14" Taiwanese band saw $279 new

[Tony_in_NYC]

If I were to buy a band saw, I would want to be able to resaw guitar sized pieces of wood. Thus, I would need at least a 9" resaw capacity. I dont see any need for a small one in my shop, but then again, I dont have one, so I do not know what I am missing.

[kencierp]

No matter what the brand or capacity -- if the saw has less then 2 HP, even with a "new blade" the performance cutting 9" boards will be marginal and may it not even be able to cut the exotics -- been there done it. $.02

[deadedith]

Like I said, I did NOT get this for resaw capability. I'm dang happy with it. It is exactly what I needed..
DaveB

[kencierp]

Dave,
As we have PM each other -- I believe the Craftsman is an excellent choice -- if it is half a good as my zillion year old 12" craftman it is truly a steal. My follow up comment about power requirements was for those that had indicated re-sawing was their shopping/process concern.

[deadedith]

Understood. No offense taken, I thought there might be some guys out there who were thinking "Gads now I need a big ol' honkin' band saw, even 12" is not enough" and wanted them to know that it just ain't so.
No problem.
DaveB

Of course, no one really says 'gads'...

[Tony_in_NYC]

Understood. No offense taken, I thought there might be some guys out there who were thinking "Gads now I need a big ol' honkin' band saw, even 12" is not enough" and wanted them to know that it just ain't so.
No problem.
DaveB

Of course, no one really says 'gads'...

WHAT?!?!?
I went out and bought this saw based on your recommendation that it was the best since sliced olive loaf!!! Well...you owe me some money sir. And I intend to collect.


DaveB,
I am kidding of course. I did not, not will I be buying a band saw. I do not do anything other than build a couple of guitars a year. I dont need a band saw for that. Of course, the same could be said for my drum sander. But I digress. A small bandsaw definitely has its uses, but I am doing OK without one. Maybe one day though.
On an unrelated note and in the category of, "How the heck did I do that and not notice for so freaking long?" I was profiling a fretboard on Saturday evening and I was really having a tough time. I could not get the shavings to come out nicely at all. They were all crimped into zig-zag shapes. I had just sharpened the blade and it was sharp enough to shave the hairs off of my arm without pulling so I was really confused. After adjusting the depth of cut several times, I finally turned the plane over and looked at the blade. Wouldnt you know, I had the darn thing in upside down?? A quick flip of the blade and I was making gossamer like shavings in no time! Funny how you can do the same thing 50 times and not have an issue, and ONE time, you make one misstep and it causes all sorts of problems.
FYI: I was still really confused after I sorted the blade issue out, but that is my general state of mind since I got this GIANT truckload of poplar dumped in my driveway. Not sure why it is here though.....

[deadedith]

Oh good, the first truckload of poplar got there....
DaveB

[johnnparchem]

I use my bandsaw a lot, almost every time I am in my shop, but very little of what I do has me sawing anything greater than 4 inches (profiling a neck). I do see resawing 4-6 inches tall to get a book match for a rosette. All of the tonewood I have bought so far is already resawn.

Having said that I like the idea of thinking I could resaw.

[Tony_in_NYC]

Oh good, the first truckload of poplar got there....
DaveB

How many loads are there? I am going to get rich selling this stuff as firewood! I mean making guitars!

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Okay..what is going on. I just spent the last 15 minutes composing a wonderful essay length response, and then I clicked "submit" and it has gone to nowwhere land.
Sean, is there a problem here? This has happened a couple of other times to me.

Kevin