Time for new bandsaw??

[James Nugnes]

This is a popular topic but I thought I would start a new thread to add some context as it relates to the market for new "value" oriented bandsaws today as opposed to maybe three years ago at least IMO. Give people a chance to comment over a broader range of topics. I mention three brands and types in this thread...Rikon, Grizzly and the Steel City Blue Line.

I have a Rikon 10-305. I am a woodcarver. So my use is mainly with the carter scroll attachment cutting carving blocks. I have to admit that even as I was buying it 2-3 years ago I was grumbling about the 1/3 horse motor. I thought it would not be long before I might run into a bit of trouble. I was willing to give it a shot as I was much interested in the added throat depth for a 10" and figured that it can't be that underpowered. Why extend the throat allowing thicker wood and then put a motor on the thing that will struggle? Silly me!

I have found that the bandsaw has worked fine. It has not broken down....not needed much in the way of adjustment. However as I have moved through my carving life, I have also moved up in wood sizes and find myself regularly working on at least 3" thicknesses of basswood mainly. The 10-305 and its issues with thickness are logarithmic, not serial. It will hack through 2.5+ thicknesses like nothing but bog seriously at 3". It will get through it but even with a new blade just installed....it has trouble. Now i am already down to a 4 TPI blade at 0.25". I can go to a 3 TPI 3/8" blade but then my Carter scroll attachment won't fit. That might not be much of an issue though as I have found that the Carter scroll attachment really does not give me more ability. Once you learn how to use your bandsaw, you can make most of the curve cuts you run into without that attachment I think and the attachment encourages you to take radius of turn too far...you end up risking kinking the blade on occasion...not good. So I might be willing to sacrifice the scroll attachment and just go back to regular guides. But I cannot get over the feeling that just going 4 TPI to 3 TPI on the blade is not going to do much for me.

In addition, I find myself none too thrilled with Rikon lately. They have started marketing the 10-305 as a "beginners" bandsaw. There is no such thing. You get the bandsaw that you think will work for you. A 10" bandsaw will hack your fingers off as fast as a 14" bandsaw. Plus while Rikon had a pretty good 14" a few years ago, one I probably should have purchased, they have fit this middling 14" above the the 10" and increased the price of the decent 14" big time. Really torques me off. The Steel City 10" with half horse motor was not around when I got the Rikon and I was a little worried about where I would put my bandsaw (any size) and decided against all 14" saws at the time hoping the Rikon would work out. Frankly, I doubt the 1/2 horse motor on the Steel City 10" would have done much for me anyway although there are many 14" bandsaws out there with half horse motors.

So I am thinking the Grizzly G0555LX might be in order. Seems to me that as long as Shipping does not destroy it, you are likely to get a pretty decent bandsaw at a reasonable as opposed to unreasonable price for a tool going into a small woodworking shop. Staggering to me that Grizzly seems to have managed to put so many good bandsaw features on a saw costing less than $700.00.

So here I am today wondering:
- am I right about a 3 TPI, 3/8" blade vs a 4 TPI, 1/4" blade...meaning going to the 3 TPI on the 10-305 is not likely to do much for me
- Would a 1/2 horse motor on a 10" bandsaw (ala the Steel City 10") have had a big impact on the thickness of wood issue
- Will the Grizzly G0555LX 1 horse 14" likely cut through my 3" or maybe even 3.5" basswood more or less the way the 10-305 handles 2.5" thick stock"
- Will I get other functionality out of the Grizzly that I don't have now....like ability to resaw and cut down larger basswood stock to smaller)....or ability to cut other woods better than a 10-305 is ever going to cut them.

Feel free to just post your comments regarding my questions...wail away at me and my comments if you like....wail away at the industry in general or just post your opinions regarding my specific questions.

Most if not all of you guys know way more about bandsaws than I do...so I am mightily interested on your take on this stuff

[Jim Finn]

I bought the Grizzly GO555 in 2008 mainly for re-sawing maple and cedar. I bought the riser and re-saw fence with it. I regularly re-saw 8" boards and this saw does a great job PROVIDED that you get the right blade! I now use a "Supercut" 1/2" 3TPI hook carbide band saw blade , and it works great. Better than the Woodsaver saw blade I had used in the past. I pay $28 for this blade and it out lasts the Woodsaver blade by a factor of five or more. "Supercut" also sells other size blades but I only use the re-saw blade.

[John Coloccia]

Well, I've said it once and I'll say it again: You should never ask your drinking buddies if they think you should have another beer. So the obvious answer is yes, you should get another bandsaw. A more nuanced answer is the 10-305 is a cute little saw, and it has it's uses, but it also has limitations that you're running into. The G0555 will not limit you...not until you get into serious resawing, or perhaps cutting large turning blanks.

I would check out the 14" Rikon in that price range as well. I think they're both decent saws. I have a G0555 myself that I've dedicated to curve cutting. I've seen and used the 14" Rikon and it's nice too...and maybe has a better bearing adjustment system stock. You can probably get the Rikon from a local Woodcraft and save shipping, so it will probably be very close in price to the Grizzly. Then I'd toss a fine, 1/8" blade on the small Rikon and dedicate that to your thinner work.

[Phil Barrett]

I have 2 bandsaws - a Griz G0555 and a Harbor Freight 14" delta clone. Both are excellent saws. (I'm giving the HF to my BIL) I really like my Griz. With a 1 HP motor, I've yet to bog it down, even going through 8/4 Jatoba (super dense). I think the 555 would eat 6" basswood for breakfast... Stock, the 555 will cut up to 6". I'm pretty sure it would bog down on something like 12/4 Ipe, though.

That said, I think a 3 TPI blade would improve the cutting on your current saw. Not sure by how much but it's a relatively cheap test. Make sure it's a skip design which helps clearing dust out of the kerf and reduces friction.

Personally, I would not bother with a move to a 1/2 HP motor. That's only going to give you a small incremental benefit. Go straight to 1 HP. If you want to save money, look on Craigs List for a used 14" saw. There are a fair number of them and they go for 200-350. There are a whole host of 14" Taiwanese delta clones out there that all work pretty well. They all come out the same factory so parts are interchangeable. It's a pretty simple design - not too much to go wrong and fairly easy to fix. My HF is a surprisingly good saw. Kind of shocking coming from Harbor Freight... Lacks amenities like tensioning lever, hinged wheel covers and thumb wheel guide adjusts but, when it comes to sawing, it can keep up with the Griz no problem. I wasn't looking to get the Griz but a super deal fell into my lap.

[Bill White]

0555LX here too. One of my "best buy" shop tools.
I keep a 1/2" x 3 tpi blade on it for general cutting, but have (and use) other blades for finer work.
I'd buy it again.
Bill

[Gus Dundon]

I use 1/2" 3 TPI band saw blade for general cutting. It works for resawing too.
I used to have a 14" band saw with 1/2 motor. It's not close to perfect for cutting thick wood. But for 10 inch
saw, I think it wouldn't be problem.
I vote for G0555LX .
Also, cutting results will not just depend on how the band saw works, it's on what band saw blade you use.
Get great quality band saw blades. I have TW and Haltbar band saw blades.

[Dan Clark]

James,

You might want to consider the Laguna 14|Twelve http://www.lagunatools.com/bandsaws/1412-Bandsaw. It has a 1-3/4hp motor and a 13" cut throat capacity. It's rated at a conservative 12" resaw capacity. It's well built and has lots of features. At $1,097, it's a great buy IMO.

Right now, Rockler has a special - $1,097 for the saw plus the $99 addon light.

Regards,

Dan.

p.s. Full disclosure - I'm going buy one of these.

[James Nugnes]

I agree Dan.....that seems like a darned good price for what I think is a very good bandsaw. It might be a little out of my price range for my purposes. However I can sure see why somebody would buy that saw. Thanks for posting and thanks to the other respondents as well.