Hi everyone. Warning, long post ahead:-) I've had a piece of bandsaw from Menards now for a couple years that fails me each time I try to get anything done with it. Even trying to cut a straight line in 3/4 inch basswood leaves less than stellar results. What I want to accomplish is re sawing hardwood stock into thin sheets so that I can build dollhouse furniture. I've historically used store bought basswood in different widths and thickness but I'd like to be able to resaw my own material from bowl blanks. Would a bandsaw in the $700-$1000 range allow me to make accurate 1/8 or 1/16 thick slices?
I recently stumbled upon a bandsaw video on youtube where a Carter representative demonstrated how to set up a bandsaw for resaw. I learned a few things from watching that video but what shocked me the most was that he claimed that a properly tuned bandsaw would resaw thick hardwood into thin slabs without making any sort of adjustments for bandsaw drift. The only tuning he performed was the alignment of the blade gullets to the center of the wheel instead of centering the whole blade itself. In addition he set the bearings so they weren't in contact with the blade and claimed that contact with the back bearing was the biggest cause of drift. I find this very contradictory to everything I've ever watched or read. If this is true then why does Carter itself sell an aftermarket fence and why do most decent bandsaws have adjustable ones? This has really confused me. I'd love to take his word for it and order me up a nice bandsaw but I have a feeling that this is highly debated.
Anyway, aside from the bandsaw drift point, I'd really like to know how accurate a good bandsaw will resaw hardwood. I've tried tuning my crappy bandsaw per the Carter video but I'm definitely not getting my saw to cut straight without adjusting for drift. Like I said my tension system is broken but I managed to rig it up to the point of adjusting it with a socket wrench but I have no way of telling how much tension I've applied. Going back to the Carter video, the gentleman exclaims that using the built in gauge is not as accurate as adjusting tension using the method of pushing on the blade to see if it flexes no more than an eighth of an inch.
If you're still with me I would appreciate some feedback. I just want to level set my expectations with reality as it relates to bandsaw performance before I drop some coin on an upgrade. I have more questions but this post is long enough so I'll reserve them for later down the thread.