Bandsaw Boxes

[Andrew Joiner]

What is the biggest bandsaw box practical?

The bigger saws don't like smaller blades. The small bandsaws are limited in resaw height.

Is it possible to take a 16" cube of solid or laminated wood and make a bandsaw box out of it? Maybe with a 3/16" or1/4" blade in a saw with a 16" resaw height ? Bandsaw box makers seem to use mostly 1/8" blades.
Is a 12" cube reasonable on a 14" saw with riser?

Most of the bandsaw boxes I see are about 6" maximum, so maybe bowing or cracking limit this.

I'm not concerned about the bigger chunks of wood cracking for this discussion. I'm more concerned about the ability of bigger saws to cut a tight radius with a small blade and still be accurate enough for bandsaw box work.

If you've done any cutting like this what saw and blade did you use?

Thank's

[Tom Esh]

Whew! That 16" solid cube is going to be heavy. I'd say that's pushing it. For sure if you've not done BS boxes before I'd start with something smaller (like half that size or less) for practice. With typical BS box construction the piece needs to fit within your resaw height so you can not only core it, but cut off the top & bottom. I wouldn't worry too much about the saw's accuracy with narrow blades since the general idea is to cut short of your curve layout lines, then shape / sand (yep, lots of sanding) the rest of the way.

[Pat Germain]

Seems to me the only limiting factor is what will fit on your band saw. And, a tiny blade isn't necessarily the best. I have the band saw box book by Lois Ventura. She explains in her experience, the smaller blades often break when cutting the boxes. She also has some pretty big boxes in that book.

I have made multiple band saw boxes on my Grizzly 17" machine. It works great.

I have heard band saw boxes should be called "sanding boxes" because there's a whole lot more sanding than cutting. I second that remark!

[Lance Norris]

The way to run a tiny blade on a big saw is with the Carter Bandsaw Stabilizer. It replaces your upper guide bearings and uses a roller guide that the blade fits into a groove in the wheel. There isnt any real reason you cant run a small blade on a big saw, its just that with roller bearing guides, its hard to control such a small blade. Most big, higher cost saws use bearing guides as opposed to guide blocks, which can hold a small blade with more control.

[William Falberg]

There IS a saw that can do that easily all day long. It's called Corbel King. I make them, so apologies to the moderators if this is spam but I think the members deserve to know the truth. I use re-set 2-3TPI 1/2" blades and you can cut 3/4" radiuses without bowing or wandering through 18" of hardwood, although if you're using the table that height is reduced to 16". Just so you all know it CAN be done and it's not hard at all. With a saw that's built for it and a custom set blade. The cost is prohibitive for the casual user but for those in the bandsaw box business it's a cheap investment.

[James Biddle]

The radius that you want to cut will determine the size blade you need. For most of my boxes, a 1/4" blade works fine. Use the biggest blade that will cut the smallest radius. The problem you'll run into with a thick chunk of wood is in keeping the blade from wandering in the cut from top to bottom. With bandsaw boxes, you frequently need to cut to a point from opposite directions. If the blade wanders at all, the cut won't meet up perfectly. If you try it, take it very slow to help avoid the blade from wandering.

[Tony Ward]

Andrew

From my experience I would not attempt to use anything less than a 1/4" blade, as suggested the risk of the blade going out of alignement or wandering when bandsawing a large block is increased.

Another consideration is the size of the motor driving the blade, the bigger the better, mine is a 2HP.

If you want to test your machine's ability to bandsaw large blocks then experiment by bandsawing the outline shape of a large block, this may give you an indication of the ability of the blade and the motor.