For every wood magazine or pop woodworking, there are literally dozens of pros & cons for each type of bandsaw. What I need is from other woodturners the consensus of what the serious turner would use. Hopefully somewhere in between a 14" and a 18" and some where between durn cheap and semi expensive. Your help will be appreciated. What I've sorta maybe leaned toward right now is the 16" Jet sold by woodcraft for 799.00.
Moyo
Ha, ha, ha, ha. Yeah, right.
(I use a c. 2002 Delta 14" with 6" riser and have been quite pleased with cutting 12" thick turning blanks from Western Maple, Red Oak, Filbert, American Elm, plus a few others- in other words, I've had no difficulties at all. I believe the key has been using the appropriate blade to aid the saw motor in efficiently cutting whatever it is that needs cutting.)
_____ American Association of Woodturners Cascade Woodturners Assoc., Portland, Oregon Northwest Woodturners, Tigard, Oregon _____
That's a light one, even compared to the iron 14" types.
I was not impressed at its rigidity or attention to detail. It's a Taiwan interpretation of the European types, and, I fear, suffers, as did the original 14" clones, from "just enough" engineering.
Importance of bandsaw capacity is inversely proportional to lathe capability. Lighter the lathe, more you want in a bandsaw.
I just looked at the Woodcraft advertisement and that does sound like a good price for the Jet! I've had my Grizzly 14 incher with a riser block so while it won't go to 16 inches across it does have an honest
12 inch height it can cut. I abuse it when I do use it and it hasn't failed me yet. Watching your feed rate and using the right blade makes all the difference. But this is true for any bandsaw. When my little 3/4 horse motor dies I'll get a 1 or 2 horse motor but until then I don't really have any complaints about it. I got the saw for under $300 shipped if I remember right, and also caught the riser on the cheap. Check out Grizzly, they have all sizes of saws and the people there are pretty decent. So for a few pennies I have a very functional and solid machine which left a lot more $$$ in my budget for other stuff. Either way have fun!! GuyDefine semi-expensive.... Might want to look at the Laguna saws. Rates well, and even though they have not had good customer service in the past, I feel they are fixing that.
-- Steve Worcester
Santa brought me the Jet 16" bandsaw for Christmas. I have only had it for a few days, but it runs very quietly and after tuning it up it does a great job at cutting. The original blade is cheap and should be replaced with a Timber Wolf brand blade. If you are cutting bowl blanks I would suggest a 1/2" hook with 3 tpi. This is a very solid machine and well worth the price.
Lance Kanaby
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