Well I am about 99% sure I am going to upgrade to the Rikon 18"er. Does it come with a blade? I suspect that I will get a 1 to 1.5" one for resawing but I was curious if I needed to buy a blade right away to get started.
Thanks.
I am impressed with the design of the Rikon... wish I still had a chance to consider one, but I already have the Jet 18" and I very satisfied. I think the Rikon is currently the best choice for a bandsaw.
In my opinion, the choice of blade is as important as the bandsaw itself. Sure a cheap blade will work, but I am much happier with the quieter, smoother, buttery operation of a quality blade. I'm sure there are many quality blades available, but I am happy with PS WOOD / timberwolf blades, so I haven't tried many others. They work well at low tension and have milled teeth and the thinner blades can make turns like a scrollsaw. Make sure whatever you choose has milled teeth... I think that makes all the difference.
Alan Lilly
You should probably buy a blade. The ones that come with a new purchase are notorious for poor quality. Them bandsaws are on special this month at Woodcraft. Tom
I'll be buying sight unseen. Apparently the local Woodcraft is selling them faster than the time it takes to set one up for dispaly. I did get a good look at the 14"er though and was impressed that fit and finish and features were the best I have seen. I do have 3 major Jet tools and am extremely happy with them but the Rikon gets my vote this time.
with it, providing one does, to cut fire wood to length for my smoker. Not a lot of need for a quality blade in that instance. Besides that, I had planned on buying Timberwolf for the wood that I don't plan to burn. ;~)
That's my plan, as I mentioned to panofish, the stock blade would be used for cutting firewood into smaller pieces. And I do plan to order the saw before the sale ends.
Mine came with a 5/8, 4TPI blade that I used for setup and then replaced with some Timberwolf and a Woodslicer blades.
It's a very nice saw that works well.
The tension adjustment is a little quirky in that the tension goes up linearly with the tightening wheel but seems to stay tensioned as you back off. I don't use the flutter method (I have a tension gauge) so maybe this isn't a problem when it's running.
Try it, you'll like it. $899 this month at Woodcraft.
TWS
Thank you, that was the info that I was looking for.
Mine came with a damaged blade so I can't comment on the quality. The lower blade guard had been pushed into the blade creasing/kinking it. I couldn't get the bend out so just bought a 1" timberwolf blade. Problem with the 1" blade is that the roller bearing mount won't allow the bearings to be adjusted forward enough w/o hitting the back of the blade....unless I'm not seeing something correctly.
Gary
I'm promised a telephone call from BC Saw tomorrow. After that I will report on what I think of them and their blades.
Leon wrote: : Well I am about 99% sure I am going to upgrade to the Rikon 18"er. Does it : come with a blade? I suspect that I will get a 1 to 1.5" one for resawing : but I was curious if I needed to buy a blade right away to get started. Has anyone done a comparison of the Rikon vs. the (much more expensive)
16-18" saws from MiniMax and Laguna?-- Andy Barss
Andy:
I believe either American Woodworker or FWW has done a review of the upper-end saws like the MiniMax and Laguna. Rikon, if my memory serves me right, wasn't included because it looked at only high-cost machines (over $1200).
The best from what I hear from different owners is an Aggazzi but at $2k it looks like it's out of my range. I'm seriously thinking about the Rikon - just have to figure out what to tell SWMBO.
MJ Wallace
I'm telling mine I saved us $100.
- Matt
The original Fine Woodworking article that convinced me to buy the Rikon compared it with the Laguna. The Laguna was listed as the best overall. The Rikon was listed as the best buy (out of 8 or 9 other 18" bandsaws). Given that the Laguna cost almost three times as much, it wasn't a tough choice for me.
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