Bandsaw blues

[WoodDoesntTalkBack]

Lately I have been doing a lot of small projects. Just little things for the family. And I can't help but want to go out and get a bandsaw for all the curved pieces. Right now I'm getting by without one and using my miter saw or table saw for rough cuts and then a jigsaw for curved cuts. But a bandsaw is just calling my name.

Now here's the catch. I have no room. Literally, I have no floor space for it. I have a condo with a one car garage, which the fiance parks in. I built a tall storage cabinet against the back wall and built a big rolling tool bench that sits next to that. On the left wall there's another stationary bench that's also attached to the wall for my table saw to slide under, and then a 2 shelf shelving unit that sits on top of it. Then a 5 shelf unit that sits next to that on the floor. On the right side, well, there are a few small things but no room for a floor model.

SO, do I go with a bench top model? Or just tough it out for a year or two until we move out of here and into a place with a 2-3 car garage for my tools? All of these sales have been wearing me down whenever I go in somewhere... I stare at the bandsaws like "Well... the price is nice... and I could make room..." Then a pure feeling of terror comes over me just picturing the fiance pulling in the garage a little too far forward or to either side and CRUNCH, there goes the new band saw....

[flairwoodworks]

Lately I have been doing a lot of small projects. Just little things for the family. And I can't help but want to go out and get a bandsaw for all the curved pieces. Right now I'm getting by without one and using my miter saw or table saw for rough cuts and then a jigsaw for curved cuts. But a bandsaw is just calling my name.

Now here's the catch. I have no room. Literally, I have no floor space for it. I have a condo with a one car garage, which the fiance parks in. I built a tall storage cabinet against the back wall and built a big rolling tool bench that sits next to that. On the left wall there's another stationary bench that's also attached to the wall for my table saw to slide under, and then a 2 shelf shelving unit that sits on top of it. Then a 5 shelf unit that sits next to that on the floor. On the right side, well, there are a few small things but no room for a floor model.

SO, do I go with a bench top model? Or just tough it out for a year or two until we move out of here and into a place with a 2-3 car garage for my tools? All of these sales have been wearing me down whenever I go in somewhere... I stare at the bandsaws like "Well... the price is nice... and I could make room..." Then a pure feeling of terror comes over me just picturing the fiance pulling in the garage a little too far forward or to either side and CRUNCH, there goes the new band saw....

Make some room - The Answer.

Personally, I don't put much value in little underpowered benchop saws. I'd wait until you can buy a full-size saw. Note that some free-standing 14" bandsaws that come with cabinets can be removed from the cabinet. Just make sure the motor is attached to the back of the saw, not dangling in the cabinet below. The General 14" is one such saw.

[wilburpan]

Lately I have been doing a lot of small projects. Just little things for the family. And I can't help but want to go out and get a bandsaw for all the curved pieces. Right now I'm getting by without one and using my miter saw or table saw for rough cuts and then a jigsaw for curved cuts. But a bandsaw is just calling my name.

I think your best option depends on what you mean by "all the curved pieces". If you are think about using a bandsaw for just making curved cuts in relatively small pieces from 4/4 stock, a benchtop bandsaw may be good enough for your current needs.

A larger bandsaw is what you will need for resawing or handling larger workpieces. But it doesn't seem like you have the space for one. And even if you do create the space for one by getting a Smartcar, as flairwoodworks suggested , there's no way the Smartcar will be able to get the large board home that you need the bigger bandsaw for. Either way, from your description, you'll need to move before going into that direction.

There are more than a few woodworkers that have a large bandsaw set up for resawing and making long cuts in thicker material, and a second smaller bandsaw for curved cuts.

[Aggie83]

It won't answer your question or ease your pain, but

I love my bandsaw!

[WoodDoesntTalkBack]

Well then... I guess I need to move.

[raruss1]

If you are going to move in the not too distant future, I would recommend holding out for a good floor model. Resawing will open up a whole new dimension to woodworking.

One thing to get you by in the meantime is to sign up for a woodworking evening class thought a community college. This way you can use the big tools until you get your own place. I pay $125 a quarter and this give me access to thickness sanders, multi-routers, lathes, scroll saws, pneumatic sanders and other tools I either can't afford, don't have room for or I would not use enough to justify their expense. They even have a CNC

[petersb]

"Lately I have been doing a lot of small projects. Just little things for the family. And I can't help but want to go out and get a bandsaw for all the curved pieces."

How do you guys take and quote just a certain part of the thread and how do you make the links that say what you what them too????? Anyway....

Since you are doing small projects, would a scrollsaw work for you? They are small enough to fit on a bench. They are fun too. Just a thought. It may hold you over until you can buy the garage next to yours to put your shop in or until you move into a place with a garage or shop large enough.

[Beechwood Chip]

I was just about to say the same as Brett - a scroll saw or a jig saw might be a good fit for what you want to do, and your space limitations.

Brett - I don't want to sidetrack this thread, so why don't you start a new thread over in "Forum Help"?

[Vic]

Except that it sounds like you don't really have a space for the tablesaw, either, I'd say get rid of the TS and get a nice BS. This, of course, depends on what you intend to make. I have a really nice TS set-up, but if I were to start all over knowing I don't want to do cabinets, I'd have made the BS the center of attention.

[nateswoodworks]

I would definatly hold off if you don't have the room as well, I think it would be really hard to sell a benchtop bandsaw later on when you upgrade. Brett's sugestion with the scrolls saw is a great one, it will allow you to make a lot of smaller curves and for the parts that are to big for the scroll saw you can make templates for bigger parts to use with the router. Just a thought, it's not as sice as haveing a bandsaw but it will get the job done.

Nate