Bandsaw

[williamwright]

I bought one. How did I ever live without it? It's the most fantastic thing imaginable.

Bill

[jon]

You can play them with a violin bow.

[Andy Dingley]

I had two reactions when I got mine:

• How did I not have one of these beforehand?

• Why didn't I get a bigger one?

Now you need "The Bandsaw Handbook" by Mark Duginske. (Not the one by Lonnie Bird)

A bandsaw is only a machine for waving a bandsaw blade around. So blade choice and having a bunch of them available becomes important.

[Tim+]

More fantastic than a chainsaw? Hmm, must investigate…

Tim

[GB]

What's a bandsaw hand? Do you need to buy fingerless gloves for it?

[John Rumm]

What kind of bandsaw is it, and what have you been using it for?

[Brian Gaff]

Actually they scare the wotsit our of me, they can also make one heck of a noise, not ideal if your neighbour is cutting stuff in the early hours of the morning. Brian

[Andy Dingley]

They're a lot less troublesome in many ways than circular saws. They're sharp and choppy if you stick your hand into it (so don't do that) but they won't pick the wood up and throw it at you, as a table saw will. Nor does the blade move around, like the worst of the lot for safety, a chop saw.

[Thomas Prufer]

Nonetheless, do not cut an unsupported cylindrical object perpendicular to the axis with it, i.e. a log "roundways"...

It can snag, twisting the cylinder backwards, moving the workpiece towards you and possibly your hands in the wrong direction, while doing unpleasant things to the saw blade.

Use a sled...

Thomas Prufer

[williamwright]

Record Sabre 250.

So far: Made some nicely shaped hardwood outrigger legs for a table base. Made various types of joint in softwood for a thing I'm making (astonishingly easy). Cut some small wedge shaped fillets from hardwood. 1000mm long, 30mm high, 10mm wide at the base tapering to zero. Cut some rectangular feet from a sheet of 8mm rubber. Made some quite large hardwood wedges. Ripped down a 4" x 4" hardwood post to make four 2x2 posts. Squared up some chipboard panels.

Bill

[John Rumm]

I just grabbed a s/h copy of that from Amazon. Looks pretty comprehensive, so thanks for the recommendation.

[John Rumm]

Nice machine by most accounts. Similar capacity to mine by the sounds of it.

Sounds like you have been having fun :-)

There is quite a bit of decent bandsaw content on youtube. Watching how Jimmy DiResta does freehand carving and shaping and also things like letter cutting is quite informative.