Suggestions for buying a 14" band saw

[Brian Turner]

A friend of mine was selling a nice 14" band saw, I didn't talk to him for a month or so, he sold it 3 days ago. Now I am looking at purchasing a new one. What does everyone recommend? Thanks in advance...

brian

[David Weaver]

You're looking at a 14-inch only, right? What's your budget?

If you could find an old delta/rockwell in good shape that someone had put nice aftermarket carter guides on, that's probably as good as a 14-inch saw is going to get, aside maybe from the powermatic saw (which unbelievably costs almost as much as an 18" saw).

[Jamie Buxton]

Craigslist is your friend. There's lots of 14" Delta bandsaws of various vintages in the world. Wait for one to show up and grab it.

[Brian Turner]

Anyone know much about the Grizzly G0555 ?

[Art Mann]

The Grizzly G0555 enjoys an excellent reputation as a low cost cast iron 14" bandsaw. I have seldom seen bad words about it. The resaw capability will not be great due to the limited size and horsepower.

[Dave MacArthur]

Check my signature below for a link.

[glenn bradley]

Before an unexpected deal came along on a Griz 17" I was saving for the 14" Rikon. There have been mostly great reviews with a few folks disliking this or that. Run it at 220v. Great resaw height for it's size. Of course you are now inching up into larger saw's cost area.

[Lance Norris]

Take a look at the Grizzly G0457.

[David Weaver]

Before an unexpected deal came along on a Griz 17" I was saving for the 14" Rikon. There have been mostly great reviews with a few folks disliking this or that. Run it at 220v. Great resaw height for it's size. Of course you are now inching up into larger saw's cost area.

Glenn, just to clarify for the OP, are you talking about the standard 14-inch Rikon, or the 14-inch resaw bandsaw that comes standard with a 13-inch resaw height?

[Al Willits]

Didn't say what your all planning on doing with it, or how much ya want to spend, but I bought the 14" Delta and added the 6" riser to it.....it does a lot of things ok, but I like to do a bit of resawing and of all the power tools I've bought, it will get replaced first.

I will probably go with the larger Steel city unit fwiw

Al

[James Phillips]

I just recently went through this same dilemma. I plan to buy the steel city 14" plus riser block right after Christmas.

[Jack Tanner]

I just bought the new Sears model 14", it has changed a great deal, it also has 8" resaw height. Worth looking into. Not a bad price on sale for $457.00 I think. Jack

[Joe Mioux]

What ever you buy, add a riser block at the same time.

The little added costs is insignificant starting out. Adding one later will cost you.

joe

[Jim Dunn]

I just bought the Rikon 10-345 14" band saw with 13" re-saw capacity. So far I like it and it seems to have enough power at 110v. (I do plan to add 220v to the shop after the 1st of the year and change over all those tools capable of running on 220v. Hope to see a difference in the performance, even if just a little.)

The only flaw with the saw is the angle at which the base is attached. It's out of square about 3/4" in 4' making it look like it's constantly falling over:)

[Jim Fox]

Just bought the Steel City 14" + Riser block myself, which included the $75 rebate. Still getting the shop tweaked from the move, so I haven't used it yet. But looks alone made me pick it over the Jet.

[Matt Lentzner]

I personally would not buy a 14" saw and add a riser block to get the resaw height I wanted. I think a saw designed from the get go for the added height is a better move. The Delta pattern cast iron 14"ers have a bad reputation when it comes to frame stiffness. The riser block will only make that worst. The Jet is especially bad as the riser block was manufactured incorrectly - don't know if that ever got fixed.

I'd stick with the 6" resaw height if I were going to one of those saws or bump up to a steel frame, high resaw Rikon, Grizzly, etc.

Just my preference,

Matt

[Bob Genovesi]

Brian,

I have both the 14" and an 18" Jet band saws and have been very pleased with them. They perform well and I've never had a problem with either.

http://i153.photobucket.com/albums/s225/BobbyG53/Shop-05.jpg

[Joe Spear]

One clarification: the Rikon Deluxe 14" bandsaw is 10-325, not 10-345. The 345 is the 18". I have the 14" Deluxe 10-325. I used to have the Grizzly 1019Z with a riser block. There is an incredible world of difference between the two saws. There is no riser block installation to fuss with, the blade guides stay aligned no matter how high or low, the table is large, the fence is good, dust collection is excellent, and it has a 1 1/2 hp motor with one of those poly drive belts. The only problem is the regular price of $795. Occasionally there is a sale of about $50 off. I got a reconditioned return at the Rikon headquarters in Woburn, MA, for $500 (no sales tax). If you can get a deal like that, take it.
Otherwise, the other saws mentioned are also very good saws.

[Eddie Darby]

This link might help out to see why the Rikon is getting such good reviews, and what the others are like.

http://www.popularwoodworking.com/upload/contents/335/NOV06PW_40-44_BAND%20SAWS.pdf

[Joe Spear]

Interesting reviews. It says that the Rikon motor comes pre-wired for 220. Mine has separate cords for the motor and the light, but both run on 110.

[Greg Stanford]

Is the grizzly go555 that much better a saw than the 580? I'm also looking at 14" bandsaws & had pretty much settled on one of these two. I don't see myself doing much resawing, mostly roughing blanks for the lathe & 6" is enough for now.

g