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In advance, I'm sorry for another bandsaw thread. I did search and found everything I could on these two saws.

My shop has limited space - floor space and head space. These two saws are about as big as I want to accommodate and seem somewhat closer to "apples to apples" than comparing other 14" saws to the Laguna. The Rikon 18" is a little taller than I want to go.

My 14" Delta does everything I want except re-saw exotic hardwood. (I don't want to add a riser block, build a new base, add a 2 HP motor with pulleys and belt, add new guides, fix the true-ness of the guide post, etc., etc.)

So users of these two saws, what have you liked and disliked about the two saws?

BTW. Here are some the comparisons I have made:
Throat capacity - advantage Grizzly +23%
Power capacity - advantage LT +50% Leeson
Blade speed - advantage LT +34% (cutting rate is likely greater than 34%, but not a huge deal for me)
Table size - advantage Grizzly +31%
Table operation - advantage LT with rack & pinion tilt, bigger trunnions, wider spaced trunnions for stability, split table clamp, 2 miter slots, and 10 degrees more left tilt
Weight (more steel) - advantage LT +17%
Guides - the jury is out for me, I need your opinions. Wood Mag says LT's ceramics are best.
Re-saw height - advantage LT 2", but not really much of a factor since both have more than needed by me
Cost - advantage Grizzly. Not a major factor for me since it will be used for years and the cost savings for exotic wood is of more concern (i.e. cutting ability of the machine assuming good accurate set up and same blades).

There are other differences I've seen but I did not intend the list to be all inclusive. There are many similarities. Both are Asian made with steel frames, cast iron wheels, brakes (though different), have 1" blade max capacity, etc.

My guess is that the the Laguna may cut more consistently with less wood waste, but that is just that - a guess.

What is your expeerience here?

I haven't looked at the Grizzly close up but I have the Laguna. I have to say it is impressive. There are also carbide blades available for them but they are God awful expensive. They pack a lot of punch into a 14 inch saw. For my money though I would look at the Jet or Delta 18 inch. They both have 12 inch resaw capacity and Carter style blade guides. More importantly they both will take up to a 1 1/2 inch wide blade. The wider the blade the better it tracks. I recently used a friend's Jet 18 inch to resaw mahogany back and sides. Worked like a champ. The Jet 115 volt has a 1 3/4 horse motor and the Delta has a 2 horse motor. I didn't have any trouble with the Jet bogging down. It is also available in a 3 horse 230 volt motor. The Delta may not be available anymore. They were recently bought out from Black and Decker so what they will continue to carry may be anyone's guess.

I have a Laguna and it is my favorite bandsaw. I also have a delta 14 and a huge Powermatic 20 inch bandsaw. I use the Laguna almost exclusively for everything, including resawing everything from mahogany to honduran rosewood and it works much better than the Powermatic in my experience... I do not have any experience with the Grizzly so it could be great as well! Ha.

I have an older model of that Grizzly (no brake) and it's been a good saw (fantastic saw for the money). I've re-sawn hundreds of tops, dozens of backs/sides plus plenty of necks, brace wood, body molds and every day shop stuff. If I was re-sawing full time and speed was an issue, I'd go with more power but it cuts woods like Wenge and Sapele with no problem with a thin-kerf blade and fairly slow feed.

I had to replace some of the guide bearings sooner than I thought I should but that's not a big deal. The guides work well and are easy to adjust. 10 minutes to change from a 3/4" blade to 1/4". My last saw (an old Laguna/Meber) had the Laguna ceramic guides and I can't say I got better results with them.

Frame is sturdy and getting enough tension has never been an issue.

The fence is OK for most work. Too much flex in the arm for re-sawing.

Miter gauge is cheap with the typical slop.

Never had an issue with the trunnions but I almost never angle the table.

The large table is nice to have and is flat enough.

Only problem I've had is that the blade drift will sometimes change in the middle of a cut but I'm pretty sure that's the blade getting dull as I've never found the saw going out of adjustment.

Only caveat is that I have found that lemons can show up in any brand and any tool can take a beating in shipping. I got a good one this time.

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http://www.chassonguitars.com

I can't give personal experience with either, but maybe these thoughts might help...
- 14" is probably too small for Lenox carbide blades (fatigue) and resawing is said to work best with larger wheels (more inertia = smoother cut).
- Laguna customer service tends to have many complaints.
- If more $ is ok, I'd also look at the Minimax MM16... cream of the crop for a small resaw.

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David Malicky

I own 4 bandsaws . Bigger over 18in is always better especially for resawing . Check out SCMI minimax better bandsaw/ customer service, than griz or lagooney IMHO . Lots of thread complaints abt laguna and their service , and griz as well . Caveat emptor.

Do a search for my comments on the Laguna 14 SUV. In brief, I would not ever again buy a Chinese saw no matter who's name was painted on the side. Laguna now says they have switched manufacturing plants in China and quality control problems have been resolved. If that is true it could be a decent saw. I urge you to get a used or new 18 inch Jet and make a little more space in your shop.

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http://goatrockukulele.com

Ed,

Did you see this? It is a bit old but still up.

http://houston.craigslist.org/tls/2395747376.html

You may not want to bother with an older machine, which I understand, but if you do I would prefer this saw to either of your other options.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

Yes, I called twice about it over the last couple of weeks. The guy never returned my call. I did finally reach him yesterday, but he had traded it to a friend. Oh well, I tried. Turns out that he was a machinest who had restored the machine. But he converted it from direct drive to belt drive would would be OK. He had sand blasted, painted, replaced all bearings, etc.

Thanks much Burton.