Hi all,
I am fairly new to woodworking and have for sometime wanted to aquire a bandsaw. What I want to be able to do with it is small work and resawing boards. I have started my journey with boxmaking, but dont want to limit myself to this, currently looking at making a small coffee table and am interested to slowly get into some smaller furniture items. As my jointer is 6inch and I dont forsee myself getting any bigger than an 8inch jointer in the near future the maximum resaw capacity would have to be around 200mm.( Although more is always nice)
That being said as with a lot of you I am limited for space and am looking at a 14 inch.
Now I have been searching for some while and having a look at the Laguna SUV and have read about the hammer as well but am not sure if I can justify 2000 + postage for a first bandsaw. As with most things I am sure many of you will say get what you can afford... If I saved for some time I could probably get one of these... but I feel being my first I should try for something considerably cheaper and get used to the general function, and can always upgrade in a year or 2.
I have had a look at the 2 carbatec 14 inch bandsaws as well as the Leda 14inch. These seem to stay in the sweet spot for cost, where they are still decent saws but are not so close in cost to the Laguna I feel I should just wait.......This is where the questions start....
1. Currently Carbatec have 2 models- the heavey duty CTJ3501 and the BAS-350B. The CTJ-3501 is curently $935 on sale with 550watt (3/4HP) motor, 200 depth of cut, 345 width of cut and 300 max rip. Takes upto a 16mm blade.
The BAS-350 is cheaaper at $692 with the same cutting depth and width but a max rip of 205mm (not sure why?). It can take upto a 19mm blade.
The BAS almost seems better value in my opinion, I wouldnt think with a table saw near buy that the max rip would be to much of an issue? Can you guys see why this saw is cheaper yet is more powerful and can take a bigger blade?
2. The Leda BS-350 has a 1.3HP motor and a 200mm cutting depth and 355mm wide. It can take a blade upto 19mm blade as well.
So far of these 3 which do you think is the a) the best value? and b) will be powerfull enough to resaw?
Does anyone have any experience with these saws as to how accurate they would be when resawing?
I understaand the Hammer and Laguna are in a class of thier own with way more power and cutting capacity and I would love this, but simply dont know if I can justify the cost at this point in time. I could always wait, but If I buy one now... get to learn to use a bandsaw properly then in a year or 2 down the track I can sell it secondhand and buy a nice flash one.
Its also extremely motivating that the others are in the 60-80KG range which means I can chuck them on the back of a ute and not pay $400 !!!!!!! postage.
So what do you all think, best value?, Will they be able to handle small resaw projects? what are these saws accuracy like? Any I have missed?
Cheers all