Band Saw

[mangorockfish]

Hello, first post. I'm new here and new to woodworking in general. I'm in the market for a new to me band saw. I would really appreciate help in deciding on one from you more experienced folk. I have a 113 series 10" Craftsman TS, and RAS, and DeWalt sliding compound miter saw in my small shop that I'm trying to get set up. I'm going to mainly be doing things for the wife, picture frames, benches, shelves, tables, etc. I like the 10", 12" as well as the 14" Craftsman saws and have missed great deals on Craigs List. Are these good choices? I want cast iron table, fence and miter slide. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Hello, first post. Looking for a new to me band saw and would appreciate any and all advice from you more experienced folks as I'm new here and to wood working in general. I have been mainly looking at the Craftsman 10",12" and 14" and like all of them and have missed good deals on Craigslist on all three. I will use it in conjunction with my other saws to make stuff or the wife such as tables, shelves, benches, etc. Thanks in advance for you help.

[capncarl]

the Delta 14" and its clones is probably the best bang for your buck. Blades and aftermarket acessories are readily available and reasonably priced. This saw has been manufactured for a long long time and is basically problem free. You will be overwhelmed by the acessories you can find when you do an internet search.
The smaller band saws I've owned were problematic with keeping the blades on the wheels, and one Craftsman was impossible to find blades for, had to have them specially made.

[Black walnut]

Having bands made special is not as big of a deal as one would think. Everything else capncarl said is spot on.

Timberwolf (Suffolk Machinery) will make bands to order as will industrial supply houses that I'm guessing every city has. The hard part might be to find one.

[JoeyGee]

I have the 10" Craftsman (the Rikon style one). I have no problems getting blades for it, but I really don't like it. It's a pain to setup and use and it doesn't stay setup for long. I have run into size issues--not even trying to resaw.

Like Carl said, the 14" Delta's and the knock offs are a good way to go. My next one will definitely be one of those.

At least for me in my area, band saws on Craigslist are rare. If I am not patient enough to save up for a Grizzly, I'll probably get the HF for around $300 and eventually upgrade the motor.

[capncarl]

In my area industrial supply Houses only make " industrial " bands, that would be 1" wide and larger. That only leaves mail order custom made bands. At least I can purchase 94" bands from Lowes and H D.
Is the Harbor Freight band saw a Delta knock off? What about the Grizzly? If you are going to purchase a 14" band saw, a Delta or clone is the best choice because of parts, acessories and bands unless you are real close to a store that sells the other saws, and feel like it will be available for a while. I have my doubts that Craftsman replacement parts will be available long enough to warrant purchasing one of their band saws now. If Sears completely collapses replacement parts may be as hard to find as BT 3 parts.

[tfischer]

The HF (Central Machinery) 4 speed 14" Woodcutting Band Saw was used by a lot of members of this forum at one time. I picked one up about 10 years ago based on these recommendations. I made a few upgrades (riser block, fence, better bearings and guide blocks, lights) and it's served me well for a long time now and I don't expect it to stop anytime soon.

I use the Timberwolf blades, mostly that I purchased when the saw was new. I finally broke a band last year when attempting some resawing... replaced that one and that's the only 'new' blade I've needed in about 10 years of owning the saw.

Suffolk ships very quickly and not having blades available at Lowes wasn't a concern with me at all.

[Black wallnut]

I, years ago, purchased the Grizzly G0555 14" saw with riser block. At the time I worked for a trucking company that had trucks drive by their hq on a regular basis so shipping was free; will call. I've several times bought bands from Suffolk Mach. I've more recently had my brother who works at Spokane Industrial Supply in Spokane make them for me. They weld bands to whatever length you need and have a good selection of pitches. I'm not sure what his client list looks like and there is not an abundance of furniture companies in the area. There are a couple, at least major cabinet companies. Anyway something warrants them to stock wood band stock. They also make metal and meat cutting bands.

That said Suffolk sells good bands and ships quickly. They'll supply any size you need.

If your interest is in long term hobby woodworking where you might take up turning or bandsaw box making consider future needs before buying. If you buy a 14" saw the 6" riser block fits most. Consider buying it as well so you don't end up with a pile of bands that are too short. If you don't plan to ever resaw or cut down bowl stock then the riser might not be an item you need.

From what I remember the Grizzly, Delta, and HF as well as a bunch of other brands are all the same basic machine. Likely all made in the same factory. The more you spend might mean better bearings. In the case of the Grizzly the guides are better, the quick release for blade tension and table are also better. Functionally the lower priced HF unit cuts just a s good once set up.

[tfischer]

There was a thread here years back where a bunch of us added quick release to the HF using some Grizzly parts. If I recall correctly, someone said that the HF saw is now significantly different so that mod no longer works, at least the way we did it.

But I love having quick release.

[cwsmith]

Perhaps it should be pointed out to the originating poster, Mangorockfish, that band saws fall basically into two design types: the cast iron, two-piece design that we're contributing to Delta and the fabricated steel frame also sometimes referred to as the European design. The cast iron style is a two-piece design consisting of the lower base and wheel housing and the upper wheel housing which is bolted together at the column. These as far as I know are made by a variety of manufacturers like Delta, Grizzly, etc.; and, in many cases share similar components. They are, as far as I've noted, mostly of the 14-inch size with depth cut capacity of around five to six inches. A "riser" block kit can be added to this design in order to increase the cut capacity, which is great if you wish to get into re-sawing. You'll need a bigger blade to go along with the riser block kit. It should be noted that not all riser kits fit all 14-inch band saws as there are occasions when the manufacturer may have modified or varied from the original design. This design is not as structurally stiff as the European-style fabricated frame. However, I do not recall ever reading of problems with the two-piece design and it is very popular.

The fabricated-steel frame can be had in almost any size from 9" to very large industrial saws. These one piece frames are fixed in size though, so you have to buy the size you think you need, both now and into the future. While the Delta-style is the most popular style for most everyone, the fabricated-steel units are often the choice for someone jumping into a bigger saw from the start. Both the Sears Craftsman 9-inch and 14-inch band saws are of the one-piece, fabricated steel design, with the 14-inch having an extended depth of cut capacity are around eight inches. Rikon's line of bandsaws are similar, with one of their 14-inch models offering an extended capacity. Similar brands like Grizzly and others may well do the same, although Grizzly does offer at least a couple models on the cast two-piece design.

Regarding the original poster, I think a 14-inch bandsaw is a pretty good, and perhaps economically wise choice for a first purchase, I think it's important to understand any constraints he my have for his "small shop". Also, he needs to understand his needs as far as the tools he wants to start off with, considering he admits to be new to woodworking.

My projects seem to be similar to what he mentions and, as yet, my band saw use is quite minimal. When I first started to imagine my woodworking needs and perhaps putting together a shop to do projects similar to what Mangorockfish stated, I place a band saw fairly near the top of my needs list. Considering the lack of room that I had, and more important, the lack of experience, I decided to buy a bench top 9-inch band saw on which I could learn the basics, still get some utility from, and yet not break the bank with that modest $100 purchase.

So here I am more than a decade later and I'm still using this little saw, mostly cutting trim curves, patterns for routing, etc. With such low needs, it sits for weeks without use. For the investment, it serves me well and I don't feel guilty because of its lack of use. When I get to a bigger shop space, I'll jump to a much bigger band saw perhaps; and in doing so, I won't feel that I've wasted the initial investment, as I've learned a lot from having it, and it will continue to fulfill the same purpose when I don't need to fire up a much larger unit.

All the points made regarding blade availability, etc. are excellent points. If I were to buy a new bandsaw today, I'd probably look to something larger than a 14" and go with the fabricated steel design as I'd look for re-saw capacity in the area of 10" or better.

Band saw features are quite important, IMO. Things like cast-wheels, a window in the upper housing to aid in tracking adjustment, tension quick-release, both upper and lower wheel brushes, and easily adjustable blade guide support and thrust bearings. Also great table features with good support trunions, a decent fence, tilt ability, etc. But much of this depends on the size of the bandsaw.

So much of one's choice in tools depends on our needs for accomplishing a project and dropping money on something we're not quite sure of yet seems to be approached with some consideration.

CWS

[mpc]

I started with the Craftsman 10" model many years ago. It's one of the fabricated-steel frame/Euro style saws and looks a lot like Rikon's small 10" band saw. The tables are a little bit different as are the trunions (table support structure) but many other parts are interchangeable. I recently had to replace a tire on one wheel (the rubber strap that the blade rides on to protect the metal blade from the metal wheel) and the Sears parts center bag had a sticker on it "fits Rikon 10 inch band saw" or something like that. It has been a great little saw. I modified mine, removing the trunion and table and making a flat table that bolts to the original trunion supports. This lowered the table about an inch which in turn increased the "resaw" capacity by an inch. It's just over 6 inches now which is a nice size for "band saw box" projects.

I also now have the Rikon 10-325 band saw - a 14" Euro style. Sweet saw. The 10-325 has a large resaw capacity - about 13 inches. So it can resaw as much as the typical "Delta" style 14" saw equipped with a riser kit.

So what would you need/want? As with almost every tool choice in woodworking it depends on the type of projects you want to do. Band saws are great for making large curved pieces especially in thicker materials where a hand-held jigsaw simply isn't an option. Band saw cuts tend to be cleaner than jigsaw cuts too. If you have the ability to use "raw" lumber - stuff that may be rough on the faces and is thicker than a typical board - using the band saw to "resaw" that thick board into two or more thinner boards gives you all sorts of possibilities. Resawing yields "book matched" panels for example. A typical band saw with a 6 inch or so resaw capacity (the maximum distance from the table top to the upper blade guides when the guide assembly is raised as high as it'll go) can make small book matched door panels (up to a foot wide basically) while a 14" band saw with a riser kit or a Euro style built with a large resaw capacity can resaw around 11 to 13 inches... so a book matched panel can be as much as two feet wide! (table tops!) A 9 or 10" band saw will do okay for smaller projects, especially making curved templates or cutting curves into the edges of boards (decorative shapes)... but may not have the oomph to do much with thick hardwoods for example. A 14" band saw can do all that plus handle beefier material typically. The price jump from 14" to 18" or larger is pretty big... 14" inch is a bit of a sweet spot.

As for blades... there are a few common sizes though many blade makers will custom build a blade to any length your saw requires for about the same price as a "stock" size blade.. "Brazing" blades yourself is a simple skill to learn; Woodcraft has a little kit to make it fairly easy too though I use a regular MAPP gas torch rather than Woodcraft's little gizmo. Then you can repair a blade you busted, or shorten a "stock" blade a few inches to fit your saw, or even make your own blades from large rolls of blade stock. My Craftsman 10" saw needs blades 70 1/2 inches long... not impossible to find online but they were not stocked in local stores for that "I need it now" situation. I used to buy commonly available 72 inch blades and cut out a bit around the factory joint and re-braze them. Took about 10 minutes to do which was mostly setup time. Easy-peasy. Now a local store stocks 70 1/2 blades so I haven't had to shorten one in a while. The Rikon 14" takes a little different size from most other high-resaw capacity band saws but it's readily available.

Personally, I view a 14 inch band aw as roughly equivalent to a 10 inch table saw: a nice compromise between capacity, ability, and costs. But if you don't foresee yourself needing to resaw boards then a smaller band saw will save you some money. Looking at the project types you listed, I don't see an immediate need for a band saw unless book matching is part of your project designs. A jointer plus thickness planer or drum sander might benefit you more.

Using a band saw is pretty fun... and certain projects (like band saw boxes) can only be done on a band saw. It and the lathe are tools that lend themselves to weekend fun projects.

mpc

[d_meister]

Don't give up on Craig's List. I found a "General" brand 14" band saw that must have been made by the same foundry that made the Delta. $85. Replaced some missing bits right from the Delta parts list. Point is, if you limit your search to Delta, you could pass by one of the half-brothers.

[mangorockfish]

About three weeks ago, I found a 14" Craftsman saw on CL. I had gone to look at a 12" and the guy had this 14" he was keeping for himself, but then put it on CL. I had already seen it and checked it out so when I realized it was that one, I called and told him I'd take it. He had a Ryobi router table with a Craftsman router attached and I told him I'd take it too. He wanted $310 for both and said he wouldn't come down very much. When I got there, he showed me that one of the tires was broken so he started discounting it and I ended up with both for $240. It had cast iron frame, table, miter slide and fence. The router set-up was also very nice and clean. After I got them home, cleaned them up more, replaced the tires and tuned it up am very satisfied with both. They look and perform like new and were only about 12 -15 miles from my house. Good purchase and made a new friend.

[tfischer]

So if you're a genuine poster I don't mean to be harsh, but your post (and many of your other posts) are coming off as very suspicious. Your link above has nothing to do with band saws (that I can see) and you have awoken a year and a half old thread to post it.

[Carlos]

I'm pretty convinced he's a spammer. Nothing in his post has anything to do with this thread, but he doesn't know enough about tools to recognize that.

[Black walnut]

I agree. Spammer banned.