Cheap Bandsaw for Resawing

[Jimmy Harris]

I'm a hobbyist on a limited budget looking for a bandsaw, primarily for resawing. Let's say, 12" of 8/4 hard maple cut down the middle would be the maximum I would ever ask of it. I'm under the impression that I'll need a steel framed bandsaw for that. What else do I need to know? Are guides just personal preference, or do certain ones actually work better for resawing? Will a 14" bandsaw work? Or would I be better suited with something capable of running a 1" blade? Does horsepower really matter? If so, how much is the minimum? What about cast iron wheels or trunnions? Are they a big deal or just nice to haves? The brands I'm looking at are Rikon, Jet, Laguna, and Grizzly. Are there any others worth considering? And while I only have 120v outlets, I can wire up a 220v no problem if needed. I'm okay with a saw that does what I need, but at a glacially slow pace. I have far more time than money, though I can afford whatever I need to afford, so I'm also okay with spending more if it means I don't have to upgrade a few years later. But I also don't want to pay more for a bigger, more powerful machine if it only makes resawing quicker or easier. Then again, I don't want to save money on something that won't saw a straight line either. I know I definitely don't need features like a brake or anything quick change or easy access (unless they don't cost extra), since they don't affect the quality of the cut. Again, I have time to waste. I just want to know the bare minimum I can get away with that will still yield good results.

I've been looking locally on the used market for something that might work, and I'm not liking what I'm finding. Usually, the people in my area are asking the same (and in a few instances, more) for a used, discontinued saw as what the updated model would cost new. And if I'm going to buy used, I kind of expect a sizable discount. Something like 20% off MSRP, at the bare minimum, and that's if it's still in good condition. And I'm just not seeing that out there. And since most of these saws were purchased before inflation went crazy and new bandsaw prices exploded, they're actually asking MORE the USED bandsaw than they originally paid for them, which is a turkey I just can't jive with on the grounds of principle alone.

So I'm probably looking at new, though I'll keep my eyes peeled on the used markets, just in case something pops up. Right now, I'm considering the Rikon 10-324. Would that resaw 12ish inches of 8/4 hard maple with a 1/2" blade and 1.5hp motor, even if glacially slow? If not, what's my limiting factor here? The motor, the blade width, something else? What's the minimum I can get away with? I might not ultimately buy the minimum, but I'd like to at least know where my baseline is so I can factor in the value/cost of upgrades from there.

Edited to add:. It's okay if 12" is a nightmare. 8" max would be a good target since 95% of what I do wouldn't exceed 8". I'd just like 12" to be technically possible.

And I work in a garage. So I'd have to back the car out, wheel out the bandsaw, plug it in, set it up, cut, dust it off, wax and oil it, and put it back. So it'll never not be a slow process to use it. And since I have two cars and all of my tools, gardening equipment, fishing and kayaking equipment in the garage, I have no space for a dust collector (or most power tools like even a table saw, but for a bandsaw, I'll make room). And since we have wild temperature and humidity swings here, everything rusts, despite my best attentions. So I'm wanting to avoid anything unnecessarily big and heavy, and something unnecessarily expensive, since it will eventually rust. I'm good about limiting things to a light surface rust, but I can't treat any rustable tool purchase like a forever tool. I might get 20 years out of it, but it won't last forever for me. It's just how things go. So a big, heavy, and expensive bandsaw will work against me in the long run. But one that's too small to even do the job is worse. Hence why I'm looking for "the minimum".

[Edward Weber]

Personally, I think 2hp is minimum for resawing 12" lumber.
It can be done with less but it would be very slow going, as you're aware.
A saw that handles a 3/4" blade would be "better" for resawing IMO. Most saws marketed as 14" will not adequately tension a 3/4" blade enough, though you can settle for 1/2".
Each small thing you compromise on makes the job just a little bit more difficult.

[lou Brava]

My take is get a bigger saw than 14" for 12" tall stock, also HP does matter I'd get at least a 3hp motor & if your spending the money a brake on a band saw is well worth it ! Band saws spin blades long after shut off which creates a very dangerous tool. If your wearing ear protection you won't hear the machine & won't even realize the blade is traveling plenty fast enough to some serious damage. You can't really upgrade a small band saw. For 12" tall stock I'd go with one these, https://www.grizzly.com/products/gri...rake/g0513x2bf
I have a 14" Laguna SUV which is there heavy duty 14" 3hp saw that will take up to a 1" blade. I run a 3/4 Resaw King on it. I can resaw up to 10" stock very accurately on it but at 12" tall I'm not sure how it would do. Maybe others can chime in on resawing 12" stock on that Rikon.

[Jimmy Harris]

Thanks for the replies so far! And 12" may never actually happen. I almost never come across hardwood stock wider than 10" in real life. 4-8" would be the majority of what I do. I'm just throwing 12" out there as an upper limit, just in case I run into the need one day. I resaw by hand now and have never run into a situation where my 26" rip saw couldn't handle. I think the widest I've ever done is 11.25" of pine (2x12) and probably 9.75" of yellowheart.

I feel like a brake would make the saw more dangerous, if anything, in my situation. If I learned to rely on it always being stopped, and put my faith in that, then that sets up the opportunity for something bad to happen the one time it's not. Besides, I always assume a saw blade is running until I've verified it's not. Maybe if I had kids or other people running around my tools it would be worth it for them. But since I'll be the only one around, it's not something I want.

[John TenEyck]

You've asked for a saw that doesn't exist, on the one hand the bare minimum, on the other something that you won't feel you need to upgrade from later. But OK, here's your bare minimum, from which you will want to upgrade unless you really like slow. A 14" cast iron Delta with riser block with a 1.5 hp motor will resaw almost 12". I have one, and with a 1/2" x 3 tpi blade it will do it, very slowly, and with very careful setup. I cut a lot of 7 - 10" wide veneer with mine before I got tired of measuring time with a calendar and bought a saw actually designed for the task. So, yes, it will work. Will you be happy with it? Unlikely if you want to resaw very often. 6" stock of course is easier, but it's still slow and still requires careful setup. Why? Because those cast iron saws cannot put much tension on the blade so if it's not set up perfectly, or the blade gets a little dull on one side, it will drift or belly and ruin your workpiece.

Now for something that will do the job. For resawing you want 1 hp for about every 3 - 4" of thickness, depending upon the wood, so if you want to resaw 12" you need about 3- 4 hp. I would not want less than 3. After that, it doesn't much matter which saw you get or what the features are. As long as it can tension a 3/4" blade to at least 20 ksi, it will do the job. Guides are almost of no consequence for resawing if you can put enough tension on the blade. Seriously. If the saw is set up to cut in a straight line, the side guides aren't doing much of anything. And for resawing there's no need to spend money on fancy guides. Or a fancy fence either. I use a homemade tall fence for resawing and slicing veneer that cost almost nothing to make and works better than any factory fence.

Manual brakes do not complicate things, and they only fail if you forget to use them. They are worth their weight in gold IMO if you buy a saw with heavy wheels. Mine will spin for what seems like a minute if I don't use the brake. Electronic brakes, yes, I agree, I wouldn't spend money on one.

John

[Alex Zeller]

I once thought like you and picked up a cheap 14" cast iron BS and put a riser block on it so I could cut blanks for turning bowls. It was slow and sort of worked. I thought "I have plenty of time" but what I didn't think about was how long I would have to hold the wood for while cutting it. The blanks usually were around 8" thick green wood. Making them round meant cutting both with the grain and cross cutting. At times I would get tired and need to take a break in the middle of a cut. A bandsaw doesn't like it when you try to back a piece of wood out of it.

I decided to upgrade to a 19" Grizzly with a 3hp motor and what a difference. I wish I had skipped the first saw and all the time I spent struggling. Cutting bowl blanks is so easy. I actually enjoy doing it. I can easily tension a 1" blade (which works so much better for resawing than the 1/2" I was previously using) and I have yet to bog the saw down. That doesn't mean I can push 12" of hard maple through it as fast as possible but faster than I can accurately cut. Of course the price difference a few years ago wasn't what it is now. I think it was just well under a grand between the saw I bought and a 14" steel frame saw. What I ended up with is 3hp, a heavier saw, a larger table, and a beefier trunnion. Saving a few bucks rarely pays off. But I do understand that everyone has a budget and not all budgets are equal.

[Jimmy Harris]

You've asked for a saw that doesn't exist, on the one hand the bare minimum, on the other something that you won't feel you need to upgrade from later. But OK, here's your bare minimum, from which you will want to upgrade unless you really like slow. A 14" cast iron Delta with riser block with a 1.5 hp motor will resaw almost 12". I have one, and with a 1/2" x 3 tpi blade it will do it, very slowly, and with very careful setup. I cut a lot of 7 - 10" wide veneer with mine before I got tired of measuring time with a calendar and bought a saw actually designed for the task. So, yes, it will work. Will you be happy with it? Unlikely if you want to resaw very often. 6" stock of course is easier, but it's still slow and still requires careful setup. Why? Because those cast iron saws cannot put much tension on the blade so if it's not set up perfectly, or the blade gets a little dull on one side, it will drift or belly and ruin your workpiece.

Now for something that will do the job. For resawing you want 1 hp for about every 3 - 4" of thickness, depending upon the wood, so if you want to resaw 12" you need about 3- 4 hp. I would not want less than 3. After that, it doesn't much matter which saw you get or what the features are. As long as it can tension a 3/4" blade to at least 20 ksi, it will do the job. Guides are almost of no consequence for resawing if you can put enough tension on the blade. Seriously. If the saw is set up to cut in a straight line, the side guides aren't doing much of anything. And for resawing there's no need to spend money on fancy guides. Or a fancy fence either. I use a homemade tall fence for resawing and slicing veneer that cost almost nothing to make and works better than any factory fence.

Manual brakes do not complicate things, and they only fail if you forget to use them. They are worth their weight in gold IMO if you buy a saw with heavy wheels. Mine will spin for what seems like a minute if I don't use the brake. Electronic brakes, yes, I agree, I wouldn't spend money on one.

John

This is good information and exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for!

[Jimmy Harris]

I'm more patient than most. And since I currently resaw by hand, holding a board for an hour isn't a problem. So long as it's faster than resawing by hand, I'm golden! Because I know it's a whole lot less work!

But yeah, I'm not looking at cast iron bandsaws. But I'm also not wanting to jump into a dream saw, just because. I'm okay with compromise.

[Tom Trees]

I suggest you might consider looking at the used three phase market, as often used is about half new, and three phase, half that again, in perfect nick, and a rough one will be far cheaper.
Here's an example of what I'm talking about, a complete 3 phase Italian machine often with a 3 horsepower motor, which if one can see 220/240v on the motor nameplate,
then it will be a dual voltage motor, which is likely the case for "modern" Italian saws with modern motors, i.e welded steel chassis machines.


.Screenshot-2023-12-21 SCM Mini Max S600P Bandsaw 3 Phrase eBay.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/9MSm1L17/Screen...rase-e-Bay.png

You should be able to look up the HP of such a saw if you researched, as some like Felder, who branded ACM's saws, on the seemingly bygone newer line of Italian saws (the grey and not green paint scheme) before stopping branding "smaller" saws that is... or likewise the Italian Laguna line, with same ACM chassis,
often have more HP, as might? be the case possibly with the older branded line of Minimax's who used to be made by Centauro, the CO series above that is...
should you think the standard 3HP on most 600mm sized wheeled saws enough, then something to be considerate of with a 220v supply...
No doubt folks will mention you need to think of extraction also, so no escaping a proper job of the leccy anyway.



Below is the best info I believe you might read, for one who's in such a predicament of a newly acquired 3 phase bandsaw for cheap,
it breaks down your options, and would guide you through the basics of VFD's, which for such a machine is simple job,
and would provide easily adjustable soft smooth starting, whilst also reasonable breaking w/cheap VFD, or better breaking w/expensive VFD.
If you go big, then IMO the in-built braking is enough, some smaller 400 or 440mm sized wheeled saw users with small tables might want fancier.
The only differences are your parameters (motor commands relating to speed) will be for 60Hz rather than 50Hz, which is mentioned within,
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dBT...4X8fdzdtS/view

I could post a pic of a smaller machine, but it's seemingly often the case of the 24"/600mm saws being cheaper than say a 500mm wheeled machine,
or a long wait otherwise...
Ah sher why not, here's something very suggestible, a particular gen Centauro CO 500 what's fully adjustable with foot mounted motor.
(such motor design mounting not often seen)
All that's missing is the mitre slot, and possibly a tiny bit of resaw height compared to some.
Screenshot-2023-12-10 Lot.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/5N8cQCN4/Screen...-12-10-Lot.png

All the best
Tom

[Jimmy Harris]

I'd be okay with a VFD, but I've never seen a 3 phase for sale. I don't think they pop up around here, since this isn't an area rich in woodworking history (we don't have a lot of trees and the trees we do have are small). But 24" would be too big and heavy to move around on a daily basis. 350lbs. would be about my upper limit.

[Tom Trees]

An ACM SNAC 440 or re-badged ala Laguna/Felder/Griggio/Bridgewood 440 mm wheeled saw would be my suggestion so.
Screenshot-2022-10-13 Griggio Band Saw 240 Volt Good working condition eBay.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/nLzzYJzh/Screen...tion-e-Bay.png

Might look more appealing with a bit of spit and polish!
Screenshot-2022-10-13 ACM BS 440 Vertical Band Saw (vat 20% is included in the price ) eBay.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/0NM61vqH/Screen...rice-e-Bay.png

A compact wee saw really
acm snac.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/jdB0kYZj/acm-snac.jpg

Or...an MM16.
That'd be my 2cents for what it's worth.

Good luck hunting.
Tom

[Bill Dufour]

What about the Hitachi with a 5hp motor swapped in?
Bill D

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Large wheel size is largely beneficial. I think it is more important to have large wheels than large H.P. (although you really need both). Re-saw blades on small wheels work harden quickly and put a lot of stress on the tracking and tensioning.

[Larry Edgerton]

What about the Hitachi with a 5hp motor swapped in?
Bill D

Excellent saw. Actually the motor that came on them is NOT weak, It just makes a a god-awful racket that grates at your very soul. Sold mine, miss it. I sold it when I bought an Oliver 36, and I could never get the Oliver to saw as good as the hitachi.

[Tom M King]

I have a 24" bandsaw that I keep a 1" blade on, but my most used bandsaw is a 65 pound 10" that keeps a 1/4" blade on it. If you're going to cut a lot of that 8/4 Maple, get a big one. If not much, pay someone else to do that and get a small one. It all depends on what you're going to do and how much room and money you have to put in it.