Thread: Bandsaw for the average shop?

i'm in the same boat looking for such a saw at the moment, but i've a very small shop. I'm leaning towards a 14" with a riser block to aid resawing since thats what i really need out of it, but you might find a 18 would work better.

Thanks for the perspective mate, where do you get riser blocks to suit a 14"? that might work well

With regard to riser blocks, they are sometimes installed in Cast iron saws to make smaller saws more capable of resawing, but they only increase throat height, but don't let the saw take wider blades etc for resawing. But, the BP-355 is a welded pressed metal frame saw, which generally have less rigidity than a cast frame saw of similar size, and the frame, once welded in the factory, is effectively one piece and a couple of attached doors, with no provision to include a riser in the system.

Old bandsaws can make really good machines, I have a couple my self. But old machines generally cost a bit more than you would expect to get running satisfactorily. You need to buy them cheaply and be prepared to put a bit of work into them. Generally you will end up with a more solid machine than buying new but you would want to enjoy the restoration aspect of the old machine.
Bandsaws do come up on gumtree from time to time and I have seen some that looked ready to work at a price well below new.
Tony

I used to have a 14'' cast bandsaw and looked into the riser block option to increase the depth of cut to 12''. I also realised that the 1HP motor would struggle with 12'' so the upgrade was not worth the trade up to a BP355. The 355 cuts 10'' and is 2HP. I hardly ever find the 14'' width limiting and the 10 '' depth suits nearly everything I need to do. I am still happy with mine after about 7 years of use. That said if money was not an issue I would have gone bigger. It is always a compromise of what you want to make, dollars and space to put the machine.
Regards
John