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The Steel City granite deluxe 14" comes with a "riser", it has a 12" resaw capacity.

According to one review I've seen (I can't seem to find it anymore) says the steel city deluxe resaws walnut fairly well...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I would definitely pass on the SC granite deluxe bandsaw. Trust me on this one...I've actually tried to deal with two of them and they are pretty sad machines, IMHO. Poor alignment, bad vibration, etc.

Hello Tai happy Crimbo ......just quoting you ......

I mean I won't be resawing anywhere near as much as Herr Dalbergia, but it can save me a lot of money to buy SE Asian hardwoods in Taiwan and resawing them myself
Do you need any more clarification ?
On that point alone about cheaper wood I would definitely HOLD OUGT
Did ya not read filippios dissapointment about cutting some hard sthuff recently ? ya need a gud blade and sthiff backbone.

I live in ireland and id say ( in my ignorant drunkeness ) theirs probably the same type of market sale here as in localish bandsaw sales /woodwork machinery /cabinet makers workshop /woodwork, ing machines .....word it whatever ya think in the "buy and sell" over there ,
Were broke too APPARENTLY?


I got screwed over on a new machine a bit over last year ....long story about a startrite 502e misalignment
In which i could not set up the guides close enough, because of various blades wobbling
Sent it back with 450 miles too and frowing and haggling nearly on youtube kinda sthuff !
Irish seller sayin i wont find a machine with same capability and price ,Tryin to offer me half
In the end i found a older griggio sna 600 for 500 euros (a new one wood be 3000 + here)
which i was waiting a year for
Totally worth it (IF YA LIKE SANDIN AND PAINTIN )
But hey were all gluttons for punishment on this forum anyway...

Dont rule out three phase as theirs a wave of cheap newish tech vfd inverters on your side
Your into this for the long haul so its a step closer to bill pentz cycloneland which you will need
if you are into fancy wood anyway

Thats my bandsaw rant over .
must make an update on mobile base v.2 soon come to think of it ..

Good luck on your quest If anything try looking for a size or two down
whatever these olf guys say you need for tasks other than resawing
But if your a stingy b like me you will resist temptation
tOMAS

By the way... after some extensive research (both on the trupro site and on google), this saw that I am about to buy is sold as Lobo BS-0181. The image and spec looks exactly the same. In fact I think Trupro makes Jet bandsaws too, you will notice they use the exact same model number as Jet...

It seems this saw is a copy of an Italian made saw... from the limited reviews I've seen it's a pretty good saw although the price I am paying is a little on the high side. It is brand new though (they were paying 850 used)

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

My 2 cents, hold out for a really good bandsaw this can be seen as a long term investment. I have 5 bandsaws , if I were to do it over , I/d buy the most expensive best equipped BS, that I could afford.From the voice of experience.

Can you get stuff from Rikon? I bought the 10-325 and am very happy with it so far. It's 1-1/2 hp, two speed, 14" throat, 13" re-saw capacity (I've done 9" Wenge no problem), large table, small footprint, all for under $1k.

Michael

Not sure, maybe the only thing I could really do is import Italian made saws, which will be expensive, very expensive.

Honestly I don't know why I should go buy Rikon and others which are really just Taiwanese/Chinese saws by importing them from the US. I don't know who makes Rikon but with each saw there are slight differences in features (blade tension indicator, fence, foot brake, etc. but it looked as though the frames in general are of the same design. The only way (in my opinion) would be to go for something with larger wheels (20" and above, in which Rexon actually offers a pretty good one), or change the motor for a bigger one but then space becomes a limitation. Like I said if I were to go the importation route, then only good Italian saws like Laguna would make sense. But at that price point it would be a better deal (for me) to get a 26" saw, replace the motor with a bigger one, and make any necessary improvements to put it up to par, and finally invest in a blade tension gauge.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

What about an old russian bandsaw?
You can find some USSR bandsaws for a steal. Some of the machines they made were pretty amazing. They will probably weigh a ton but they are built like tanks.
In Estonia, most of the industries use old USSR machinery because they are so simple, reliable and they will work forever.

I'm using a 60 years+ old planer right now and it works like a charm. It has 6kw~ motor, 40cm+ planing width, solid metal frame (weighs about 1 ton) and it costs around 1000-1500$.

Unless you are really resawing a lot of timber I simply don't understand why you can't get a decent Bandsaw locally. I mean, how many Guitar Backs are you going to resaw in any one month? 2, 3? Any more than that and you'll be knocking out 50+ Guitars per year and I don't know many individual Luthiers who produce that many. So I guess that you need a machine capable of resawing Asian hardwood at around 7 - 8" depth of cut at 1 set per week - unless you are going to start selling tonewood. Sides should be easy at around 4".
My saw is the cheapest of the cheap. OK I don't resaw much but I've done 6" (It's maximum) Maple and 3" Ebony. Out of the box it was incapable of cutting 2" Walnut! Set up (co planar etc.), put in a very good blade and it can transform the machine. I even swapped out the the roller bearing guides (they were junk) for simple hardwood dowels. The only time the motor bogged down was with the original blade.

It's very hard to find used saws in Taiwan, yes they make a lot of them but they're all for export, not many people use hobbyist sized (anything under 18") in Taiwan... so the only used bandsaw I can find is a 26" bandsaw, for less than the price of the 18" I am getting actually. The problem with that is the size, it will not fit in my shop (I have a very small shop). Neither will the residential circuit handle the increased power requirement of a giant motor. It's much easier to find used industrial equipment than hobbyist equipments in Taiwan because there are a lot of industries here. Brand new is less of a problem however...

I am interested in resawing but only occasionally, I just do not like the Rexon 10" bandsaw because the kind of blades that are available for it is limited, and blade life is fairly poor with such small saw because of its small wheel, and it won't make heavier cuts that I'll need to make sometimes (other than resawing). Not only that the frame is very flexible... I can deflect the frame a fair bit just by pushing it. Its trunion is also not that good, causing the table to move when a moderately heavy item is placed onto it. Other than that, the throat length really limits me in terms of cutting curves with it. Resawing isn't the most important thing to me but it's something I would like to have. I am also partnering with a friend to do some furniture building and resawing capability will be needed there.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I have the Rikon 18" Bandsaw. Overall, it is very good although the frame flexes enough that resawing 10" thick Osage Orange makes the blade catch and jump--I changed to a Lenox Tri-master blade (instead of the Woodmaster CT) and that pretty much solved the problem. The one thing that I would do different if I were buying another saw is to buy one with a blade brake. It takes several minutes for those 18" wheels to wind down when I turn it off. The other thing that I don't like about the Rikon saw is the difficulty of adjusting the blade guides (they are held by bolts in a sliding track--no threaded adjusters). I though I was spending a lot at the time I bought it on sale because it was such an upgrade over the Delta clone that I had. If I were doing it again, I would spend more and get a better saw.

Im with you.. If I was to buy an 18" BS it wouldn't be the Rikon. I think the 10-325 Rikon is a much better saw/value than the newer 14" Delta w/riser. I'm just running the 1/2" woodslicer.. It does really well!

If I only had the room..

Yep.. 6" and 140 pounds..

Actually.. I think having a Table saw in the middle of the shop is a waste of at least 25 sqft, the amount of room it takes to walk past my saw on the right side. I have no reason to do any work to the right of the blade beyond the 52" capacity of my fence. In that case it may as well be against the wall. Having been a cabinetmaker too many years taught me a lot about efficient use of space. A Table saw is too often used as a TABLE when it the middle of a production shop. I have a 5hp Powermatic 66 with slide-table, a large out feed table, and a 52" Biesemeyer fence. It takes up 100 sqft on its own. When I retired I went from my 1600 sqft shop to my 800 sqft basement. Half of that space is stationary tools. The other half has my assembly space which includes my filtered spray booth and my small CNC Machine. My shop space is strictly for building insturments now. No more kitchens, bathrooms, libraries, or!!

Oh, and my 10" bandsaw takes up the same amount of space as the 18" bandsaw (I am sure). I do not have space for a full table saw because the workbench already takes up nearly all of the space (it's a very small shop, main shop is 15' x 12', the other room with the machine is 8' x 10') so the plan now is to get a benchtop table saw and use it on the workbench, put them away when finished. If I had a much bigger shop it would have been the 26" bandsaw, no question...

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

That means 18" from the blade to the body of the saw , not the size of the wheels.

Sounds like you need to build the big woodgears.ca bandsaw. Price is right. Function matches what you want. It coulda been built by now go for it.

I thought about it, however just the motor alone costs about 1/3 as much as this saw. Also the wood is no more stiff compared to steel, and since they are a little expensive the frame would cost another 1/3 and the rest would go toward bearings and stuff. It's not really a good deal when steel saws are available and works better than wooden ones.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Never considered wooden wheels. I made a bandsaw one time that used 20" rubber tires from a boat trailer. The bandsaw I have used for the last couple years is a 19" grizzly and until today have had nothing but love for it, today I wish the resaw height was more than 12"