I have been using a huge saw at work that was a leftover from days gone by, it's finding a new home. It's huge. What size of saw does a guy need to do good work as I need to buy one, thanks.

dempsey
i am using a ryobi 10".. which is NOTHING like the toys that a 9" saw is normally...

my wife and I were stumbling around home depot, i thought I wanted a 14" which would have been nice.. we looked at the 10" as a "lark", and she sent me out to the truck to get a blank and "see" if it would work...

decided I would take it back if it didn't work.... that was about 2 years ago.

So, is it the perfect stock saw?? maybe not, but it works for me

I've used a 24" resaw before . Man do you have to be care full . The best I would guess is a 10-18" the key is the blade more than the saw size .
Shark tooth blades rip quick but are also more for use with the grain rather than against .

What works real slick is a Stellite blade with minimal off set . Now that's a butter cutter even on Ebony !.

Shoot Straight know Your target . ...

I will speak on this from the point of view of a proffessional woodworker.

The size of the saw you want should be based on the size of the blade you plan to use. I have 2 bandsaws, one is a big 18" that stands almost 7 feet tall, is made in Italy and I can walk through the blades with out bending over and I am 6'5" tall.

The other is an older Delta 3 wheel 10". Even though I can get 1/8 blades on the big saw, it a major pain to do so since I have to change out the guides and the wheels are uncrowned and 2" wide.

The wider the blade, the higher the tension, the higher the tension, the more the body of the saw will deflect. Tiped blades such as the stellite blades use a thicker blade stock requiring a stouter saw.

Consider what you are doing with the saw first, I resaw rare exotic woods into vaneer, So I need a saw that can saw through 12" of Rosewood or Curly Bubinga running a 1 1/2" wide stellite blade and have minimal deflection so I can do a light clean up pass on the jointer. If all you are doing is roughing out stock blanks in Walnut or any other of the softer Hardwoods, then any cheap bandsaw from the hardware store will suite you fine.

2 wheel saws are more reliable and have less
frame deflection than 3 wheel saws.
Bandsaws are measure from center of blade to frame edge nominal, not in verticle capacity.
High speed(not high carbon) steel blades are sharper than carbide (this includes stellite)
Cheap carbide(Stellite is a proprietray carbide) is made from recycled matterial and is vastly inferior to new carbide.
Carbide blades are thicker, so will cut a straighter line when dull, but require more tension than most benchtops can properly provide with out deflection.
Mineral inclusions will chip Carbide and high carbon steel(Walnut has a fair amount of mineral inclusions).
Even most highend bandsaws require a fair bit of tuning to run properly, all cheap bandsaws do. People will right off a perfectly good saw because they don't understand what needs to be done to make them work right and some of it is counter intuitive.

So, all that said, I recomend a Delta 10" 2wheel benchtop bandsaw with an Olsen 1/4" or 3/8" steel blade, Don"t use a carbide blade on Walnut or Oak. You can get a motor Upgrade, and a frame insert to raise the resaw to 12" if you want to push it to its limit. This saw is the Benchmark that other small bandsaws are measured against and it has numerouse identical knockoffs. I also recomend getting a copy of "The Bandsaw Book", just ignore his obviouse sales pitch's and the book is full of very good information on tunig and maintaining and bandsaw.

Josh

P.S. That Ryoby Jeffeosso has is one of the Delta knockoffs, you get it one one like it almost anywhere.

Thanks for the detailed post. I'll get that book. I want to be able to cut as straight a line as possible, don't have a jointer, yet. My biggest problem has been cutting curves that don't angle into the curve, probably user error.

Joshua,
the ryobi is a 2 wheel, like a small 14", not a 3 wheel ... IMHO, most 3 wheels are "toys" .. which is what I had concerns about.. the ryobi 10" has had NO difficulties roughing out walnut, mesquite, cherry, and mytle stocks
ryobi 10"
http://benchmark.20m.com/reviews/RyobiBS1001/Ryobi_BS1001_Review.html

I use a 14" Craftsman Contracter Series band saw. It has proven large enough for me to cut up just about anything I have needed to cut since getting it in '97.

At one jobin a previous life, my boss was a serious cabiinet maker and woodworker on the side. He ordered a saw from Italy that sounded like the one mentioned above. That thing was incredible. I want to say it cost about $8k in '01 to get it to his door, but it is worth every penny if you are wanting to do things on a professional level.

If you are a gunmaker wanting to cut some blanks for stocks you are making, then get a 14" and use it for a lifetime. If you are wanting to deal in wood and cut up big slabs and chunks of walnut, then get the Italian "Cadilac" saw and you will never wear it out.

I've got an 18" Grob (40+ years old) I found on ebay. Someone completely rebuilt & repainted it then they found a DoAll in great shape and decided to sell the Grob. It's got a blade welder as well. Recently I received a roll of Starret Woodpecker 3P 1/2" blade stock and welded one up. I never knew you could cut a stock blank so quickly without making any noise. It's scary sharp. The nice thing about my Grob is I can slow it down and cut huge chunks of steel or speed it up and Laser cut through walnut. It's also got a 24" square table that doubles as a layout table/bench. I can never find my other bench. For years I had an older 9" Delta. After getting a bigger saw that I can use for steel or wood, I'll never look back. If you have the power to wire a big/three phase saw, the room to put it and plan on cutting both steel and wood they are great.

Ya, sorry if I didn't right it correctly, 3wheel saws do tend to be toys in the lower end, basicaly an advertising ploy since you can get a wider cut with 8" wheels. Mine is an older that is a discontinued 3wheel, I was recomending a 2wheeler like yours. Some of the best top end saws are actualy 3 wheelers as well, I have seen them big enough to swing sheets of plywood arround on. There are a few Euro saws floating arround that are 3wheelers as well that cater to proffessionals, but they tend to be really pricey like all Euro stuff, make sure you get a US motor since the Euro motors don't run on 60cycle.

That old grob is a metal cutting saw, which is why it has the variable speed and blade welder, they are fantastic saws when they come up used. Well worth the cost of getting a 3phase convertor. Great call on the Starret blades also.

Sounds like it probably is the same Italian saw that I have, Italy has a long tradition of making the best bandsaws on the market, it is easily the most expensive tool I own, cost over twice what my 12" jointer cost and that thing looks like an aircraft carrier.

The old NS-18 Grob runs from 50-2030 FPM. It's a jackshaft & pulley speed change. Not like those new fangled infinite variable speed jobs. Not quite as smoking fast as a old direct drive 20" Northfield I used to use.

If I had to generate my own three phase I think I'd just buy an variable speed inverter for around $200 that I could program for a soft start. The belts bark a little on start up when set for 2030 FPM.

The only reason I have the Grob is I need double duty. Many shops get great performance on wood with the smaller models. I just like not having to spend so much time using the old hacksaw.

I thought about getting a Wilton "dual" unit for steel and wood but for a hobbyist they were a but much $$$$.

Is the Wilton an "infinite variable speed job"?

Rich

now I'm just using an MSC tilting saw for steel with a few coarse tooth blades for pistol grips etc...

If you keep your eye on "Craig's List" and the paper want adds you will see 14" Delta's or their knock off's listed fairly often. I recently saw a Delta 14" for $150 in the Phoenix area. If I needed a band saw I would have junped on that one. Just a thought, but used band saws come up often enough that you can get one for a good price and get a little more capacity and ability than a bench top saw provides.

I have a Rockwell 14" that I bought in 1988, and it is still good as new.

I do a lot of duplicating, therefore I profile quite a few blanks with the bandsaw. Mine is a 14" and it's served me well.

Shane Thompson

I went and did some shopping which doesn't take much time with my limited choices. I bought the Craftsmen 14 inch saw. Now I need to get that book Josh suggested. Any blade suggestions for this saw and what I'll be using it for? Thanks.

I have a 14" Delta bandsaw with a riser kit that allow taller logs to be ripped, and so takes an 8' 9" blade.


I built an outfeed table.

I can shape pieces of wood tipped up on just an edge or a point touching the saw table. This is dangerous if you are not good at it.

I recommend using bi-metal blades.


I recommend the Duginske book:

http://www.amazon.com/Band-Saw-Handbook-Mark-Duginske/dp/0806963980

Also something else to consider , if your unable or unwilling to purchase a band saw .

Try a SawZall or a Reciprocating saw. I recommend the bayonet style . A quality one will serve the average stock cutter well .

Years back when I was doing professional wood working , I was unable to cut corbels ends on the ends of large rafter beams . My band saw is Huge but still no way to swing the size of timber for the cuts .

This is when I turned to a SawZall with bayonet style blades . I used 14 " blades and had to turn the beams over in order to cut all the way through them . A SHARP BLADE was the key so as to minimize blade deflection or drift .

It will work just swell for cutting stocks , I still use it most of the time . As I only cut 1 or 3 every other month or so .

Shoot Straight Know Your target . ...

tnekkc, thanks for that book link. I'll do some searching for blade suppliers via the net. Pretty poor local selection here.