Time for a new bandsaw...help me out...

[Jack Frederick]

Back east I had an LT-16 Laguna and loved it. It did not make the move west. I picked up the 14BX and for my hobbyist needs it has been very good. No it won't throw a 1" blade, but I've resaw 10" white oak, walnut, redwood (easy). I don't push my equipment. Sure the oak took was slow, but it came out well. I have found that I get in trouble when I don't get the saw set up on the in/out feed. If I properly support the material the BX has done an excellent job. If I don't have a stable platform all hell breaks loose.

[Jon Singer]

Back east

Have we met? Pretty sure you had a Golf 2002 and a Turbo? I think you were a welder maybe? Or pipefitter? Something in a Trade. I could swear I met a guy with same name at a car show in CT two years in a row. Was probably pushing 20 years ago so who knows... I have a Florida green 1600 and parked next to a Golf yellow 2002 two years in a row. (I don't remember if this guy's car was square or round tails.)


If that sounds like Chinese to you and makes zero sense then I'm sorry. Just weird so I had to say something. If you are the same guy all I remember is your cars were cool and your wife was really nice and friendly. Good car show neighbors.

[Justin Rapp]

Back east I had an LT-16 Laguna and loved it. It did not make the move west. I picked up the 14BX and for my hobbyist needs it has been very good. No it won't throw a 1" blade, but I've resaw 10" white oak, walnut, redwood (easy). I don't push my equipment. Sure the oak took was slow, but it came out well. I have found that I get in trouble when I don't get the saw set up on the in/out feed. If I properly support the material the BX has done an excellent job. If I don't have a stable platform all hell breaks loose.

I like my 14BX also - and yes for hobby needs it's great, esp if you go with 2.5HP motor. The OP has a small saw now and this would be a huge upgrade. I know a lot of folks on here keep pushing for bigger, like 16 or 18 however you all need to consider what his needs and space are. If the OP spends a few hours a week in his shop and plans to occasionally resaw some 10 inch or so boards, the 14BX will be just fine. If he plans to resaw 100 linear feet of 12 inch boards, brake down 250 lbs logs for huge turning blanks, yes, a bigger saw is in order.

Many people (hobby and production shops) get along with a 14" 1hp bandsaw just fine. It is 100% about the users needs!

[Jack Frederick]

Yes, I was a fitter/welder years ago and then went into the business end of the business. both shows were at Lime Rock, eh? The Golf was a '72 so round, The Turbo '75 so square light. The '72 went when my daughter had a health problem and her paid for insurance refused coverage, so I sold the '72. I never brought the Turbo west. I didn't have a garage on the property. I sold the Turbo and built my shop with some of the proceeds. I am out of 2002's now. I brought my best obsessive compulsive side to my cars and spend vast amounts of cash on them, so I am out of them. They were both basket cases when I got them and I literally replaced every nut and bolt on both of those cars. Madness! Miss it though and of course the community. Many good friends. Do you still have the 1600?
To bring this back around, Justin, I agree with those supporting the bigger saws, but as you say, how much is to much for the way you work? The 2.5 BX is a 220v machine is easy to set up. Dust collection is quite good. The fence is very good. It is a real nice saw for the hobbyist. I will be going down to buy Martin's 8" jointer this week, if it will stop raining. I hope he sells that 18" band saw before I get there Reference the above on obsessive compulsive.

[Justin Rapp]

Okay, so I've read up quite a bit the last couple of days on bandsaws. Especially Laguna vs Grizzly. Here's what I've gathered...

Laguna can have spotty customer service. I've heard it's great and I've heard it's awful
I've heard very little negative about Grizzly's customer service

Laguna has ceramic guides to Grizzly's bearing. Everyone seems to love ceramic guides. I have no idea why one is better than the other so if anyone has any info there I'd appreciate it.

Tim,

I was very close to going with an 18BX over the 14BX but just could not justify the cost for what I use the saw for. So - buy a saw size that fits your needs, not a saw that others tell you to buy based on their needs. If you are always resawing large boards, pushing big logs through to make boards or larger turning pieced, then bigger is better and you won't be regret it later.

Ceramic guides are really great - from what I can tell, it's less fuss to align them and also less moving parts.

Customer Service - well, everyone can tell you a good and bad story about customer service. I 'heard' Laguna had bad CS years back. I don't think that is much of an issue as it used to be. The issues with Grizzly - much larger company so maybe some people got good CS people on the phone and other people got someone who wasn't as helpful. However, the point of getting a better machine with less chance of a lemon also means you won't need to call customer servce!

[lowell holmes]

I have 14" Jet with a riser block.

[Mike Kees]

Tim I do not have newer bandsaws. The only new saw that I have had a chance to really check out in person was a Rikon the newest 14" that was in Lee Valley in Calgary. It is a very impressive saw. Tool less blade guides,rack and pinion gear for table tilt,an excellent resaw fence . If I was just a hobby woodworker this saw would meet 90 % of my bandsaw needs. I have a Delta with riser block as my do everything/small saw. And a Centauro CO 600 that is not quite in service yet. I just sold a 18" Steel city saw. When it was in my shop it was my favorite by far. In fact I would have kept it if it was my only bandsaw in the shop. I would also be in the 17/18" bandsaw camp,they can do anything smaller saws do and you have bigger tables,more throat depth and greater resaw capacity. Not trying to up sell you here Tim ,just trying to help you save a step in the upgrade department. Good luck,Mike.

[robert wiggins]

New to band saws and reading that a wider blade is superior for re-sawing. Would you knowledgeable bandsaw folks explain what makes a 1" blade superior to a 3/4" or a 1/2" blade for re-sawing.

[andy bessette]

Generally the wider the blade the straighter the cut.

Another great benefit to the larger saws is blade life. A 14" wheel is likely to break blades more frequently than a larger saw, due to the blade being bent around such a small radius. And obviously the longer blades cut more lineal feet due to having more teeth.

[Jim Becker]

Robert, for re-saw work...which is primarily straight lines in generally thicker material...the wider blade contributes to the process by essentially becoming part of the "guide" system as it tracks in the kerf. The longer the distance between the front of the blade and the back of the blade increases the lateral force necessary to deflect the cut direction. As Andy mentions, there are trade-offs. Wider blades typically require higher tension to operate well and they also don't tend to like being bent around smaller saw wheel sizes. So there are practical limits for a given machine. I'll add that even though a given saw's specification might say it can support up to an x" wide blade, from a practical standpoint, it's often safer to assume that the "next size down" is likely a better choice for blade life, etc.

[Tim M Tuttle]

Thanks to everyone for all of the input. I think I've narrowed it down to the Laguna 18bx. Everytime I say that though I start to have second thoughts and ponder the Grizzly G0514X2 again. Anyone have any cons for the 18bx?

[Doug Dawson]

Thanks to everyone for all of the input. I think I've narrowed it down to the Laguna 18bx. Everytime I say that though I start to have second thoughts and ponder the Grizzly G0514X2 again. Anyone have any cons for the 18bx?

I'm perfectly happy with my 18bx. It's on sale for 10% off right now. What's not to like.

Ohh, Laguna can take a while to ship stuff that they don't have in the warehouse. Like, a _while_.

Get the mobility kit with it.

[Robert Hazelwood]

New to band saws and reading that a wider blade is superior for re-sawing. Would you knowledgeable bandsaw folks explain what makes a 1" blade superior to a 3/4" or a 1/2" blade for re-sawing.

To resist the natural tendency for the blade to wander and follow the grain instead of your cut line, you want the band to be as rigid as possible. All else equal, with the same tension psi, a wider/thicker band will be more rigid. This also means you can feed the stock through faster without bowing the blade. However it takes more absolute force to tension a wider/thicker band, and if your saw can't provide it then you wouldn't see any improvement. So for a lot of hobby machines you may well get better results from a blade that is a size or two narrower than the max you can fit on the machine. A sharp, well set-up 3/8 or 1/2 blade with the proper tooth spacing and geometry can resaw nicely, but you can't shove the wood through like you could on an industrial resaw.

A secondary thing is that the industrial quality carbide tipped resaw blades are usually only offered in widths of 1" and up. The 3/4" Resaw King is the smallest one I can think of.

[Doug Dawson]

To resist the natural tendency for the blade to wander and follow the grain instead of your cut line, you want the band to be as rigid as possible. All else equal, with the same tension psi, a wider/thicker band will be more rigid. This also means you can feed the stock through faster without bowing the blade. However it takes more absolute force to tension a wider/thicker band, and if your saw can't provide it then you wouldn't see any improvement. So for a lot of hobby machines you may well get better results from a blade that is a size or two narrower than the max you can fit on the machine. A sharp, well set-up 3/8 or 1/2 blade with the proper tooth spacing and geometry can resaw nicely, but you can't shove the wood through like you could on an industrial resaw.

A secondary thing is that the industrial quality carbide tipped resaw blades are usually only offered in widths of 1" and up. The 3/4" Resaw King is the smallest one I can think of.

The Resaw King also comes in a half-inch width. It's the blade I default to on my Laguna 18bx (when I'm not resawing.)

An inadequately tensioned blade will also tend to "flap", giving a rougher cut than it should. There was this one guy on Youtube that went thru eight (eight!) iterations of trying to get his Resaw King to cut smoothly, without tensioning it properly. Totally unnecessary (although I think his saw couldn't really support it.)

[Chapel Eastland]

My new Grizzly 513X2BF just arrived 10 minutes ago. Ordered it from Amazon on Thursday afternoon. It arrived before lunch on Tuesday. Fast shipping. And the trucker who brought it helped me take off the crate and delivered it into my shop where it's going to be set-up. I did give him 20 bucks for his extra help and was glad to do so.

Through all the searching for a bandsaw for my needs I did decide that a motor switch and foot brake were neccessities. It was about 200 bucks more, but will save time and is a big safety factor in my perspective.