Thread: Bandsaw or tablesaw for boxmaking (and other tools)

Hey Darren, welcome to the world of box making! From my experience (not long) with box making I couldn't do without my router table. There are heaps of designs on here on how to build your own router table. I do my rebating, panel raising and dovetailing (gifkins jig) on my router table. I use my table saw to cut my timber using a cross cut sled- again plans are on here. It's much safer using a sled for cutting smaller timber. With having a jointer and thicknesser - you can buy dressed timber but it can be very expensive. You can save a lot with having these two machines.
Just my 2 cents.
Andy

I reckon if you start with a good plane - #4 or 5 or 5 1/2, a selection of chisels 1/8" - 3/4", a router & table, a 14" bandsaw and small and large Jap saws, you have pretty much all you need to do dovetail or finger jointed boxes. If you want to do mitred boxes, a disc sander or linisher is useful.

And lots of practice.

Well TKI , shame you is down there an me up here in Nth NSW , as i`m just about to put my whole kit an kaboodle , up for sale , unused 14'' carba tek band saw , ryobi sawbench ,gmc thiknesser ,ryobi drill stand , and other stuff , a swag of dressed timber , cedar , silky an rosewood , an a cube of jaccaranda rough cut chunks ( lengths ) . some cedar an silky veneer , raka ,raka ,raka,most of the timber is 10mm in small plank form or 3x2,4x4, kinda thing ,an a coupla cedar logs ,Would be lookin at about the $ 3,000 to $3.500 for the timber an machinery . As for the input to the items you are thinking of making , scale models i guess , i`m not a great lover of havin a machine that does everything , as there is no such thing , an we know some do have good reason to be in the workshop , what i`ve found in the smaller areas of creative box ,or other items is , that the time taken to set up and do a task , is sometimes a lot longer way around somthing , an also the side effect of most machines, is they mostly are constricted to straight lines and right angles , and with a bit of using your noggin an hands (tools ) you do keep in touch with the creative side of your projects , just a little more . point of interest here might be the fact that a scroll saw might be a good`n to have for small thin applications , but a 14'' band saw does that an larger pieces, aahhh the quandry , the mind bend , point being , some machinery is multi task , others more single use , take a good look at what you are wanting it for , get as close as you can to solving majority of your needs , in the least way , an don`t forget your HAND TOOLS , if you were interested in the items for sale you can reach me at [email protected]

Depends on the type of boxes you are making, Anything with curves of course needs a band saw but for straight cutting you wont beat aTS I have both and use them equally depending on what type of box I am making. To me, both items are essential but I managed without a band saw for years and made some real nice boxes.

OK, OK... which I'd buy first would depend on what sort of boxes I'd want to make.

Traditional ones with flat, rectangular panels and straight lines? Something that can be easily drawn up as a set of architects plans? Then a TS is definitely the go. With a good, sharp blade and decent set up you can use the cut pieces straight off the blade.

Organic, non-square boxes, AKA Bandsawn boxes? Well, a BS obviously. No hope of doing them on a TS!

The best thing is that having both a TS and a BS means you can do more than just the two. eg. You can rip down largish logs on the BS that you wouldn't dream of putting through the TS, then dress them nice and square on the TS ready for use.

(For the pedants: I'm not saying that you can't get a BS to cut as straight & flat as a TS, but to do so requires a top-of-the-line BS, that's expertly set up... and the skill set to use it. For the same price you can buy a good home-hobbyist TS & BS that will accomplish more with less heartache. )

Yeah, my vote goes to "both."


Edit: Buggrit. I'd missed munruben's last post.

Originally Posted by TK1

in summary:
- do I need a tablesaw [I]and[I] a bandsaw?
- any recommendations for either, particularly contractor-style saws that are accurate?
- what other major equipment will I need to consider/budget for? Planer/thicknesser, router table, etc?

Darren
agree that a bandsaw is most useful for resawing
as is a planner/thicknesser and/or a drum sander if you want to dimension timber using power tools

but another very useful tool is a good drop saw -- read this PDF from Richard Gifkins on how he uses his drop saw http://www.gifkins.com.au/Custom%20Fence.pdf

As already mentioned, it really does depend on what type of boxes you plan on making.

A wishlist would include:

Tablesaw
Bandsaw
Sliding Compound Mitre Saw
Thicknesser
Routers (one table mounted, one handheld)
Dust Extraction (Either a vacuum or blower)
Drill Press (add a WASP attachment and you also have a sander/linisher)
Sanders (ROS and Rough)
Chisels
Tenon Saw
Marking Gauge
Marking Knife
No 5 Plane
Block Plane
Sharpening Jig/Honing Gauge
Accurate Square (99% of squares are not square)

There is more, you will find that you will accumulate these and more as time goes on.

I'm no expert at box making ,but I'm working on one now and finished one earlier this week .
I like the box joint for its strength and appearance .
They are storage boxes for my workshop tools but Im trying to make them as accurate as pleasing as I can.
The tools I've been using are ,
an old restored Stanley Mitre box and saw ,
No7 Stanley jointer ,
No4Stanley smoother
No 6 Stanley with shooting board.
small gents saw
flush cutting saw
1/2 , 3/8 and 1/4 paring chisels
a19" bandsaw ,(for re sawing thick boards 0
scms (cheap Ryobi but for rough cutting only)
Triton thicknesser ,
Router table with home made box joint jig.
I don't have a table saw , but I am considering the Woodfast Ts250RC , but with the tools I have at hand now I don't really need a table saw to make boxes ,but I would use it for other woodworking projects .
If I was sticking to making boxes only I probably would consider the bench mounted Makita table saw.It's smaller and takes up a lot less space than a cabinet or contractors saw and from what Ive been told is a very nice saw.
Kev.

Hi all,

Thanks for the replies. It looks like the consensus is "get both". Works for me

Just need to look at what I can get for the money. I'm inclined to go for a mid-range bandsaw (1hp, the ones just under the 17" floor-standing models) and a good contractor saw. I'm looking at the Makita as well as the Carbatec/Jet/Timbecon/Hafco ones under $1,000. I am hoping to get a decent saw but add an Incra mitre guage for more accuracy.

Now I just need to look at the other items on the list. I have all the hand tools (Jap saws, various well-tuned planes, square squares, etc) so once TS and BS are decided on I think the next purchases would be planer and/or thicknesser to allow me to use a wider selection of wood.

Thanks again, I'll no doubt return soon with more questions and hopefully some pics of boxes

Regards,
Darren

You'll never regret putting the incra mitre gauge high on the list. Good fence, good mitre gauge & you've got some real precision & ease of use.

Originally Posted by rattrap

you'll never regret putting the incra mitre gauge high on the list. Good fence, good mitre gauge & you've got some real precision & ease of use.

+1

I'm loathe to highjack a post, but with the mention of the incra mitre gauge can someone suggest a really good fence for a TS?
The one that came with my axminster TS200 is pitiful. I have made some adjustments but would really like to up its effectiveness...

Originally Posted by ian

but another very useful tool is a good drop saw -- read this PDF from Richard Gifkins on how he uses his drop saw http://www.gifkins.com.au/Custom%20Fence.pdf

I started buying a few machine tools a couple of years ago opportunistically as things like the demise of GMC started to put some tools into the market at prices that were too good to ignore.

My first major tool since buying a Triton workbench many years ago was a bandsaw and with the capabilty that gave me, plus a router that I already had, I started making things like this...


Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch


Then I learnt of the Gifkins Dovetail Jig that makes any boofhead an expert at making dovetail joints and so I bought one of them.

Along the way, though, I listened to Roger Gifkins say that he hardly uses his table saw any more just as Ian said in his post but instead has found his Hitachi 10" sliding compound mitre saw to be so accurate that he uses it pretty well exclusively for use in cutting stock to length and cutting mitres etc. So I went out and bought a Makita 12" sliding compound mitre saw and found it to be splendidly accurate. So now I turn out boxes like this ...


Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch


So, like others have said, it depends on what you really want to be able to do.


If it were me with $2K to spend and I really wanted to get into small box making, I would get these things ...

1. a Gifkins dovetail jig - around $300 or so
2. That will require a router table. My first router table was a bit of melamine slung between two sawhorses using a $40 plastic router base plate from Carbatec. I now have a better home made one.. https://www.woodworkforums.com/f20/my...-scrap-113528/ ...but the bit of melamine across sawhorses is as good a way to start as any.
3. Following on from (2), if you don't have a good router, you will need one at say $400.
4. A good 10" sliding compound mitre saw @ say $600
5. You will need some hand power tools. eg a cheap belt sander will serve well as a linisher if you don't want to buy a linisher. It would not be hard to spend another $200 - $300 on tools that you find useful for box making and more than that if you really want to be keen.

I don't have a thicknesser nor jointer as I buy my stock from vendors who will sell standard thicknesses, such as 8 mm or 10 mm thick wood. eg Top Tassie Woodcrafts | East Coast Specialised Timbers | St Helens Tasmania

The woodworking purists will suggest that it is better to make dovetails by hand and you might prefer to do that but if you want to take a boofhead's easy way of churning out some nice looking stuff with machines, the list above is my suggestion.


I struggle to know why people have such a preference for table saws as for small pieces a SCMS is so much more easy to use and to my way of thinking a whole lot safer. The only table saw that I think that I will ever need is my old Triton workbench which still gets the occasional use once in a blue moon.

What I see on various websites and tutorial videos is info on how to make jigs that allow a table saw to do things that are so much easier and safer to do on an SCMS. Anyway, that is my non-traditionalist, beginner's perspective.

There should be a bandsaw in every wood worker's life though because there are so many fun things that you can do with one. Whether you get one now or later when you have a special need for it is another question, I think.


.

I have just recently been using my scms for box making. I believe Roger has plans on his website. Very accurate and safe way of cutting small stock to size.
Andy