Band Saws/Drum Sanders

[musicman2000]

So which tool do you think would be more beneficial for building - a band saw or drum sander? It would be nice to have both, but my work area is 8' x 6'. If a band saw,what size?

Tom

[ruby@magpage.com]

Tom
As usual, it depends. If you are going to build guitars from scratch, then both tools are very very helpful. If you are going to build mostly kits, or use mostly prepared wood, then the sander isn't so important but the band saw can be more so.

If you are going to re-saw larger pieced of wood into thinner pieces, then a high quality bandsaw is important for consistent results, although the blade is as important as the saw, and a 14 or 16" saw with a tall throat would be helpful. If you aren't going to re-saw then an inexpensive 12" bandsaw would work just fine.

A good hand plane can stand in for a drum sander, and a good frame and coping saw saw can stand in for a bandsaw.

Ed

[glasalle1]

Thats a tough question because the bandsaw and my Performax 10-20 are my most utilized power tools. Clearly, if it is truly an either or, the bandsaw would be first. I used a very shard hand plane to thickness my plates in the beginning, and it worked quite well. That said, the 10-20 doesn't take up that much room, and is a huge time saver. I also had a very small area to work in... is it possible to put the bandsaw in the garage? Thats what I did, and brought my wood out to the garage, then when done, bring it back to my shop. I dont think it mattered much having the bandsaw in an environment that wasnt humidity controlled - the wood is only out for a short time.

Glenn

[Darryl Young]

Do you have a table saw? If so go with the drum sander.

You can do most bandsaw work with a jig saw except re-sawing and that is never required to build.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

If you can't get both, get the bandsaw first..the biggest and best you can afford and handle.........if you plan to build lots of guitars.
A drum sander is like extra fudge on the sundae. I thicknessed my first 4 guitar sides, backs and tops using a pneumatic sander before I scored my drum sander.

Kevin

[RobbieC]

I only have a little 10" Delta bandsaw but it's easily the most used power tool in my shop. I cut bone blanks to size for saddles and nuts, cut jigs out of plexi, cut aluminum to make tools or coverplates, cut out pickguards, bridges, etc. Only thing that gets the same kind of workout are my bench sanders.