Ok. I know I know. There are tons of band saw threads here on the creek in other forums. But they are all so focused on things that just don't matter to me. Things like how clean is the resawn surface after cutting? I get why that would be important. Being able to cut larger things down into smaller thinner boards I suppose for furniture making, cabinents etc... is a great capability to have.

But I don't do that kind of thing. I am just a wood turner. So what I want to do now and for the foreseeable future is to prep wood for turning. Lately I have been using logs I got from neighbors this spring to make my blanks. Where I used to buy pre-rounded blanks from that big auction site. I tried turning one that was literally just half a log. It worked but man it took some serious time to get it even remotely rounded/true. An hour to get close enough to get up to speed and then 30 minutes to rough turn the bowl. Would have been seriously faster and more fun to saw it to a rough round shape first.

However my band saw is a 50+ year old Craftsman band saw. It is a workhorse and a great saw. But it has a cutting depth of about 4". If I get the guard smashed up into the top of the stop I can get about 5". But that is it.

So these logs I was working on that were 12" or so in diameter were a waste. I just couldn't get a good enough cut just thanks to the nature of the log itself. Oh it helped a bit but I broke the blade trying to get that one little bit closer. That was at once both frustrating and unhelpful.

I have for some time been thinking about getting a new band saw. I have I fear fallen into the trap of reading too darn much on the internet. Every saw out there gets both good and bad reviews. Those that love it are often short and those that hate the product are long, bitter and detailed.

For instance the $1800 Jet 18" band saw is a joke for some. You read the reviews and it is beyond useless to them with every problem in the book. For them only a "$5k or greater saw..." actually has any use. Others love the $230 Ridgid band saw, which of course has just about as many haters.

So if nothing works well, is a good purchase, is always a decent product then what? Follow suit for Mark Normal and build my own out of Concrete? I suppose I could though lacking his skills I expect I would make something even worse that the above mentioned bad reviews.

So I thought I would ask here. Since most of you are, like me, a turner at heart I thought I would see if any of you actually had a reasonable recommendation for me?

Now having said that I am just a turner you never know when a repair or simple project will come up. I would like to have at least a fighting chance to get decently straight cuts at some point in the future if needed. But 99% of my time using the saw will be to prep blanks for the lathe.

So I was leaning towards the Ridgid BS with a riser block just to get to 12" so I could but anything I was likely to turn. Seeing Alan Lacer cut a log in half to make a pair of blanks on his bandsaw in one of his DVDs looked great to me. No need for a chainsaw each time etc... But I have read so many people saying that they can bog down a 14" bandsaw with a riser block constantly trying to do things like that. To get that I thought perhaps a grizzly, the larger HF saw, or even a Rikon 14" deluxe.

But at some point the saws become more costly that it is worth for my planned use. However buying junk has gotten me into trouble in the past. So I want to spend the right amount for a good tool. How is that for a rambling summary.

So if anyone has any experience/words of wisdom from a turners perspective I would really like to have it.

Thanks,
Joshua