How much bandsaw is needed? 1 hp?

[Blue42]

Hey guys. This is somewhat of a sawmill question. I regularly cut 2" hardwood into various shapes. Usually white oak and beech. Lately I have also been trying to cut thick limbs, about 4-5" diameter, into table legs. It's not easy.
The old Craftsman table saw chokes on them. Part of that is having trouble feeding them straight. But I'm looking at getting a bandsaw. How much HP do I need to get something that could handle cutting through big hunks of hardwood 4" thick? I'd rather spend less than more. $500 maybe. But I'm afraid the answer is going to be more like $1000.

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

Hey guys. This is somewhat of a sawmill question. I regularly cut 2" hardwood into various shapes. Usually white oak and beech. Lately I have also been trying to cut thick limbs, about 4-5" diameter, into table legs. It's not easy.
The old Craftsman table saw chokes on them. Part of that is having trouble feeding them straight. But I'm looking at getting a bandsaw. How much HP do I need to get something that could handle cutting through big hunks of hardwood 4" thick? I'd rather spend less than more. $500 maybe. But I'm afraid the answer is going to be more like $1000.

I picked up a second hand 14" Delta bandsaw for $350 that had a riser block installed so can handle up to 12" height and the motor had been replaced with a 220V 3hp Grizzly. Works great, as powerful as most $800-1200 saws. I made up a concave sled to set the log in to run limb sections through for similar to your purposes. The sled helped straighten the cut a lot by keeping the wood from rolling. For cutting white oak and harder, you really want a 3hp 220V saw. A good blade helps a lot too, I cheaped out on blades at first and they dull instantly in thick hardwood. Timberwolf are the best affordable blades that hold up okay. A Laguna Resaw King carbide tipped blade is ultimately the way to go for cutting a lot of thick hardwood but I haven't brought myself to spend $150 on a blade yet. Timberwolf's can be had for $28-35 depending on size.

 

[blades]

You are going to have to watch Craig's list and Facebook market place like hawk to get down to that price point. and you might have to do some repair, tires & maybe blade guides. motors - a 3hp on 110v is going to draw more than the standard 15 amp home outlet. 3/4 hp was the usual motor supplied iirc. Might be able to get away with a1-1.5 hp on a 15a circuit.
Table saw not cutting straight is a common complaint for a lot of the units where the motor or arbor assembly is mounted to the under side of the table. Cabinet saws do not have that problem. ( Delta Uni saw or Powermatic 66 there some others as well) Older powermatic as well as laguna bandsaws are decent units as well. Most of the bandsaws i see on the various lists are $400+ but every once in awhile something pops up. I picked up a Powermatic cabinet saw some years back for a steal, seller said the motor was bad ( well when you feed a 220 v motor 110v it don't work , i didn't say anything about that to the seller nothing wrong with the motor when fed 220v). Couldn't hand the cash over fast enough. A few weeks later a different seller was unloading a bunch parts for same including a 3ph oem motor- $ 50 for the lot. another steal as my shop has 3 ph.

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

Something like this would be good if you could find the upper guide piece it needed. https://annapolis.craigslist.org/tls/d/crownsville-woodworking-bandsaw/7751938369.html
Carter has parts for the upper guide that should match that model - https://carterproducts.com/grizzly-18-guide-kit
If it's just the guide block that's cracked that's a $35 part, no big deal. Not sure whether Grizzly themself still carries the parts though.

 

[Blue42]

I picked up a second hand 14" Delta bandsaw for $350 that had a riser block installed so can handle up to 12" height and the motor had been replaced with a 220V 3hp Grizzly. Works great, as powerful as most $800-1200 saws. I made up a concave sled to set the log in to run limb sections through for similar to your purposes. The sled helped straighten the cut a lot by keeping the wood from rolling. For cutting white oak and harder, you really want a 3hp 220V saw. A good blade helps a lot too, I cheaped out on blades at first and they dull instantly in thick hardwood. Timberwolf are the best affordable blades that hold up okay. A Laguna Resaw King carbide tipped blade is ultimately the way to go for cutting a lot of thick hardwood but I haven't brought myself to spend $150 on a blade yet. Timberwolf's can be had for $28-35 depending on size.

Pretty good. I'd be interested to see how that sled works, with having to cut pieces off it each cut.
I have an adze and I can roughly cut a log square. Very roughly. But it takes, all, day, long. And the end product is not great. So I end up spending an entire Saturday accomplishing just about nothing. Actually, three Saturdays at this point, just trying to somehow hack, cut, and plane four legs for a coffee table out of some beech logs. I have a 2" thick slab from a 130 yr old beech that I could cut up for legs, but I'm just not doing it. It would seem like cutting up a nice painting into pieces.
That's what got me to this point.

 

[Blue42]

Something like this would be good if you could find the upper guide piece it needed. https://annapolis.craigslist.org/tls/d/crownsville-woodworking-bandsaw/7751938369.html
Carter has parts for the upper guide that should match that model - https://carterproducts.com/grizzly-18-guide-kit
If it's just the guide block that's cracked that's a $35 part, no big deal. Not sure whether Grizzly themself still carries the parts though.

Whoa, I searched Craigslist and didn't see that. Appreciate it. That could be worth it if I could get it home. I'd have to rent a truck. I can fit 10ft boards into my 07 Impala with the back seat removed, but that bandsaw wouldn't be fitting unless I could take it apart on site.

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

Yeah even in Silverado 2500 I ended up cracking a table mount on my saw when I brought it home due to leaning it over on its side on my truck bed to load it. Was a pain in the ass to load. That Grizzly looks really nice, seems perfectly renovated aside from that upper guide issue which I think is an easy fix.

The sled is about 6" wide so I usually put at least 8" logs on it to take an inch or two off one side to flatten a side. Once I had one side flat that was all I needed to do the rest without the sled. It's hard to mark a line on a rough log to keep it straight though pushing it through the saw. Popping a chalk line is probably the most accurate way of doing it. Don't have a suitable small log to demonstrate but this is the idea.

 

[Blue42]

So you don't use the fence and just cut along the contour of the log roughly? How about a wider sled so that you can just run it against the fence so you get a straight cut without having to worry about marking the cut line on the log at all? With a 14" saw it seems like you should be able to cut a relatively straight log that's up to about 10" wide using the fence.

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

Totally agree. Don't have a fence on my sled, just a crude homemade wood resaw clamp on fence that came with it. Once I ran into blade deflection problems in the ultra dense hardwoods I put through it I gave up on using a fence and tried to cut along a line. But with a quality blade trued up to the fence and without deflection problems it should cut relatively straight. Still, nothing like a table saw where the blade is rigid. Bandsaw blades deflect way too easily in hardwood. I gave up trying to do any precision resaw cuts with mine though I know it's possible as people make veneers all the time with them. I just never got the hang of my saw and stopped using it much til recently when I got better new blades and it cut much better than it ever had before. Been meaning to add a Kreg 7200 fence to mine to see if I can finally conquer accurate resawing, that Grizzly has a fence already which is nice.

 

[blades]

Width of the blade, proper blade tension, & feed rate are your main parameters to a straight cut. Also your upper and lower or left /right blade guides have to be in alignment as well. Clearance of the blade to guides is about the thickness of a biz card sides and back. Debarking the log will make blades last longer unless you are trying for a rustic edge. Bark holds a lot of crud that dulls blades quick, including chain saw blades. A Skip tooth blade is best for resawing It has larger gullets although shallower than a hook tooth for saw dust and is less agressive than a hook blade. I think that griz unit will take a 1" blade ( my 17"griz does) , 2-4 tpi For tpi on a bandsaw blade you count the number of gullets in one inch. Opposite of a circular saw. hope this helps some

 

[Blue42]

Thanks guys.
Right now I'm deciding between the 14" and 17" Grizzly. And, I guess, it would be the 17" with the iron wheels and the brake. Just don't know if I'll use it enough to be worth spending the extra $1000. Probably only would be if I'm basically using it as a sawmill, running 5' logs through it.
I'm thankful to be able to do things like this at all.

 

[blades]

I have an old Delta 14" - very limited maybe 6" vertical ( newer versions have a riser available so can get close 12" vert.), 1/2' wide is about max blade ( might be able to sneak 5/8 wide but that is like a 16ga shotgun stateside) my main unit is a 17" Griz works well. it is about 10 years old now. That will drive 1" blade I don't remember the vertical clearance close to a foot I think. Also have an old 2 range variable speed wood metal DoAll at my shop 15" throat by apx 9' height. that will take 1" blade as well. More wood more power needed. 1hp on 110v is right at the edge of standard household wiring. 20 amp 110v line would be better or better yet on 220v single phase. My Griz can be set up for 110v or 220v. IMO the 17" would be a better choice particularly in the re-sawing area as most at that size can use a 1" wide blade which is a lot more stable than 1/2". 1 inch blade is more stabe becuse of blade width and it is .035 thick vs .025 for 1/2" although there is 1/2" wide material made in .035 also. The thicker blade also require more hp.

 

[Coralillo Lo Pro]

For something you're not going to use a lot, I wouldn't spend a lot of money on a bandsaw. The 18" Grizzly on CL would be a good way to go. Looked further, and I'm pretty sure the broken part is just this actually but you could check with the seller to be sure. https://www.grizzly.com/parts/-support-bracket-cast-iron-7-8-id-v2.12.1/p1012005v2?op=P1012005
If it's not too far from you, Home Depot truck rentals for a flatbed are only $19 per 75 minutes, unlimited mileage, at least out here they are, or $129 for the whole day.

 

[Blue42]

For something you're not going to use a lot, I wouldn't spend a lot of money on a bandsaw. The 18" Grizzly on CL would be a good way to go. Looked further, and I'm pretty sure the broken part is just this actually but you could check with the seller to be sure. https://www.grizzly.com/parts/-support-bracket-cast-iron-7-8-id-v2.12.1/p1012005v2?op=P1012005
If it's not too far from you, Home Depot truck rentals for a flatbed are only $19 per 75 minutes, unlimited mileage, at least out here they are, or $129 for the whole day.

The only thing with that is, just roughly estimating, I'd spend about 7 hrs getting it home, start to finish. Plus $150 for truck rental and gas. I work every weekend, almost always on wood stuff. My Saturdays are worth maybe $400 to me, to not always be working all day on them. That would effectively put me into it for $450+$400+$150=$1000. For a saw that's apparently 40 years old.
If I was closer or didn't mind spending a Saturday doing it, I'd pick it up. I appreciate the find. I thought seriously about getting it. Still dabbling with the idea actually. But my list of projects I already have already demand every Saturday...and Sunday. I'd pay about $300-400 just to have it shipped to my door and spare me doing it.

 

[singinwoodwackr]

Hey guys. This is somewhat of a sawmill question. I regularly cut 2" hardwood into various shapes. Usually white oak and beech. Lately I have also been trying to cut thick limbs, about 4-5" diameter, into table legs. It's not easy.
The old Craftsman table saw chokes on them. Part of that is having trouble feeding them straight. But I'm looking at getting a bandsaw. How much HP do I need to get something that could handle cutting through big hunks of hardwood 4" thick? I'd rather spend less than more. $500 maybe. But I'm afraid the answer is going to be more like $1000.

If you can find a used Delta, Jet or Taiwan clone of of those for that amount they will do the job with a 1/2” carbide blade. (Most came with a 3/4 or 1hp motor) However, a 1.5 or better, 2hp motor upgrade is recommended.
Then, build infeed and out feed tables to support the weight from 2x4s and plywood and off you go. Better table top arterial would be melamine or Formica, waxed.
Build a sled out of plywood and a 2x6…YouTube…
I did this for many years before getting a Jet 18”.
The deals are out there…be patient.

 

[singinwoodwackr]

You are going to have to watch Craig's list and Facebook market place like hawk to get down to that price point. and you might have to do some repair, tires & maybe blade guides. motors - a 3hp on 110v is going to draw more than the standard 15 amp home outlet. 3/4 hp was the usual motor supplied iirc. Might be able to get away with a1-1.5 hp on a 15a circuit.
Table saw not cutting straight is a common complaint for a lot of the units where the motor or arbor assembly is mounted to the under side of the table. Cabinet saws do not have that problem. ( Delta Uni saw or Powermatic 66 there some others as well) Older powermatic as well as laguna bandsaws are decent units as well. Most of the bandsaws i see on the various lists are $400+ but every once in awhile something pops up. I picked up a Powermatic cabinet saw some years back for a steal, seller said the motor was bad ( well when you feed a 220 v motor 110v it don't work , i didn't say anything about that to the seller nothing wrong with the motor when fed 220v). Couldn't hand the cash over fast enough. A few weeks later a different seller was unloading a bunch parts for same including a 3ph oem motor- $ 50 for the lot. another steal as my shop has 3 ph.

3hp on 110 is impossible, sorry. A 1.5h is possible on a 30a 110 circuit, or, a 20a with frequent breakers being thrown

 

[singinwoodwackr]

Yeah even in Silverado 2500 I ended up cracking a table mount on my saw when I brought it home due to leaning it over on its side on my truck bed to load it. Was a pain in the ass to load. That Grizzly looks really nice, seems perfectly renovated aside from that upper guide issue which I think is an easy fix.

The sled is about 6" wide so I usually put at least 8" logs on it to take an inch or two off one side to flatten a side. Once I had one side flat that was all I needed to do the rest without the sled. It's hard to mark a line on a rough log to keep it straight though pushing it through the saw. Popping a chalk line is probably the most accurate way of doing it. Don't have a suitable small log to demonstrate but this is the idea.


View attachment 1181816

A sled is mandatory for this, imo

 

[singinwoodwackr]

So you don't use the fence and just cut along the contour of the log roughly? How about a wider sled so that you can just run it against the fence so you get a straight cut without having to worry about marking the cut line on the log at all? With a 14" saw it seems like you should be able to cut a relatively straight log that's up to about 10" wide using the fence.

Not without a 6” riser kit. But, those are cheap and easy to install.
My old BS was a $50 garage sale find with no table. I made a table, added the riser kit and a $150 eBay, 1.75h Baldwin motor and 1/2” carbide 3t blade. Cut 11” veneer sheets in Oak with no problem as well as 10” logs into lumber. Well, the 8” jointer and 13” planer helped

 

[singinwoodwackr]

Totally agree. Don't have a fence on my sled, just a crude homemade wood resaw clamp on fence that came with it. Once I ran into blade deflection problems in the ultra dense hardwoods I put through it I gave up on using a fence and tried to cut along a line. But with a quality blade trued up to the fence and without deflection problems it should cut relatively straight. Still, nothing like a table saw where the blade is rigid. Bandsaw blades deflect way too easily in hardwood. I gave up trying to do any precision resaw cuts with mine though I know it's possible as people make veneers all the time with them. I just never got the hang of my saw and stopped using it much til recently when I got better new blades and it cut much better than it ever had before. Been meaning to add a Kreg 7200 fence to mine to see if I can finally conquer accurate resawing, that Grizzly has a fence already which is nice.

A pivot point “fence” and a steady hand removes the deflection issues of a solid fence.
No need for a fancy bought fence, imo…plywood scraps can make a good, sturdy fence and a couple of C-clamps do the trick.

 

[singinwoodwackr]

Iturra Design for everything bandsaw. Order his catalog…you won’t be disappointed!