Thread: Using Bandsaw to Square up timber?

what you want to achieve is certainly possible with a bandsaw, however you have to select the correct blade for each job and you won't go wrong.

I agree with DiRob in that it's possible, but, as he says, it'll be all about the blade selection and the tuning of the saw. You'll have to have it just right, and you'll want to really focus on the drift in order for it to be reliable.

Having it do the job of the table saw is fairly straightforward, but having it do the job of a thickness planer seems like it's going to be tough. What if you only need to take off like a mm? Are you going to hand plane it?

Cheers,
Luke

Can't see how the band saw can be the go to machine if you start out with stock that has bowing or twisting.

If your stock is straight and true then the band saw should be all you need as long as your feeding and tailing out are accurate and if you happen to get a little blade wonder then the next piece you cut will not be true.

I think the bandsaw will be a constant cause of frustration due to tracking etc. A bench saw is made to turn out flat straight stock. I do understand your fear/apprehension using a bench saw but you can overcome it. Could you join some kind of woodworking club to gain knowledge and some expertise. A Wood Turning Club would have different machines for you to see at least what can be done

You'll be wasting your money with a bandsaw. They're not designed to do what you want and you'll just end up frustrated

Totally agree. A table saw is the way to go.
If you are happy to use a band saw, then you should have no fear of a table saw.
Stick with it.

John.

Originally Posted by amateur77

-Would I be able to actually take a large board such as 50x200mm and take off 2-3mm off each 4 sides to square it up like you would do on a planer/thickneser?
-Would I be able to take for example 75x150mm large beam and split it in half to get two 75x75beams ?

I really like re sawing as much 50 75 200 as possible on my band saw before I go squaring it up on the buzzer and thicknesser. The Bandsaw isn't the machine for squaring like the guys said above . Specially not a small saw if that is what you saw mentioned is. The saw I did a lot of this ripping to size was a 20 or 22 inch wheel diameter Italian thing with a blade about 1 1/4 deep and a big tooth every 3/4 inch. Breaking down large size wood on a bandsaw with the right size blade is very quick compared to ripping it down on a table saw. If you try doing it on a saw with a smaller blade then it will work but the smaller blade will want to wander . Specially as it gets a little blunt . The bigger blade stays straight even when blunt . I just moved workshop and left that 20 or 22" saw behind. I don't remember the size . I'm going to set up two saws soon . second hand big old things . One is just for ripping stock down to size . Rob

Couple of points to consider with the BS you mentioned, blade width range is 1/4" to 3/4" according to the company promo video I watched, 3/4" is probably too narrow for resawing 200mm high material, the blade will not have great resistance to 'wandering' and will have far too many teeth in the cut at once, as yo wont be able to obtain blades with few enough teeth per inch and preserve blade strength and stiffness. Also the saw is a pressed metal frame, so would not be anywhere as rigid as a decent cast iron frame unit of comparable size, so it will likely move in use, spoiling an accurate static setup. Also 1.5HP may be somewhat light on power for major resawing.

When starting out I had a similar concern with a table saw, and only purchased a 14" bandsaw. Now I am wishing for a table saw.
The bandsaw is not as accurate as I wished to dimension stock, and too much stock is wasted on the thicknesser.
Get a table saw and treat it as carefully as you would any machine. You will then have no trouble dressing the timber with a properly tuned plane.

Regards
Keith