I am about to purchase a 14" delux Rikon band saw for $750 unless some one suggest a better saw or price. Besides general furniture making stuff i would like to Resaw some Oak tree that I cut late winter. Whats the best method to cut a 48" x 12" logs into 4/4 and 8/4 and
12/4. I will set the bandsaw up next to a work bench for the out feed side and fiqure something out for the infeed side. Now the logs are full lenght. Oak is my least favorite furniture wood but thats what I have. I have never resawd so recommendations on blades, is a cradle needed ?, cut now or let logs dry some after end sealing?,pith issues. Suggested web site on resawing?
I have been down the path of resawing green wood on a Rikon BS. I had the
18" version and IIRC all of the Rikon's have roller bearing guides. This is not a good combination for resawing/cutting green wood. The problem is that the saw dust sticks to the bearings and the blade. As the debris gets POUNDED onto the bearings and blade the noise and vibration goes up dramatically. In addition to this problem the pitch and dust is very hard to remove from the bearings and blades.
The Rikon line of BS's are a good starter set of saws. Definitely not an upgrade from any brand IMHO. I had a 12" 1/2" hp 20 year old Craftsman and was very disappointed in the performance and guide bearings on the 18" 2 hp Rikon.
Regardless of what brand you buy, I strongly recommend getting it with or immediately replacing the guide bearings with ceramic guides. These style guides do not get hot and can be adjusted extremely close to the blade. The result is that the blades stay clean and you don't get the vibration from spinning guide bearings.
One, just run it through manually, trying to keep the log from rolling in any direction. It can be done, but it's a little nervewracking and can even break blades.
Two, run the flattest side of the log over the jointer for a few passes, just enough to create a flat an inch or so wide. Then resaw it. Much easier.
I can't argue with your logic, but I recently resawed about a dozen gre= en apple logs on my Rikon 14" deluxe with no such problem. A couple appro= ached the 13" capacity of the saw. Maybe I was just lucky.
I have heard of people actually waxing the blade. I haven't done that,= but you might want to give it a try. I worry that it might make the blade = slip on the wheels.
I can't argue with your logic, but I recently resawed about a dozen green apple logs on my Rikon 14" deluxe with no such problem. A couple approached the 13" capacity of the saw. Maybe I was just lucky.
Perhaps. ;~)
I have heard of people actually waxing the blade. I haven't done that, but you might want to give it a try. I worry that it might make the blade slip on the wheels.
I would think that properly tensioned the wax would not pose a problem. Sometimes wax creates a more grabby surface and most manufacturers recomend lightly oiling the blades.
I got rid of the Rikon 2 weeks after receiving it as it was not up to my expectations performance wise. The guides were the main problem, not being able to have the blade track consistently was another.
I bought a Laguna LT16HD, it came with 10 contact point ceramic guides. All performance and adjustment problems were solved with this saw right out of the box.
I followed with great interest your experience with the Laguna.
How would you rate the Laguna value wise against its competition? We know it is a good saw. Just how much of a bargain/value is it compared to other band saws?
Or is this just one of those things where you just pay for it because it is a quality, top of the line machine? (Like Festool, etc.)
IMHO most of the popular brands that I have seen, Rikon, Jet, Delta, Powermatic, Craftsman and Ridgid are a lot of product for the money but not a lot of quality results. Any of those saws in the $1200 range and lower simply seem to be attaching parts that fill the first time consumers needs. I have never seen a Grizzly so I cannot say much there except that it probably falls equally in that group. The older Delta saws were pretty darn good but then every one including Delta seemed to go towards the European style saws.
Anyway the Laguna value is cheap IMHO if you are looking for a saw that will be passed on to your grand kids as long as you buy the upper end HD series that are currently being built in Italy. They have a cheaper line of saws that IIRC are built in Bulgaria and while not as robust as the HD series are probably better and more closely priced to the brands that I listed above.
I had an older Craftsman 12" 1/2 hp for about 22 years. I thought I was stepping up when going to the very much praised 18" Rikon. What I got was a heavy saw that was a PIA to keep adjusted properly. The Laguna out of the box stays adjusted and needs darn little tweaking with blade changes. Upper wheel tilt needs to be adjusted "a little" when going from a 1/4" blade to a
1" blade. Because the frame and components are so ridged there is little if any flex when adding tension for larger blades. The Laguna comes with a rather unique set of 10 contact point ceramic guides that have 2 on each side contact points on the upper and lower guides and 1 thrust guide on upper and lower guides. The lower guides can be raised and lowered much like the top guides. This makes adjusting the bottom guides during a blade change much easier and faster. My saw, the smallest of the HD series came with a 4.5 hp Baldor motor and has 16" resaw capacity. Regardless of brand blade, generic, Laguna or Timberwolf the blades track perfectly with no vibration of front to back wobble. This was not so with the Rikon. I guess to compare the HD series Laguna to the usual group of saws in the "half that price" price range, is like comparing a bench top TS to a Cabinet Saw.
Laguna's closest competition would probably be the MiniMax line of saws. I was about 50/50 on preference between the Laguna and the MiniMax when shopping for a replacement of the Rikon. MiniMax USA is now based in Austin, TX, I live in Houston, TX. I could have saved at least a couple of hundred dollars by picking up the saw in Austin my self over paying Laguna to ship from California. Both saws are priced close enough that price should not be a determining factor between the 2. IIRC I was looking at the MM16 MiniMax. I made an appointment to see the MiniMax and that appointment was confirmed before my wife and I made the trip to see it. When we got there they only had 1 saw with missing parts to show me. I saw the MiniMax saws 2 weeks later at the WW show in Houston and 2 were broken.
I do not doubt for a minute that the MiniMax is as good as the Laguna however the Laguna people delivered as promised and they always had equipment that in working condition.
After using the Laguna for 1 year now I would not consider a lesser saw and would not hesitate to buy the Laguna again if that need ever came up again.
Rating its bargain/value, I put a lot of value on a tool that works like it is suppose to work with little adjustment. I simply tension the blade before using, turn it, on and cut.
The hassle free factor is certainly a consideration. I wonder if that is a factor in the other bandsaw designs? Or is it just costly to produce a bandsaw that works well?
I was done with "hassle" when I got rid of the Craftsman. Better components are part of it and the fact that most of the cheaper models come from the far East and labor is cheaper. As an example the ceramic guides and holders on the Laguna are obviously heavier duty and probably more expensive to produce.
The picture at the top of this page shows the guides.
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bearings on the wheels are whisper quiet and the wheels have a lot more mass to them by comparison. IIRC my 16" BS weighs in at 465 lbs. The motor is certainly a better brand than most.
The Rikon is a fine tool. If pressed, it turns out that the only real complaint he had was that the roller guides build up pitch with green pine. And that he couldn't get the blade tracking consistently.
For the first issue: many saws come with roller guides. So this is not an issue with the Rikon per se. And you mention dried oak, not wet pine. Not an issue with the Rikon or roller bearings either.
For the second issue: no one else (nor me) has chimed in to say they have tracking issues with the Rikon. Mine worked like a champ outta the box.
Leon will bad-mouth the Rikon til the cows come home cuz he had a bad experience. But I would be confident that you would have a positive experience if you chose to purchase the Rikon, as well as many other fine bandsaws.
My $0.02. And watch Leon's response when he reads this. It is almost as if he has a financial stake in it somewhere as well as being totally pissed off.
Everybody has their preferences. Many of us settle for what we can afford or buy locally.
I personally drive some folks nuts on my specifications for computer hardware. Because the technical demands needed for the applications I use, almost nothing is good enough. I always got my computers custom built locally. The last one was a disaster and I will be going out of state for any new hardware in the future. And I will be going to a specialist too.
I can go on about other things as well. I understand that Leon had to do what he felt was the best solution for him. I don't think it is because of any particular agenda. Just what worked out for him. I can relate. I have done similar things. Just not with bandsaws. And I probably will never own a Laguna.
But I find Leon's words helpful for two reasons. I get to peer at some nice machinery through somebody else's eyes. That is pleasureable in and of itself. But I also get to observe something of his internal process as he goes out and buys/uses a very nice piece of machinery.
And any of us who have high standards often have to agonize over decisions to purchase something that simply costs more than we can easily afford. And we go through a process where we validate the reasons and make a decision to pay more because we get more. Ultimately the needs require the more expensive hardware.
I personally find it inspirational that there are some folks here who have this kind of attitude. I don't feel so alone in the world when I am working on a hardware intensive problem. (This is in other areas besides computers or woodworking)
No axe to grind here. Unless it is a rilly, rilly nice axe that needs a good edge. ;-)
I agree with you. No tracking problems with mine and so far no pitch b= uildup sawing green logs.
I did have a problem with a table that wasn't quite flat enough to suit= me.=20 Could have happened with almost any brand as few if any manufacturers a= ge their castings like they used to. Rikon replaced it with no questions=
asked. The replacement was flat.
Note: I do work part time at Woodcraft, but that didn't drive my decis= ion to buy the Rikon. In fact, I had a Jet with a riser block on order when w= e got the Rikon in. I promptly changed my order :-).
I find it interesting that the ancient 12" Craftsman has been mentioned in this discussion. I consider it to be one of the best bargains in the history of power tool making. I've had mine since 1973 when I bought it new for $70. Hubby added an old lawnmower motor (1/3 HP), I built a sturdy base for it, and I've been using it ever since. I also have a Jet 14" that I like for ripping and big stuff, but I use the smaller saw 95% of the time. I'm usually making hairpin turns in
6" of hard maple and the saw has never let me down. Of course the better/newer the blade is the better off we are. One thing that was not stressed to Henry was that if he is going to be doing log ripping on a regular basis then a larger saw would be better for him than a 14". You CAN rip logs on a 14" machine (again, depending on the condition of your blade), but it is a lot easier on an 18" band saw. Larry, I worked full-time for Woodcraft for 6 years, until 3 years ago. Great place to work isn't it? That is where I bought just about every woodworking tool I own- and I have a shop full. So I was pre- Rikon and pre-Festool. Feeling less 'in the know' than I once did. Anyhow, my walnut laminations for my lap harp are dry now and I'll get to start to cut them into their components today- using my antique craftsman. Love that baby. . . Donna Menke, author of The Ultimate Band Saw Box Book,
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