Could some of you more advanced wood workers maybe guide this novice wood worker in purchasing a band saw. Is it possible to pick up something decent for around the 250-300 dollar range as I really don't want to put out more than that. I'm not looking for a bench top as that would be to small for projects for my needs. Thank you
Paul
Paul, you are going to get a lot of advice, let me get mine in early. The
14" saw from Harbor Freight is a good saw and runs anywhere from $199.00 to $239.00, depending on the sale. HF did have a riser for it, which increased the throat depth from 6" to 12" for about $60.00, which is a very worthwhile addon.Regardless of the saw you get, there are certain things you will HAVE to do to it, unless you buy high end. Those are:
1) change out the guides for the blades, buy a set of "Cool Blocks" to insert in the guide housing and your will be good to go. 2) Buy a good blade(s). I like the blades by Carter, but you will find a lot of folks who swear by Timberwolf. The universal blade is a 3/8" 3 or 4 tooth blade. If you are going to resaw, get a 1/2" blade, the extra width helps stableize the cut. 3) Align the saw. When you get your saw and begin that first long cut, you will know that David Marks is a communist plant sent to undermine the morale of the American woodworker. David, from the show on DIY, "Wood Works," will slice 3/32" inch veneer from an 8" board. Not only once but sheet after sheet. You on the other hand are lucky to get two 3/16" pieces from a 1" thick board and that only after a lot of work at the planer. The only "trick" to David's technique is he has the saw properly aligned. Carter Tool company has a wonderful video on setting up your bandsaw and aligning it. Buy it, and their blades, atOne last word, as to the quality of the HF bandsaw, I just finished a "tabernacle" for a local Episcopal church and needed some ash veneer for the top panel and door. With the saw properly set up and the fence properly aligned I cut 3/16" veneer (cut that thick because I wanted the additional thickness to match the wall thickness), slice after slice and had little work at the planer. In fact the final piece I cut was 3"32 and it is stored with the rest of my veneer. The whole secret is in proper setup - SO GET THE CARTER VIDEO!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID.
This would be close except for shipping. Maybe you live close to one of their distribution centers and could pick it up. Grizzly's stuff isn't top of the line but is good and offers good value.
280 bucks. If it's like the other Ridgid stuff I've owned it's decent. Don't know what the shipping would be--seems to be free but I suspect that I've overlooked something.
Decent new, No.
Decent used, Maybe if you are lucky.
Decent and I mean just starting to get into the "decent" category you need to spend double your range.
I am not sure what you want to use it for but you might be better suited in buying a good quality jig saw instead in the $100-$200 range.
For me 2 years ago, decent was way in excess of $1,000 as a $1,000 top rated band saw was "marginally" better than my 23 year old 1/2 hp Craftsman.
If you go HF be careful, I've seen HF tools that are the equal to anybodies and I mean Jet, Delta, Powermatic etc. and a lot of the same HF tools that are barely worth more then rusty scrap metal. HF is a gamble when it comes to buying tools. They sem to have no quality control. I like Grizzly for the price and HD seems to have a good rep but have never worked with one of thier tools. A good blade and and either the Carter vidio or a good book on band saws will help any band saw a lot. A good scroll saw is worth looking at if you are going to do light thin stuff, my problem with them is that the blades heat up in larger thicker stuff and give me problems. (light less the 1 inch soft wood or less then 1/2 in hardwood)
Depends a lot where you live and/or some luck. You may get something used but in good condition for that price if you keep looking. Keep checking local newspapers, Craigslist, estate sales, etc. but you are really limiting yourself at 300. Bandsaws can be a royal pain-in-the-butt to tuneup, especially the more-cheaply made ones so don't go there.
Now, that's funny.
Don't be victim of label envy.
I am a casual woodworker, make lots of sawdust in the garage on weekends. I bought a Rigid 14" to replace my dad's Craftsman 10". It does everything I need it to do. I am not a production, do it for a living woodworker, so I don't need a $1000 band saw.
With some minor tweeking of the guides and alignments, mine was good to go out of the box.
I also went to the Home Depot website and registered as moving to a new house and they sent me a 10% off coupon.
DUALLY DUALLY wrote:
Love it. If you want a cheap good label machine, I might suggest Harbor Fright and PhotoShop. However, be selective in which labels you choose to impress your non-wooddorking buds. Delta will evoke the "arrrrrr yup I recernize that. Good 'murcan stuff." Festool gets you "never heard of it. Fester!? Har har har!! He bought a fester!"
drips of wisdom from jo4hn's john, Beauregard Stonewall Gronk
It is possible. what you'll have to do is hunt at yard sales, read the want ads in your local paper, lurk craigslist, go to business liquidation auctions.... It'll take time, but eventually you'll score a band saw that someone once paid thousands of dollars for for a couple of hundred bucks. It'll need some work, and if you don't know what you're looking at you might take home one that needs more work than it's worth. Or you just might take home one in perfect condition, with a dozen rolls of band, a blade welder, a tension gauge, a mobile base, a dozen jigs and other accessories I haven't thought of, all for the opening bid of $50, just because nobody else bid on it.
in the meantime, buy what you can comfortably afford, be it a griz or whatever and get it set up and cutting. it will be a good learning process. Even for that first saw, do shop for used. If you don't feel competent to assess the condition of a used saw by yourself, take a friend with more experience than yourself along.
Buy used. Run a "saw wanted" ad in the local paper that specifies what you are looking for-- a 14" woodworking bandsaw. Lots of guys have shops full of equipment collecting dust for various reasons. I ran such an add just before Christmas two years ago and got offers of five saws that all suited my needs and price range (plus some other oddities). I ended up buying a Jet JWBS-14CS closed-based saw with the Carter guide set and some other extras (mobile base, etc.) for $250 cash. It was two years old and had been used only for one thing, cutting wheels for some toys the old gent made for a church project. Retail on that setup now is about $800 and he paid more than that in
2004 and included all the receipts with the saw. I had similar offers for Griz and Delta saws but none with this many extras.I was also offered a 24" industrial saw with a 5hp 3-phase motor for $200, though it was too large to move without a crane (or so it seemed).I wouldn't bother with Craigslist-- run an add in the old- fasioned newspaper in the "tools" section. That's where all the old duffers still look.
-kiwanda
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