Band Saw or Sliding Compound Miter Saw

[Dave Fernelius]

Greetings, all
So, I've got an itch (and a little discretionary money that my dear wife will let me spend) to buy a new tool for the shop. I'm thinking either a SCMS or a band saw. I've been well served and like the Jet line of tools (upgraded to a Jet left tilt 3 HP cabinet saw in 2006, which is great) and i like the Dewalt miter saw. Just wondering what some of my fellow enthusiasts would spend their money on if it was up to them.
Thanks for your comments.:)

[Pete Brown]

What type of work do you do? Do you want to resaw wood for bookmatched panels or to make the most of rough lumber?

I have a small Delta 10" CMS that I use for most of the trim and flooring work in the house. It doesn't get much use for cabinet/furniture work. It may if it was a SCMS.

What's your budget? There's a long thread recently discussing different bandsaws and which one to get. I have a MM16, the purchaser picked up a Bridgewood, which also looks like an excellent machine.

Do you have a jointer and planer? If not, those should come before either of the other tools, IMHO. :)

Leaving out most hand tools (drills, circular saws etc.), my purchase order was something like:
- Miter Saw
- Drill Press (needed for model work. bought one too small for real woodworking)
- Crappy table saw (later gave to my FIL)
- Crappy router (collecting dust)
- Disk sander (needed for some model railroad stuff)
- Good Table Saw
- Jointer and Planer (Ridgid and Dewalt)
- Good routers (Milwaukee for tables, Dewalt for plunge)
- Bandsaw (MM16)
- Dust collector (Oneida super dust gorilla - should have been much earlier!)
- Festool stuff

If I could do it over, the order would have been
- Festool saw and table
- Good Table Saw
- Dust Collector
- Jointer and Planer
- Bandsaw
- Drill Press
- Everything else

A dust collector isn't a wonderful new tool, but like proper electricity, it improves your life and your hobby :) The jointer and planer are necessary so you don't get stuck with big box boomerang boards and can branch out into nicer wood.

If you already have a jointer, planer and good dust collector, I'd go for a good 16"+ bandsaw, but that is because I like to resaw.

Pete

[Craig Stueve]

First off welcome. There are many talented and knowledgeable people here who will be able to better answer your question then I can. But I will give you my thoughts.

The answer really depends on the type of work you plan to do. I do not own any variation of a miter saw and really don't miss it. It is on the list of tools that would be "nice to have" but certainly not a "must have" for the type of work I do. Once I got my first bandsaw I couldn't believe how I ever went without one. I find myself often thinking bandsaw first now for many cutting operations that previously I would have went straight to the TS for. It is relatively quiet and with proper setup can be every bit the precision tool a TS is thought to be. I have just upgraded to a new steel frame style saw to give me more power and cutting capacity. There are many great options out there right now BSs. Take a look at and put your hands on all you can to try and get a feel for them before you make your decision.

Good luck with your search.

Craig

PS. I have a Jet 14" saw in the classified section if you want to take a look.:D

[Dave Fernelius]

Thanks gents, for your comments.
I'm a generalist type woodworker. My shop is fairly small. I've built some book cases and dresser for my son, doll cribs for my two granddaughters, a small drafting table for my grandson, plant stands, and the like. Most recent project is a doll crib for the second granddaughter. I'll post a pic or two some time.

As i say my shop is about 300 sf or so. Located in one end of my basement. In addition to the TS, i have a Jet 650 cfm dust collector which works very well. (I agree, not the most glamorous tool out there, but i'm sure glad i added my a few years ago.) A jet mortiser, Delta scroll saw, and old Sears/Craftsman lathe (marginal quality, but i got it free from my son in law), a Delta bench top drill press, 12" model, a jet air filter for the shop - a nice addition to keep the general room air filtered, various hand tools - PC router, cordless drills, 8" Delta Ryobi bench grinder, etc. I'll post a few new pic's of the shop sometime if anyone is interested.

My budget is probably in that $500 - 650 dollar range. Rockler had a Jet BS on sale this weekend, for about $400, marked down from $500 - open stand model, i think 14" capacity, seemed like a reasonable mid range. machine.

So, there you have it. Thanks again for everyone's comments.

[Jeff Weight]

If I understand your post correctly, you already have a Dewalt miter saw? If that's the case I'd buy a bandsaw before buying another miter saw.

[Richard Keller]

Like the barrel grip vs. d handle argument, this is a personal preference. You will probably be well served by either tool.


Richard.

The cheapest tool is the one you only buy once.

[Dick Latshaw]

There's not much you can do with a SCMS that you can't do with a table saw and the appropriate jigs. On the other hand, a bandsaw allows you to cut all kinds of curves and opens the door to re-sawing. Since you have a good cabinet saw, I'd suggest you consider a band saw.

If I were looking now, I'd look at Bridgewood and Minimax. I have an MM16 and am very pleased with it. I also have a Bridgewood jointer and planer that do everything I ask them to do, and Wilke Machinery are good folks to deal with.

[Bernie Weishapl]

I agree with Dick. I bought the SCMS and bandsaw. I sold the SCMS after a year because it sat more than I used it. Now the bandsaw I use almost every day.

[Don Bullock]

Welcome Dave. Your choice mostly depends on what you want to do and how much you want to spend. Unfortunately without more to go on it would be very hard to tell you more.

I planned to buy a band saw first because most of the cuts that can be made on a miter saw I can do on a table saw. Due to a fantastic deal on a SCMS from Amazon that someone here at the Creek put me on to and some gift cards given to me by my in-laws, I was able to buy both recently. Surprisingly, I've had more need for the SCMS since I bought them, but I know within the next few weeks that both will be seeing more use.