for insight. What is it worth used and any first hand experience out there?

Robert
-I can't really help with how much it is worth, but the General International line is/was General's line of imported machine made in China and Taiwan.

- Given a choice between a 14" saw with a 6"riser block, and that saw, I would pick that one. I'm sorry, but I own a 14" Jet, with a riser block and while does "re-saw", it is not very good at it. My 18" Rikon is much, much, better at re-saw.

- 12" is actually not a lot of re-saw height, once you have a machine that can do it. So yes, you will very quickly want to re-saw 12" wide material. Plan for it.

[Bill Adamsen]

Robert: I have a 14" Rockwell (Delta) without riser and it works wonderfully for many things (dovetails, scribes, etc.). Being single phase and small, accessible, well tuned with a good cutting blade, I use it all the time. Even without riser I have never seriously tried to resaw (like Mike I have a much larger resaw) and would be surprised if I was satisfied with the results. Looking at the General you mentioned -though admittedly with no experience with that machine - it appears to be a more suitable machine for limited resawing. I do like having two purpose oriented saws so that I don't have to change blades, but that is a luxury not everyone can afford.

[Robert A Jordan]

Thanks for the comments, I wish I had the room for 2 saws but I'm in a 2 car garage shared with my bikes and small camping trailer. I ended up buying the general and am in the process of getting it setup.

[glenn bradley]

I ended up buying the general and am in the process of getting it setup.

Congrats. I think you will be happy. If that will be your only saw and you want to do curves and resawing, blade changes is a task that will become familiar. I can change blades so easily on my 17" Grizzly that I don't give it a second thought. I did rig up a little spot for my gloves, wrenches, flashlight and other goodies commonly used in blade changes. I went ahead and added a peg for my fence and a little shop made bracket for my miter gauge. I now take this fixture for granted but, it would be sorely missed if I had to do without it.

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