Official Luthiers Forum!

Hey Folks,

So I'm thinking of stepping up into a much better saw for resawing guitars sets. So far the choices seem to come down to between Laguna and Rikon. Of course from model to model there will be differences, but I have some general questions...

I've done a lot of Internet trawling and have been basically over fed. Does anyone have any experience between the two brands, and have a reason to recommend one over the other?

I've been thinking I should just step into an 18" saw and have done with it, but I wonder if it's really necessary. The price between a 16" and 18" saw is pretty minor overall, but he 18" ones seem to come with 4hp motors vs 3hp, so it seems like it could be worth the extra money.

So, if some of you with some resaw experience could chime in on what is really necessary for our particular tasks and maybe give some specific pointers as to what to look for, I'd appreciate it...

Thanks,

Ed

I've had lots of resaws. No experience with Rikon, but I'd highly recommend a Laguna. Bigger is generally better, and more horsepower is always better. I stepped down from an old 36" Northfield saw to a Laguna 24" a few years ago, and it is a great saw. I know people who use the 18" Lagunas, and they work good too. Laguna ceramic guides, with no moving parts, are simple and are the best I've used. Can't recommend them enough. Laguna does have a bit of a bad rep for service, but I've not needed any in many thousands of cuts. Lenox carbide blades are the ticket. Laguna blades are worthless. It's probably more money than you want to spend, but a powerfeed makes a huge difference in blade life, and quality of cut. Unfortunately, since Sunhill has gone out of business, there seems to be no supply of bandsaw feeders that are less than horribly expensive.

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“ The meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away” Pablo Picasso

Thanks...

Probably going to have to be manual at first anyway.

Would you say the difference between 16-18" is worth it?

I would buy a use one, the brand doesnt matter so much as long as it is heavy, ridig, stiff frame, etc. I would not want to go into resawing with less than 3 Hp. Woodmaster Ct or Resaw King. Thats it, easy and simple....

Thanks!

I'm just all big on warranties and such. As someone who knows little about machines, the thought of buying a used dud worries me...

I've heard both the Rikon and Laguna saws are nice but I don't have much experience with either. Given your 2 options, I like the bigger 18" saw and don't have a preference on the brand. Either way, you will probably love using what you get. Bigger quality made bandsaws are fun to use. I have a 20" Mini Max and it's just a dream. Let us know what you get and post pictures.

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John Lewis
Wannabe builder owned by 2 crazy dachshunds

I have the Laguna LT16HD. It came with the 4.5 horse Baldor motor. Plenty of power and resaw capacity for what we do. Wish I hadn't bought it when our dollar was only worth 57 cents US.

We have a Laguna 24 (i think) and I love it. It has heavy cast wheels which once they are moving they have inertia to keep turning which means it won't bog down during a cut.

I think a 24" is out of my league...

I think the HD might be out of my price range as well. Hoping the 3000 series would be adequate...

Get the largest saw you can afford & have the space for. Longer blade life, more versatile, and less stress on blades.

Kevin Looker

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

I have 2 Laguna 3000 (long story, I'll tell you some day). It does everything I would want it to do and then some.

The extra weight (mass) of an 18" saw will provide more stability. That alone makes the additional cost worth it.
More important than wheel size if HP of the motor.
Call Laguna and ask them if they will put a bigger motor on the saw for you.
When a saw bogs down from not enough HP the quality of the cut in progress is degraded and that is also when the blade can start to wander.

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Lance Peck

Last year I was in your exact situation and I considered all the brands. I went to stores and looked at Rikon, Laguna, General, Minimax, Felder. I looked at all the saws on display at the AWFS show in Vegas. The MM was my first choice but at near 4k for a 16" I decided against it. I ended up with a Grizzly G0636x 17" at around 2.5k. 5 hp with 16" resaw capacity. So far it has been great, extremely smooth, very powerful and near silent. For me , this was the best bang for my buck.This is my third bandsaw and by far the best I have had.
Grizzly has been good for service on other items which I have got from them.
Now if money is no object, buy an agazzani.

Happy shopping.

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My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

I'd like to stay under 3k...

Danny, what size Lagunas? It sounds like you need to move one at steep discount...

Also have a Grizzly GO636. Great saw so far.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sorry my friend. It's being baby sat by my buddy. OK I'll tell you the story. It has a happy ending. I bought one of these http://www.lagunatools.com/bandsaws/bandsaw-lt16-3000 from Laguna and dealt with a nice guy sales rep over the phone. I had to go pick the saw up from a broker on your side of the border. I got it home and unpacked it and after setting it up realised the whole top head was bent a few degrees to the side so the blade wouldn't track. I've heard people badmouth Laguna service but they sent a new one to my door at no cost. That's an additional 2 ferry rides. I waited for instructions on how to get the other one back to them. They never came. I told my friend Dan Minard, who hangs here, he could use it if he can make it work. As well as being a great builder he's also a great mechanic of most moving things and all around smart guy. In all his cleverness he fixed it............ with a sledge hammer.

Anyway. I would not hesitate to recommend this saw for the money. Plenty of power. The ceramic guides seem to do the job and wear well. Little to no drift. I guess that's the blade. I've settled on a couple Lennox blades and when I don't want to make too much sawdust, I have a Resaw King from Laguna. That's a great blade although expensive. Beware though. The blade I got didn't come sharp from the factory. I had to send it back to them and they resharpen at my cost. They did a good job on it. My best yield was 4 slices from an 11/16th Padauk board with that blade and it seems to be holding an edge well. You will find many other time saving uses for a resaw other than slicing up slabs. Where you going to put it? The drummer might have to go down to a djembe from the full kit.

Happy Easter, Hope the bunny is good to you.

I've had both the Rikon 18" and the 18" Laguna 3000 series. The Rikon was great especially for the $ but I could not tension it enough for a carbide blade and really hard 10" wide woods like Honduran rosewood and various ebonies. When you can't tension a carbide blade enough it gets squirrely quick, it feels like the blade starts pulling the wood into it and things get scary. The Laguna is a step up but from the factory mine needed a lot of TLC to get up and running properly. Customer service was friendly and helpful but a bit bush league... their phone system didn't ever seem to work properly, the manual had some parts lists and diagrams that were out of date or for a different saw, etc. Once you get it tuned up well it's a good saw though and has no trouble with lutherie woods. The (5HP?) motor is also plenty more than you'll need. I know I'm in the minority but I don't like the guides... they are difficult to set really precisely and the bottom guides are very difficult to reach. In the end guides are over-rated IMO... if the saw is properly tensioned and tuned up they should pretty much never come into play unless something goes wrong.

If I had to do it all over again (and I likely will in a couple more years), I'd spend the extra $ for a Mini Max or other nice Italian saw.

Thanks James,

I may need to harshly evaluate my needs and space situation. The 16 and 18" saws seem to take up a disproportionately large amount of space...

The Laguna 14" SUV seems like it might be practical in my space, and has a 3Hp motor...

You are going to want to use a carbide blade like the Lennox Tri-Master of the Woodmaster CT. They come with heavy bands that are much happier on the bigger wheels of a bigger saw. An 18" or bigger saw lets you use and tension a 1" version of either of these blades. I bought the 18" Rikon a few years ago. It is a lot of saw for the money, but if I had it to do over, I'd spend as much as 3 times as much to get a better saw. The Rikon is almost good enough. I wish the frame were a bit stiffer. I wish it had a blade brake. I wish it were easier to adjust the blade guides precisely. Go for the quality even if it stretches your budget.

I have a Grizzly extreme series 19 in say and a shop Fox 19. I have the Grizzly set up for resawing and I use the ceramic the Bob Gleason suggest and it really does the job. I only cut a few 100 sets a year . I use the lennox wood master blade. In all , what Bob suggested worked for me. He was one of the 1st I talked to when I got into resaw.
In all , the power needs to be priority, 17 in is as small as I would recommend.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Hmmm, so you're not down with the woodslicer blades Bob?

I have the SUV 14" and I have resawed with it. Having said that I have had a lot of problems with the saw not being made very accurately. I would tell you not to buy that saw even though Laguna says they are making it in another factory in China and the problems are behind them. It is probably better than a Rikon of the same size but if I were you I would look around for a used European made Laguna of at least 18 inch and 5 Hp. I have one of those and really like it. Mine has the euro guides and they are nice for resawing.

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Michael F Smith
Goat Rock Ukulele
http://goatrockukulele.com

I used the Woodslicer blades with my old, underpowered 14" saw. They were the best blades I could use on that saw, but they dulled quickly sawing hard woods. The bigger saw allowed me to use carbide blades which last hundreds of times as long.