Kreg Bandsaw Fence

[Dustin Thompson]

I just got the kreg bandsaw fence, at rockler for a 100 smacks with a 15 off coupon. I had been clamping down a makeshift fence for ripping and resawing way too long. Just got to test it a bit, but am loving it already.

The fit and finish are quite good, took about a half hour for me to put it on my delta 14" x5 bandsaw. I got the resaw attachment too, haven't tested that out yet-can't wait.

I have quite a bit of blade drift with my saw, but the kreg fence was super easy to set up to accomodate for that.

As an aside, I have been thinking about the carter guides for the delta. What do you all think about them? Worth $150? I would love to get another bigger, better bandsaw, but I really feel I can get decent performance out of this saw yet.

And what is the vote for best 1/2" resaw blade? Highland's blade, or Timberwolf's?

Thanks,

Dustin

[Paul Fitzgerald]

I love my Kreg fence too!

I've been pretty happy with my Woodslicer. Though it did dull a bit too quickly for my liking. It's still very useable, just a bit slow... especially with harder material. It took me forever to resaw Jatoba the other day.

I can't compare the Woodslicer to the Timberwolf just yet. My next blade (or three) will be a Timerwolf.

Paul

[Lance Norris]

As an aside, I have been thinking about the carter guides for the delta. What do you all think about them? Worth $150?
Dustin

Dustin... I have cool blocks on my Ridgid(just like your Delta). I have roller guides on my Grizzly(although not Carters' but very similar). The roller guides are nice because when resawing with a large 3/4" blade, I like to set the rollers in contact with the blade. This helps keep the blade going in the direction I want it too. I dont have much experience as far as life expectancy of the cool blocks because I havent used the Ridgid near as much as the Grizzly, but Im sure the roller guides will last longer. Is the Carter upgrade worth $150? IMHO, Id have to say no. The Delta style guide system with cool blocks works very well, and $150 sure buys a lot of cool blocks. If you want to make a good improvement on your Delta, get the Carter Quick Tension Release. Its $150 and works very well. Also, urethane tires are a good upgrade. They are $30-$50. How about a riser block kit? Thats a great upgrade as well.

[Bill Huber]

I have the Kreg and am very happy with it, I have it on the Jet 14 inch which is just about like your saw. As you said, it set up very easy and fast.

When I got the saw about a month ago it had a lot of drift with the 3/8 inch blade that came on the saw. I ordered the Timber Wolf and set it up and there was no drift with it, great blade, cuts like mad.

I put cool blocks on mine saw and just could not see spending the money on the rollers.

There are some small ones out there that I know nothing about but for $75 it is half the price of the Carters.

http://pricecutter.com/product.asp?pn=485-1001

[Maurice Ungaro]

The Kreg is a great fence - I love mine. As for the Cool Blocks, they ar esuper as well. The roller guides only offer a small contact area compared to the Cool Blocks, so, you do the math.

[Richard A. Rivera, M.D.]

I have an 25 year old 12 in. Craftsman BS which comes with a 12x12 cast aluminum table and kept waiting for it to die to up grade. Well some folks at my local WC store talked me into getting the cool blocks, urethane tires and some TimberWolf blades...and now I have a brand new saw. I can not say enough good things about the TimberWolf blades, and at their site www.suffolkmachinery.com (http://www.suffolkmachinery.com) there is a sale, buy three, get one free. Each blade is made to order and the folks were very nice and will help you get the right blade for the job you are trying to do, and at about half the WC store price.

I have now built a 20x24 table of 3/4 melamine covered MDF an have bolted it down over the old table, encased in 1x3 oak and have added an Incra track and miter guage and yesterday added the Kreg fence. I bored and added metal screw in inserts and bolted the fence right on. I have just finished cutting some 5in 1/8 thick mesquite slices to book match them on a box lid, was wonderful.

My daughter always says I have paralysis by analysis...just took 25 years to improve the saw.

[Dustin Thompson]

Richard, your daughter's quote is the funniest thing I have heard in a while-describes me to a T!

I think the next time I go to woodcraft I'll grab a couple of the timberwolfs and give them a try.

Not in a big hurry for new guides. Think I'll save that $150 for lumber.

Thanks again, everyone.

Dustin

[Brent Ring]

I love my Kreg on my PM 141!

[Loren Hedahl]

I have an 25 year old 12 in. Craftsman BS which comes with a 12x12 cast aluminum table and kept waiting for it to die to up grade. Well some folks at my local WC store talked me into getting the cool blocks, urethane tires and some TimberWolf blades...and now I have a brand new saw. I can not say enough good things about the TimberWolf blades, and at their site www.suffolkmachinery.com (http://www.suffolkmachinery.com) there is a sale, buy three, get one free. Each blade is made to order and the folks were very nice and will help you get the right blade for the job you are trying to do, and at about half the WC store price.

I have now built a 20x24 table of 3/4 melamine covered MDF an have bolted it down over the old table, encased in 1x3 oak and have added an Incra track and miter guage and yesterday added the Kreg fence. I bored and added metal screw in inserts and bolted the fence right on. I have just finished cutting some 5in 1/8 thick mesquite slices to book match them on a box lid, was wonderful.

My daughter always says I have paralysis by analysis...just took 25 years to improve the saw.

Doc, I also have one of those old 12 inch Craftsmans. I put it out in a shed in the back 40 when I upgraded to a new Delta 14.

One rainy day, I felt sorry for it and brought it back into the shop and spent the rest of the day getting everything set up just perfect. It even took some filing of the frame to get the guide post perfectly vertical.

As it turned out, both have a place in my garage shop, but the 12 incher gets used the most, probably because I have it equipped with a narrow blade for tight curves.