Craftsman 10" Bandsaw - First Impression

[Scottydont]

Let me start by saying I have owned a Ridgid 14" and a Jet 14" Bandsaw and I am a tool trader by nature. I sold the first to upgrade and the second to make space. My shop is 10x14 so space is a challenge. I looked at how much I was using the capacity of the 14" saws. I did not do much resawing. Mostly cutting pen blanks and flat stock. I really hated the 9" "why bother" models there were out there. I heard about the Rikon and Craftsman 10". They are nearly identical except the CM comes with a Cast iron table which is larger than I thought it would be. I am not crazy about most Craftsman power tools but I bought the CM anyway. There was very little to assemble and after checking the table for flatness and the squared everthing up. It was almost dead on right out of the box. The roller guides are great for such a small saw. I gave it it's first test cutting some 3/4" oak. Wow, was I impressed! Smooth, plenty of power for a saw that size, cut straight as an arrow with very little drift. That was the stock blade! I could not be more pleased for $139 bucks. If you need a bandsaw for woodturning prep or small projects I would recommend the Craftsman without hestitation.

[Ken Weaver]

I've been thinking about the same one - or perhaps the 12". Did you look at both or just spring for the 10?

[ted van halen]

I don't mean to hi-jack the thread but here goes. Ken, I recently bought the 12" model. I posted in another thread about it's quality. I did a test cut today on piece of 5" heart pine. I've got some lessons to learn on how to get nice straight cuts but the saw didn't even know it was cutting anything. I can't say enough good things about it so far. FWIW, I'm normally not a fan of CM power tools as I feel they are over-priced/rated for power. This band saw has me re-thinking that.

Ted

[Scottydont]

I've been thinking about the same one - or perhaps the 12". Did you look at both or just spring for the 10?

I definately does not have the power of it's bigger brothers but is extremely well put together both in design and features. I think as long as one has reasonable expectations given it's size and power you'ld be pretty happy with it.

[drumpriest]

I have the 14" and I can't be happier with the performance. I would imagine that this saw scales down well. I've heard nothing but good about these saws, and the orion build table saws. And CF has the bosch made router. The craftsman pro series seems to be mostly good stuff. I think they got a black eye of bad rep for a while, and are making up for it.

Most of the stuff is pricier than the same unit sold elsewhere, but sometimes not.