Wished I hadn't looked at this. Grizzly has them on sale. Sale ends tomorrow...Originally Posted by John TenEyck
Contributor
Wished I hadn't looked at this. Grizzly has them on sale. Sale ends tomorrow...
Regards,
Kris
Contributor
Sorry for posing the temptation. IMO, and experience, there is no better saw for the money, and likely no better saw in that size range, than the G0636X. Of course, I'm biased since I own one, but if you compare specs, including weight, you'll see it's at the top of the heap. If you plan to never sell the saw, it's the best value saw out there. However, if you see yourself selling it down the road, you likely would get higher $'s out of a MiniMax, Felder, Hammer, or Laguna, because people perceive them as better, as you saw someone here state.
FWIW, I inadvertently put 42 ksi on a 1" Woodmaster CT, and the spring had plenty of capacity left. Moreover, the guides did not go out of plane. It is a very robust machine. And it means that it could easily tension a 1-1/4" blade to 25 ksi should one wish to use one for whatever reason. There is a least one saw in the list above that cannot apply 25 ksi to a 1" blade. A search here should tell you which.
John
Contributor
Big saws are nice for: larger table, bigger throat capacity (forgetting to plan for the column is pretty annoying), and overall cutting power (blade speed, wider blade, etc.)
But, are you sure you need to resaw? (veneer? bookmatched panels? milling?)
or are you expecting to use it more as a powered rip saw to be followed by hand work?
For the projects you listed, a bandsaw sounds very useful for chair work; less so for table. And boxes would depend on the type of box...
I've got a 10" inca (nice small bandsaw) and a minimax 16" (similar to the grizzly).
The minimax makes me smile when I use it (particularly for milling), but my tablesaw and smaller bandsaw get a lot more use for most of my projects.
Jim Tolpin is another advocate of bandsaw as the powered tool to complement hand tools. Unfortunately, haven't seen any project videos from him.
IMO, bandsaws can be pretty bad for dust -- I'd recommend planning for running a shop vac with an undertable collection shroud (search for rob cosman video on bandsaw dust collection)
Matt
Contributor
Matthew you forgot to mention a attribute of a large diameter wheel bandsaw. A longer blade. At almost 15ft a carbon steel blade for my saw only cost 27 dollars from my saw service. It lasts a very long time.
I plan to buy coils and solder my own regular carbon steel blades it looks like I might be able to get that cost down to 10 or 12 dollars.
Longer blades cost slightly more last much longer
Good Luck
Aj
Contributor
I got the same e-mail, and came really close to ordering one on impulse. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed!! One day i may have a larger bandsaw, and 16" of cutting height would be ideal for cutting bowl blanks out of logs (standing vertically)--but this is not the time for me.
Contributor
Earl - funny, I unsubscribed from the Grizzly emails and didn't see it until I saw John's post. That said, I am in the same boat as you and will wait for now.
Regards,
Kris
Contributor
If it was me I would add a second outlet to the dryer circuit. You can easily not use the saw when the other is doing laundry. Until I added extra circuits I had an extension cord and I would unplug the dryer, run the cord down to the basement. It wasn't ideal but you do what you have to.
Contributor
Not really. There are many sources who will make any length bandsaw blade you want. Bandsaw blade material comes on a roll, cut off what you need and weld it. You're not going to go to your nearest big box store and buy a 133" bandsaw blade for example but somebody like https://www.bandsawbladesdirect.com, http://www.spectrumsupply.com/band-saw-blades.aspx or businesses like them will make whatever you need.
As far as resawing with a small saw, I have a Rikon 10-325 14" steel saw. It has a 1.75 HP motor and around 12" resaw capacity. I've resawed about 10" with it but I had to take my time and be careful to not overfeed it. It works for the occasional resaw but if resawing were any kind of frequent operation I'd want more saw. I've read where big stout band saws and track saws no table saws are more common in Europe, don't know how true that is.
Last edited by Curt Harms; 10-29-2023 at 12:07 PM.
[OP]
Member
Percentage-wise, how often do you feel like you're resawing needs have required more than six inch capacity?
I'm still undecided what I'm going to do. Much of the reason I'm even looking into bandsaws is because of how much I hate my table saw. A couple kickbacks and then seeing just how gruesome those wounds can be...I didn't even use it for the bedframe I recently built, and I'll likely never use it again. Anyway, some of what the other guys have said lead me to believe I need to consider details, like electric needs I wasn't taking into the equation. From a financial perspective I just don't see that in the cards in the next two years. This thread has been somewhat discouraging to me, and is pushing me even more so into the Neanderthal mentality. It really seems like it's an all or nothing viewpoint most seem to hold in here. Perhaps it's time to build a kerfing saw, frame saw and see how how much resawing "needs" I actually have. They say necessity is the mother of invention. Perhaps by going without I'll discover other interesting techniques to work around the lack of a big, beautiful bandsaw.
I think I'm going to pivot back to thinking about my workbench needs for this winter, but taking an eventual bandsaw purchase into the equation for its build. Perhaps I'll work on a few smaller projects with my kids until this spring. Like picture frames, shelves, or some small bedside tables, etc. for now.
Contributor
I think your on the right track. A lot of what you write makes sense to me and mirrors what how I process wood for my amateurish projects.
I rip wood far more on my bandsaw then my table saw. It’s not because I don’t like my tablesaw I have a nice vintage saw that runs super smooth and cuts greats.
I use rough sawn boards when I can and prefer slab size.
Good Luck
Aj
Contributor
Look for a used 14" cast iron Delta. You should be able to find one in good shape for less than $500. It will run on 120V. It can resaw up to 6", slowly, but well enough, 100 times easier than doing it by hand. If you look at what people spend on hand tools, you'll find basic, used power tools to be a bargain.
If you are scared of your table saw, you should get an experienced woodworker to review basic use techniques with you.
John
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