Please share your experience in resawing stock, say up to 6" tall on small bandsaw, say up to 10" throat. Also, can the stock height match the clearance, or you have to leave some room? Would you argue that for
*any* resawing you need a bandsaw with a minimum xyz, and if so, what are they?Resaw on most consumer bandsaws will leave the side walls of the kerf rough. Wood needs to be further processed by planning or power sanding. Just be sure you have a plan for dealing with the rough wood. This is not a show stopper by any means, but you need to be aware any band saw will not leave the wood like a table saw cut.
Also, resawing causes lots and lots of waste sawdust. Be sure you have a plan to deal with removal of the saw dust away from the blade and wood. IMHO, saw dust choked kerf on a resaw will dull the teeth of your blade due to friction induced heat (but that is just MHO.)
if you throat height is 6 inches, you may not have 6.00 inches clearances, it may only be 5-7/8 or some such. Measure on scrap first.
Phil
I mean the same as the wheel size, sorry for the confusion...
That would be the clearance, I think...
OK
Fair enough...So then:
To resaw something like red oak, 4 inches high, would a 10" bandsaw with a 1/3 HP do?
I'd suggest measuring you ACTUAL distance between the table surface and the upper guides and deducting about 1/2"...
If you resaw a piece that is the size of your max. opening, you might push your upper guide against your upper roller as the stock passes through and burn up the roller bearing... DAMHIKT
Mac
I suppose 5" orbital sander would do for smaller planks?
OK
It would do, but a sharp hand plane would do better, quicker, without fine dust, and not leave little swirly marks. As far as the 10" bandsaw with 1/3HP, are you looking at the Craftsman or Rikon model? These look like nice saws if you really want a new saw for less than $200. I have the Ryobi 10"er that claims 1/2HP. I haven't tried resawing 4" red oak, but I'm guessing it will work if you use an appropriate blade (3-4 tpi) and feed it very slowly. I resawed/ripped a bunch of 2" thick white oak on the Ryobi, and it worked, albiet slowly. The small table also has a lot of flex when used with long boards. I haven't been limited by the capacity or the power, just the Alternatively, as you'll see if you look through a few recent threads here (within the last couple weeks), you'll end up with a much nicer saw if you look for a used 14"er, which you could probably get for $200. Or even go with the basic Grizzly or Harbor Freight 14" bandsaw, for slightly over $300. This will take you much farther if you decide to pursue woodworking more seriously. Also, I just noticed the Jet 12" model on sale for $312 at Amazon, minus $25 off, plus shipping. Or, if you want a used Ryobi 10" saw with several blades for $100, send me an email - I'd love to upgrade. Andy
So noted.
Craftsman.
These look like nice saws if you really want a new saw
They don't ship these beasts to Canada, and Canadian Amazon doesn't offer them, so - hello eBay...
If I am hearing you guys correctly, the best thing in the long term (resawing 6+ inch stock, including some hard, exotic woods etc.), would be to simply forget about any bandsaw below 14" and less than 1 hp. I think I'll just wait a bit more...
My own experience might be useful to you. I make small trinket boxes out of a variety of exotic woods. For my purposes I have found that
10mm to 12mm is a good thickness for the walls, tops & bottoms. But try and find walnut or sycamore or purpleheart or yew in 100mm X 10mm sized stock. Usually it's more like 400mm X 40mm planks. My limited sources charge the earth to resaw to what I need or size the boards from scratch. So I have learned to be resourceful. I have found that resawing up to say 6" is best done on a table saw with an 80+ toothed, thin-kerfed blade. I had bought a 10" bandsaw for this task but there was too much blade wander and the result was very variable. On the TS I take my big plank and rip off a length of the width I need, then set the rip fence distance from the blade to the thickness I want and send the piece through on its side. If the required width is greater than the height of the blade above the table I just turn the piece over and do it again from the opposite side. Works well.FoggyTown
Where you using the widest blade (1/2")? Did you adjust the blade tension? Have you tried different blades?
Sounds like a good idea. If I have to choose between a new TS blade and a small bandsaw, here is my reasoning (please criticise as needed): A quality thin-kerf blade for TS would cost more than a half of a 10" bandsaw, which could also do some curve cutting and such. So, if with some adjustment, a small bandsaw could do a decent resawing (however slow it may be), then...
My results trying to resaw on the table saw were not that great, a bit scary, and it takes quite a while. Plus if you're starting with 3/4" stock the extra width of the kerf, even with a thin kerf blade, can mean the difference between getting 3 or 4 pieces out of it.
But one other option if the band saw doesn't have quite enough power to get through is to combine the two. Make one pass on the table saw on each side. Finish it on the band saw, and not only is the cut much easier you have a very easy channel to follow. You lose the benefit of the smaller kerf.
The blade makes a big difference. If you try to resaw with the one that comes on the saw you won't get anywhere. I've had decent results with the woodcraft house brand blades and they're reasonably priced.
And finally, I started out with the 9" Ryobi. You aren't going to resaw on that. But, now that I have a 14" Delta, the Ryobi is still in the shop. I use it for many small jobs, saves having to change blades on the big one, uses less electricity, and is quieter. Also I can back out of cuts without worrying about the blade pulling off the tires, have to be much more careful on the big one. Probably the best $90 ever spent in my shop. So while I would encourage you to go straight to the 14" saw, I don't think you'll regret getting that 10" Rikon even if it proves not to be entirely up to all the tasks you'd like to get out of it.
-Leuf
I don't get it. Why? You tried it, and what happened?
Thanks for the advice. Since I envisage using the bandsaw mostly for resawing, and have some serious space limitations, two bandsaws are not a likely scenario. I'll probably wait and get one good bandsaw that would do it all .
Well for one thing the max height is 3" and you wanted to resaw up to
6" I thought. I tried cutting through 1.5" of hard maple and let's just say the smoke alarm went off more than once. That was not with a good quality blade though. I keep it to 3/4"or less thickness in hardwoods and the saw is quite happy.-Leuf
I would look at it as the small band saw could do it occaisonally and not necessarily very well, if you didn't envision much need for it you could manage. Since you say you're primary use for it is resawing, get a 14" (or better).
-Leuf
"foggytown" wrote
This is deep sawing - people do it and it works, but it can be dangerous.
Please try a look at my web site - Circular Sawbench Safety - Saw Blades (Deep Cutting).
Jeff G
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