Bandsaw questions/reccomendations

[Jacob s white]

I want to get a bandsaw to cut stuff like long pieces cut precisely since I suck with a handsaw but don’t know squat about options for bandsaws

[James Cheever]

I have a Laguna 18BX. I love it!

[Scott Clausen]

For rip cutting long pieces band saws are great but crosscutting long pieces not great. I hate the room that chop saws take up and the dust they create but that is an option. A nice old school miter box can be fun too but I rarely use mine. It doesn't take much practice to get proficient with a hand saw. You may want to scrutinize the teeth for wear and sharpness too.

[Bernie Kopfer]

Jacob, perhaps you could clarify what you mean buy cutting long pieces. If cross-cutting you are severely limited by throat depth. If ripping a BS is ok but a table saw is much better. I have used a powered miter saw for years to make precise cuts for furniture etc. Even for short cross-cutting pieces a bandsaw is ok but in my hands not as precise as a miter saw.

[Jim Becker]

Jacob, you can indeed cut long workpieces with a bandsaw and sometimes that's actually the safest way to do that. The level of precision, however, is more on you and it's a combination of setup and your ability to control the workpiece through the cut. Most bandsaw cuts will require some level of cleanup, so the cuts are quite often proud of the final line, if you catch my drift. "What" you'll be cutting will have impact on what folks might recommend as some kinds of work requires a heavier machine for best results, for example. So please provide some more guidance about what you want to use the bandsaw for.

[James Jayko]

I've got the Laguna 14/12 and its fantastic (and better when you consider the price).

I had a 17", 3hp Grizzly that I thought was going to be my last bandsaw. I really liked it, but I definitely had some issues with it too. The motor died on me in almost exactly three years (like a month after the warranty expired, in a home shop). I was going to replace it with an upgraded Baldor or something, but spindle sizes were weird Chinesium on the factory motor, so I couldn't upgrade. Grizzly DID replace the motor under warranty (even though the period had just passed), which was great and they didn't have to, but still, a motor shouldn't die in three years. The fence wasn't a perfect 90, and my resaw skills are suspect at best, so it definitely gave me some challenges. Loved the form factor and loved the price, but there were definitely some issues (which I'm assuming they must have since worked out).

[Jacob s white]

I meant rip cutting long pieces and was going to use it for cutting laminates for making bows

[James Jayko]

Have you looked for a 14" Delta in your area? Probably ~$400 used, they made ~4 zillion of them. Get a good blade for it like the Woodslicer or the Laguna Resawking, take the time to set it up right, and away you go. You don't need much resaw capacity for that scale of work, but smaller than 14" really limits your versatility. Especially when you consider the price and availability of the Delta 14" saws.

[Dick Strauss]

The Delta 14" bandsaws have thin trunnions (they allow the table to tilt) made of pot metal. I just replaced the second one on my Delta over the weekend. Luckily when the first one broke I bought two non-Delta aluminum ones from a parts house. Other parts are getting harder to come by unless the parts were copied by Grizzly/HF/Jet and you can substitite those instead. If you need to cut a log 12" in diameter, you'll need to buy a riser block. Adding the riser block adds more flex to the system. Look for a band saw that can cut 12" without a riser if you can afford it.

[Brian Deakin]

The link below is the best post I have read on bandsaw blades

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?149862-Lets-talk-bandsaw-blades

[Justin Rapp]

I meant rip cutting long pieces and was going to use it for cutting laminates for making bows

Rip cuts on the bandsaw are fine, pending you are not trying to rip the wood wider than the throat or fence on the bandsaw, but as mention already, crosscuts, unless you are just cutting small parts, within the capacity of a cross-cut for the saw you should be fine. Just remember you will not have a finished edge, so if you are going to laminate you parts together and than flush up the edges by either sanding or using a template and flush trim bit you'd be fine. I assume you are talking a bow for archery? Which would mean you actually have a tapered shape, using a bandsaw can help you get closer the the finished shape than a tablesaw would.

You didn't mention budget, but unless you are doing some heavy duty resaw of wide boards, you don't need a lot of horsepower to rip boards. I would say to try and get a saw that can handle a blade that is at least 3/4" wide to help with those longer rips. A tabletop isn't going to really work well for this.

If you budget allows, look at Laguna 14/12 or 14BX. Some other options might exist that are a bit lighter on the budget like a Griz G0555 but the quality isn't the same as say a Laguna.