Grizzly Bandsaw

[Clint Hood]

Hey guys, I'm new to wood working/turning, and working on buying myself some tools....At the moment, all I make are turkey calls, but I'm looking to branch out to crow calls, owl hooters, and deer grunts pretty soon....

I'm needing a bandsaw, and found this one by Grizzly for a pretty good price....
http://www.grizzly.com/products/G0555

Anybody have any experience with one of these? Just wanted to know if it was worth the money, or do you guys suggest another brand? I plan to use this saw to cut out the 4" round blanks for the turkey calls, which I don't forsee being a problem....However, I also plan to get the 6" extension block kit, which will be used to saw log pieces down to 1 1/2" boards that will be used to get blanks and strikers out of....To give you an idea what I'm talking about, here's a pic.....
http://i163.photobucket.com/albums/t314/gobblerhitman/003-4.jpg
These are about 3' long.....Do you guys think this saw can handle this chore? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as I am a greenhorn when it comes to this stuff....Thanks in advance for any help!

[Lance Norris]

Clint... the Grizzly 555 is a good saw. Many people here give it good comments. It should do anything you need it to do with the correct blade. Have you looked at the 555x? Its almost $200 more, which may take it out of your budget, but offers many nice upgrades.

[Bruce Pennell]

Clint I own the Grizzly GO513 17" 2hp bandsaw, I've used it to cut up a peach tree we lost about two years ago. It was about 10 " thick, had no problems at all. I also own a Jet 14" and a HF 14", I would say instead of buying the riser, step up to a bigger motor, the 17" just cuts thicker stuff much easier. Just my 2 cents. I have seen some great deals lately on Craigs List. Thats where I got my GO513 for $200.00 the guy had lost the tensioning handle (about $34 with shipping) the saw only had about 10 hours use, and it came with 12 wolf blades.

[Eric Larsen]

I bought the G0555 last week, in fact. The riser block is a must if you plan to do any resawing at all. It's a well-put together machine. Setup is straightforward. Although they recommend that setup is a two person job, I didn't have any trouble doing it by myself. Considering the work I had to do setting up my table saw, this was a breeze.

Get both the saw and the extension at the same time to save on set-up time. I found the height of the tool to be a bit low, so I built a 4" platform at the base with really good casters. (I hate stooping while sawing.)

You'll need to make a fixture (or two) for the stock fence, which isn't high enough for resawing. Or you can spend another $85 and get Grizzly's bolt-on extension: http://grizzly.com/products/H7584

The stock blade that comes with the saw isn't fit for cutting even balsa. So get half a dozen good blades to start.

I re-sawed some 4/4 red oak after alignment, and it went through at about 5 fpm. The new surface was fairly smooth.

I can't compare the G0555 against other bandsaws as this is my first bandsaw.