Bandsaw setup is one of the great mysteries for the beginning woodworker. This forum has many individual requests for help with a particular bandsaw or blade choice. Van Huskey started a very helpful thread on bandsaw blades that is available in the "General Woodworking Forum Sticky Threads." I suggest that a similar thread on how people set up their bandsaws would be great too. Except I don't feel that I have Van Huskey's level of experience and knowledge to kick things off.

So I'll offer some sources of initial confusion and ask others to share the details of how they set up their bandsaws. For me, the differences between Alex Snodgrass' and Michal Fortune's setups illustrate how the beginner can be confused. Snodgrass, a representative for Carter Products, sets up bandsaws in various videos; the definitive video may be the one produced by Marc Spagnuolo on the Wood Whisperer called "The Best Way to Set Up a Bandsaw!" Michael Fortune, a contributing editor to Fine Woodworking, has a bunch of videos on finewoodworking.com; one needs to go through several of them to get all the parts of his setup (one can appear to be complete but it actually isn't).


  • These two professionals agree on at least three things, (1) that coplanar wheels is the least important issue (still it seems that this is not something one should ignore), (2) leveling the saw's table, and (3) guides should not touch the blade but be as close as possible.
  • Snodgrass and Fortune give different advice about where the bandsaw blade should track on a crowned wheel. Snodgrass says put the bottom of the saw blade's gullet at the center of the wheel. Fortune says center the blade on the wheel.
  • Snodgrass ignores the squaring the miter slot to saw blade. Fortune aligns the fence to the miter slot and then squares the table.
  • Snodgrass uses the blade to align the fence. Fortune makes test cuts with jointed pieces of wood run along the fence to find the position of the table where the blade path agrees with the fence.
  • Fortune mentions adjusting the blade tracking to fine tune the blade path. Consistent with his advice about the position of the blade, Snodgrass is silent about this.
  • Blade tension? I don't remember. Maybe that's a fourth thing that these two agree on: 1/4" give with mild finger pressure on the inside travel of the blade where there are no guides to interfere. I have seen comments about tuning the flutter of the blade.


This is a big ask, explaining your complete bandsaw setup. Maybe you comment on only one aspect or give a link to something you follow. Still, it would be helpful to know what works for you and why. Maybe not so needful to say why somebody else's approach does not work for you. Perhaps an article for sawmillcreek.org summarizing everything could be an outcome. It would be nice to have all the information in one place.

Thanks in advance.