Best Resaw Bandsaw for Weekend Warrior

[Hammer5573]

I recently posted in regards to upgrading my current bandsaw for resawing. After reading all of your informative responses I've decided that upgrading my current saw isn't a good idea. I anticipate using the saw on wood up to 8" wide periodically. Any suggestions on a saw costing less than $1000....?

[Chet]

I have the Laguna 1412 which is a nice versatile saw for the money.  I am real pleased with mine.  It is normally about $100 over your budget but I see it for $987 at Woodcraft right now.  I think I would jump at that.

[Dave's Not Here]

I have the Rikon 10-325 and am basically very happy with it.  The current version is the 10-326 and it's priced right at the $1000 figure you mention.  It does go on sale fairly regularly so if you can wait you can save yourself a hundred or two.

[Ronn W]

I recently resawed a 1/16" veneer out of a 3/4" x 13" wide x 13" long piece of curly maple.  My Laguna 14 twelve (110v) had to work pretty hard with a Laguna 3/4" 3tpi steel blade. Took it nice and slow and got a nice straight cut.  I think that that is about the limit for that bandsaw. 

[gee-dub]

The Laguna gets good reviews from owners here and on other forums. 

I run a Grizzly G0513X with a steel blade and feed about an inch per second or less for veneers.  I was talking with Torben at a show and he did some veneer resawing and moved at about half that speed.  I think some folks think a bandsaw can rip through tall stock like a tablesaw rips through 4/4.  Different game, different rules.

[Brendon_t]

5 minutes ago, gee-dub said:

The Laguna gets good reviews from owners here and on other forums. 

I run a Grizzly G0513X with a steel blade and feed about an inch per second or less for veneers.  I was talking with Torben at a show and he did some veneer resawing and moved at about half that speed.  I think some folks think a bandsaw can rip through tall stock like a tablesaw rips through 4/4.  Different game, different rules.

An inch a second sounds very fast.  When cutting veneers, I'm running maybe a sixth of an inch per second.

[Unknown craftsman]

6 hours ago, gee-dub said:

The Laguna gets good reviews from owners here and on other forums. 

I run a Grizzly G0513X with a steel blade and feed about an inch per second or less for veneers.  I was talking with Torben at a show and he did some veneer resawing and moved at about half that speed.  I think some folks think a bandsaw can rip through tall stock like a tablesaw rips through 4/4.  Different game, different rules.

Hi gee-dub was Torben using his Rk blade,I just recently bought one and its really slow feed.It really tests my patience.

Aj

[gee-dub]

@Aj3  Yes, the quality of the cut is what he was showing off.  The cut quality was good but, no better than a Woodslicer used at that pace . . .

I use a tall fence and stacked featherboards to slice pieces off of blanks that are milled square on at least the bottom edge and the face against the fence.  I feed the stock as it cuts without much forward pressure at all.  If I am forcing the board forward as opposed to feeding it with a steady pressure, something is amiss. 

[HuxleyWood]

On 2/5/2017 at 8:36 PM, gee-dub said:

@Aj3  Yes, the quality of the cut is what he was showing off.  The cut quality was good but, no better than a Woodslicer used at that pace . . .

I use a tall fence and stacked featherboards to slice pieces off of blanks that are milled square on at least the bottom edge and the face against the fence.  I feed the stock as it cuts without much forward pressure at all.  If I am forcing the board forward as opposed to feeding it with a steady pressure, something is amiss. 

 

The Woodslicer (or the Blade Runner/Kerfmaster as Iturra/Spectrum Supply call them) has a cut quality VERY close to the best carbide resaw blades, it just costs more in the long run since the impulse hardened spring steel teeth are very soft compared to carbide.  5fpm is pretty fast on a saw with less than 5hp/4000 fpm I usually resaw (with a feeder) at 2.5fpm for the best quality and even that is with significant hp and blade speed,

 

To the OP IMO you best choices are the Laguna 14/12 and the Rikon 10-326 with the lean toward the Laguna.

[The Region Rogue]

I have the 14/12 right now.  I will say that for hobby work it's about all you'll ever need.  I haven't used the full resaw height, but I have little doubt that it could handle resawing that much.  It's very smooth, and the build quality is good.  Lots of people love the guides, but I'm not a fan.

I'm using it to pretty much exclusively resaw old barn timbers, joists, etc., and for that it falls short, particularly in feed rate.  That's not a knock on it, though.  It really wasn't designed for that application.

Don't expect to properly tension a 3/4" blade, though.  I found that the 3/4" cuts much faster even when not tensioned to it's proper psi, but the quality is compromised.  1/2" or 5/8" would be the maximum to properly tension on it.

If I had it to do again, I'd have gotten a 17" Grizzly.  I'd think it'd be better suited for "weekend warrior" resawing than the 14/12, if for no other reason than you could get a 3/4" blade on it.

[Eric.]

I have a 14-12 and a 17" Grizzly. They basically have the same specs and the Grizzly doesn't do any better than the Laguna on resaw. In fact it's probably worse because it's a cheap POS that doesn't want to stay calibrated.

If you need to do a lot of resawing, you'll need a real bandsaw. And I'm not talking about 14 or 17 inch saws. I'm talking about real saws. 14 inch saws are great for curves and rips and light duty resaw...but let's face it, they're tinker toys.

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[Tom Cancelleri]

For resawing you're gonna want to step it up to a 3+ HP machine. I did a bit of resawing and ripping 10" x 10' 10/4 maple when I built my Roubo. I used my Laguna 14|12 to do this with a couple of different blades. Working with pieces that big on a 14" saw is a surefire way to make your table/trunion flex under the weight of a large board like that. I stepped up to a MiniMax mm20 5hp machine with a 1.3 TPI carbide blade and it's an absolute monster. There's a night and day difference in performance.

[rodger.]

What do you guys think of the newer Laguna, the 14BX machine?

[pkinneb]

19 minutes ago, Pug said:

What do you guys think of the newer Laguna, the 14BX machine?

Pug can't help you with that one but I have had the Laguna 16HD for 10ish years and the Laguna 1412 for about a year both have been awesome saws.

[Gixxerjoe04]

So what did the OP go with?  @Hammer5573

I plan on picking up a new bandsaw this week since I just sold mine.  Plan on making my decision when I go to woodcraft and decide between the Laguna 1412 or the Rikon 10-326.  Also thought about the rikon 10-324 since it's $200 cheaper with the difference being .25hp less motor and an open stand.  I'll prob end up going with the Laguna, would like to get the 2.5hp 14bx but don't want to spend an extra $3-400.

[difalkner]

We bought the Laguna 14SUV, along with the 1" Resaw King carbide blade, about two years ago and it is one sweet machine for resawing.  It's a bit over the $1k budget but if the 1412 performs anything like the SUV then it's a good saw.  Here's a short video of our SUV in action on a 14" wide piece of Sinker Mahogany -

 

[Tom Cancelleri]

14 hours ago, Gixxerjoe04 said:

So what did the OP go with?  @Hammer5573

I plan on picking up a new bandsaw this week since I just sold mine.  Plan on making my decision when I go to woodcraft and decide between the Laguna 1412 or the Rikon 10-326.  Also thought about the rikon 10-324 since it's $200 cheaper with the difference being .25hp less motor and an open stand.  I'll prob end up going with the Laguna, would like to get the 2.5hp 14bx but don't want to spend an extra $3-400.

I had the Rikon 10-325. It was a good saw when setup really well, but the guides are pretty crappy and they seized numerous times I had to keep soaking them in bearing cleaner and then lube them every couple of months. Don't go bigger than a 1/2" blade. That said, the laguna 14|12 has way better fit and finish, along with better blade guides.

[drzaius]

I've got a Rikon 10-325 & am now using a 5/8" blade for resaw & it is just about at it's limit for tension. Cuts arrow straight with no drift. The saw was an absolute bugger to get set up right though. Would I buy it again? No.

[Eric.]

The decision between the 14-12 and the Rikon is no decision at all.  Laguna all the way.

Aside from the SUV, which is in a class all its own, no one should be putting blades bigger than 1/2" on any 14" saw, IMO.  They don't have the beef to withstand such stress.  14" saws are not designed to be resaw machines.  They're just not.  Just because they can resaw a little bit doesn't mean they're the right tool for the job.

You might be able to hit 120 mph in a Ford Focus, but if you stay there for an hour, something is gonna melt.  Not designed for that job.

[drzaius]

4 minutes ago, Eric. said:

The decision between the 14-12 and the Rikon is no decision at all.  Laguna all the way.

Aside from the SUV, which is in a class all its own, no one should be putting blades bigger than 1/2" on any 14" saw, IMO.  They don't have the beef to withstand such stress.  14" saws are not designed to be resaw machines.  They're just not.  Just because they can resaw a little bit doesn't mean they're the right tool for the job.

You might be able to hit 120 mph in a Ford Focus, but if you stay there for an hour, something is gonna melt.  Not designed for that job.

When I bought the Rikon, they also had the Laguna sitting right beside it in the showroom, but it was a few hundred more. What do you suppose I'd rather have right now, the few hundred in my pocket, or the better bandsaw? Even though the Rikon is working well now, I still get a little pissed off every time I look at it. It's gonna be gone one of these days.

[Eric.]

19 minutes ago, drzaius said:

When I bought the Rikon, they also had the Laguna sitting right beside it in the showroom, but it was a few hundred more. What do you suppose I'd rather have right now, the few hundred in my pocket, or the better bandsaw? Even though the Rikon is working well now, I still get a little pissed off every time I look at it. It's gonna be gone one of these days.

Same way I feel about my 17" Grizzly.  I'd rather be a few thousand poorer and have a better saw in my shop.  Once you have it, it's a lot tougher to upgrade than to just do it right the first time.

[Gixxerjoe04]

I don't plan on resawing much I'd say, just on occasion, I do plan on making bowl blanks round.  Either way, whatever I buy should be an upgrade from my ridgid. 

[dirt_dobber]

I'm new here - this is my first post. I am newly retired and I am in this exact same situation - going to buy a better bandsaw but trying to stay under $1k. I'm trying to avoid craigslist only because I don't know enough about bandsaws to know if I am buying someones headache or a problematic saw. 

Very please to see so many quality posts here. 

[Lofty]

I purchased the Laguna 14BX - 2.5HP motor (220) was only $100 more than the 1.75HP (110). Only had it for 4-5 months but so far it's been awesome. I have a 3/4" Laguna blade on it and it resawed 9" Spanish Cedar without issue. I have limited bandsaw experience so the fact it worked well is 100% the quality of the saw. When I assembled the saw there was some rust on the under side of the table. Reached out to Laguna and they shipped me a new table without issue. It was a brand new tool so I would have returned but so far my experience with their service department has been good.

I didn't add the Laguna mobile base as they were out of stock or the light they sell. I put it on a Jet mobile base and that works great. Will probably add the Laguna base at some point but it's twice as expensive as other mobile bases. While I don't have the light, it doesn't look like it is in the best position so not sure I'll add it. Instead I'll probably use the Rikon magnet base light so I can have a little more flexibility.