Timber framing bandsaws - Do you ever use it on projects besides timber framing?

[Edward Weber]

If you go the, rough it out and clean it up with a router, route. You could always use a circularsaw/chainsaw cutter like the Prazi or similar.
https://www.praziusa.com/12-beam-cutter-model-pr-2700/
It would hog out the bulk at least, making less work for the router.
I would drill a few strategically placed through holes and connect the dots

[brent stanley]

I have had the opposite experience with the Mafell bandsaw, but only after a tune up on the saw, proper tensioning and not being timid on blade changes at the first signs of degradation (a thing with all bandsaws it seems...) and a short tutorial from the owner of Timberwolf Tools (many years ago now...can't remember his name...) Prior to this it was designated for curved work and joinery cuts were not attempted or reliable.

It is typically advertised for scroll / curved work and I'm sure that's what 99.9% use it for, but I found it extremely versatile, as accurate as the reference surface it was bearing on (even at 12" thick cuts), and a huge time saver on certain tenoning and notching work once the saw was tuned and dialed. Of course, circular saws and handsaws can do this work as well, but in with a big frame to cut with a lot of straight tenons / end notches, etc it was a game changing tool to have around in a timber framing shop. Just my experience.

I will try and hunt down some old photos of different joinery cuts I made. A lot of these shoulder / crosscuts would have likely been made with a beam saw but many of the rip / cheek / notched cuts were made with the Mafell bandsaw; some of these are 12x tall.

All of this aside - the answer to the original question in the thread is still No, not very useful or valuable outside of a timber framing context, imo.

I should say it wasn't reliable enough for me to cut to a pencil line on a deep, green timber. I got some good cuts out of it in well behaved timber, but not reliably enough for me to go all in and cut to a line on a $1000 timber I had no extras of.

[Phillip Mitchell]

How many cuts are we talking about here and what is the design / nature of the curve?

If the qty isn't massive, I would honestly look into a quality bow saw / frame saw (ie: hand tool) for this if it was one-off work and do them by hand with a template for laying out.

At 4x or thinner you can get away with a jigsaw / template router / Milwaukee portaband, etc but 6x (+) starts to become a different game with tooling capabilities and $4-8k for a specialized bandsaw just isn't going to be a good return unless you just want it and are getting into to timber framing. Just my own opinion and experience here.

[Phillip Mitchell]

I should say it wasn't reliable enough for me to cut to a pencil line on a deep, green timber. I got some good cuts out of it in well behaved timber, but not reliably enough for me to go all in and cut to a line on a $1000 timber I had no extras of.

Sure, that makes sense. I can say that often I wasn't working with extremely green timber. More like mildly green, but somewhat shop aged timbers and mostly softwoods like Doug Fir, western, port orford, Alaskan yellow cedar and cypress and not Oak or White Pine. I could see how wet sawdust rip cuts could give the saw a bit of trouble compared to more crispy timber.

[brent stanley]

Sure, that makes sense. I can say that often I wasn't working with extremely green timber. More like mildly green, but somewhat shop aged timbers and mostly softwoods like Doug Fir, western, port orford, Alaskan yellow cedar and cypress and not Oak or White Pine. I could see how wet sawdust rip cuts could give the saw a bit of trouble compared to more crispy timber.

I do believe the soggy sawdust was certainly the issue. I got to the point where I could really go at a surprising pace through 6x material with that saw. It's all feel really...you just come to know with time in when you're holding it just right.

[Cameron Wood]

One of those was for sale on Craigslist near me recently. Good for decorative corbels, but it's been years since the last job with those.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Several years ago, at AWF, there was an articulated band saw cutting stair treads automatically (CNC.) If you had a friend who was handy in metal fabrication and welding, it wouldn't be too hard to duplicate. Because of the size of your beams, is it possible to just use a 14" band saw upright mounted to a two axis trolley with an old auto hub to hold saw, allowing it to pivot. In my first year of college, I worked in a laminated beam plant. Our band saws were on four swivel casters.

[andrew whicker]

If you go the, rough it out and clean it up with a router, route. You could always use a circularsaw/chainsaw cutter like the Prazi or similar.
https://www.praziusa.com/12-beam-cutter-model-pr-2700/
It would hog out the bulk at least, making less work for the router.
I would drill a few strategically placed through holes and connect the dots

I was looking at those too.. we'll see how much money I have to play with. I was also looking at the 12 in wide hand planers. Which are expensive

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Several years ago, at AWF, there was an articulated band saw cutting stair treads automatically (CNC.) If you had a friend who was handy in metal fabrication and welding, it wouldn't be too hard to duplicate. Because of the size of your beams, is it possible to just use a 14" band saw upright mounted to a two axis trolley with an old auto hub to hold saw, allowing it to pivot. In my first year of college, I worked in a laminated beam plant. Our band saws were on four swivel casters.

This thread has me thinking about that idea too. My 14 inch bandsaw is on 4 swivel casters. I have never tried sawing by driving it around. I can imagine that working if it moved much more freely and two people were able to work together in a very coordinated way.

An articulated bandsaw video



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[Roger Feeley]

Some years ago, I saw a short article in FWW where a guy needed to cut some big bent laminations. Rather han try to pilot the wood through the bandsaw, he built a base for the bandsaw that turned it into a hovercraft. Then he could easily maneuver the bandsaw through the beam.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

There was an episode on TOH IIRC where a contractor was doing something similar and had what was I believe, a 14" bandsaw mounted on a wheeled base to make the cuts.

[Doug Rasmussen]

I totally understand where you're coming from. I used to build pergolas and faced a similar dilemma. If you're only tackling these kinds of projects once in a while, dropping $8k on a bandsaw might not be the best move. Renting one or borrowing from a friend for those special jobs could be a smart way to go. That way, you can save the cash for other tools or just pocket the difference.

[Edward Weber]

Let me just say that for those pondering using swivel casters and a 14" bandsaw, don't bother.
Unless you have a mirror flat floor, the best casters available and flawless dust collection, you will not get the smooth motion of travel you need.
You really need a smooth acting mechanism like the articulated saws or the cut will suffer, then what's the point.
A heavy 3 point pivoting arm attached to a base or bench are going to yield much better results.

Have you ever move your bandsaw and had to change direction on a dime?

[Dan Cameron]

What if you mounted a standard bandsaw on a 4 Wheel dolly and made some sawhorses the appropriate height for the bandsaw then you could move the saw instead of the stock. In the field a sheet or two of 3/4” plywood on the ground would make a flat surface for the dolly.

I vaguely remember a TOH episode of many years ago where Norm Abrams did essentially that.