Bandsaw Fence Advice

[steve worcester]

having owned several bandsaws from a Delta, then with riser, a Laguna 16 and now a Laguna 24(x24) the fence doesn't make the saw. Bandsaw baldes will drift from blade to balde and as long as you can adjust it out of parallel 10 degrees in either way, they all work. If you are going to resaw, the stock fence likely won't work anyway and you will have to build a tall fence that gets clamped down

[Clint Merrill]

I can certainly understand your concern however, the fence is probably the least used part of your new band saw, unless you plan to make a lot of veneers. I would like to suggest you invest about $16.00 in a great book entitled, The New Complete Guide to the Band Saw, by Mark Duginske. You will find answers to any question or concern you may have. It is a 'MUST HAVE' tutorial on the band saw. I got mine from Amazon and refer to it often. Hope this will be helpful.

[Kyle Iwamoto]

I can certainly understand your concern however, the fence is probably the least used part of your new band saw, unless you plan to make a lot of veneers. I would like to suggest you invest about $16.00 in a great book entitled, The New Complete Guide to the Band Saw, by Mark Duginske. You will find answers to any question or concern you may have. It is a 'MUST HAVE' tutorial on the band saw. I got mine from Amazon and refer to it often. Hope this will be helpful.

I agree with all the above and also reccomend the piece of wood and 2 clamps fence. Cheap, fast and easy. Some of the pros claim that you can adjust out all drift from any "good" band saw. Therefore, your stock fence should also be fine. I have a Kreg fence for my PM saw, and it usually sits on the shelf. I don't know if they make one for your saw, but there are a lot of accessories for the fence, should you still want to get an aftermarket fence. They do have a tall fence attachment for veneers.

Buy a new blade with your Rikon. The stock blade is not that great.

[Noah Barfield]

Thank you to everyone for your recommendations! Clint, I appreciate the book recommendation too. I have it on hold at my local library and look forward to reading it soon.

Kyle, do you have a blade recommendation?

Noah

[Kyle Iwamoto]

Kyle, do you have a blade recommendation? Noah

I use Timberwolf blades, there are many blades out there, and as many opinions as to which is "best". Pick one up where you get the saw. I would think any "name brand" blade will make you happy. They may even give you a reccomendation and a discount, which is always nice.

[Reed Gray]

This was the latest discussion on bandsaw blades. I prefer the Lennox blades.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...i-Metal-Blades

robo hippy

[Jeffrey J Smith]

I was a little surprised that the fence that Grizzley offers for their 14" (self proclaimed) Ultimate Band Saw hasn't been mentioned. I ordered one with the tall fence; at the time it was reasonably priced (it's been a while so I don't remember how much, but I'm notoriously cheap when it comes to my bandsaw) and a good performer based on the description a while back on the tool test in (I think) Fine Woodworking.
I'm not a bandsaw whiz, and up until lately have only used mine for cutting bowl blanks, but when I got a new blade from Highland I tried a little resawing and was surprised at how well everything tracked and what a pleasure it was to actually use the fence. Good setup, good blade and a decent fence equals effortless resawing.
I'm not that impressed with the saw itself, but the fence works great.

[Ralph Lindberg]

I also like the Grizzly fence. But a fence that adjusted to be square to the cut would sometimes be nice.

Noah, that being said, I was cutting wood for Ellen these last couple days and noticed that I actually don't use the fence that often, at least when cutting turning wood. Never for bowl, vessel, etc blanks that I cut round and seldom for spindle stock. It really doesn't have to be true and square for turning needs.

I also get my blades from Highland.

[Rob Price]

I can certainly understand your concern however, the fence is probably the least used part of your new band saw, unless you plan to make a lot of veneers. I would like to suggest you invest about $16.00 in a great book entitled, The New Complete Guide to the Band Saw, by Mark Duginske. You will find answers to any question or concern you may have. It is a 'MUST HAVE' tutorial on the band saw. I got mine from Amazon and refer to it often. Hope this will be helpful.

I'll second that. Also watch this video: http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=wGbZq...%3DwGbZqWac0jU. I've seen this guy in person twice at our local WW'ing club. Took 1/16 slices off a 8" wide chunk of wood with a straight fence and no drift. He does things just a hair differently from what you may read in some books, but I can tell you this is how I setup my bandsaw. No drift.