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I'm looking to upgrade my bandsaw to one that will be able to do a little resawing from time to time.
What are the minimum power requirements for the task? Is it better to have a dedicated tool for the task, or can you swap blades to be a multi tasking tool?

I have a 1.5hp 14" bandsaw. For resawing a use a 1" 3tpi blade. I have resawn a full range of timber, both very hard though to soft woods and it has performed nicely. Before I had the 3tpi blade and was using a half inch 6tpi blade and it would wander/warp no matter how tight the blade was set up. The 3tpi blade works like a charm.

Martin

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Martin Taylor
http://martintaylorguitars.com.au

If you want to resaw from time to time, minimum is a Delta 14" clone with riser blocks. It can be done but I'm told it's very slow going. I never had a Delta cast iron 14" clone so I can't say but if you want to do more resawing, a 18" bandsaw will serve you well. 10", 14", 18" all take up the exactly the same amount of floor space, so you don't save any room going with a smaller bandsaw if you can afford larger ones. Blades makes bigger difference than the bandsaw you have but having bigger bandsaw gives you more choice in blades, because you can't really put a 1" Woodmaster CT on a Delta 14" clone. Not only the saw can't tension that blade at all, the thicker steel means it will break prematurely... but I've seen a video of someone using those Delta 14" clones as a sawmill but he put Woodmizer blades on them (which is just like Woodmaster CT but made from carbon steel). The blade broke within 30 minutes of use...

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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

Yep any 14" with a tall sawing area will do and most if not all of them run on 110 volt. A good quality 5/8"-3/4" 3 TPI blade will resaw most woods up to 8" thick (slowly). The Rikon 10-325 works pretty good. That's what I have, but I have some minor issues with it. It claims to take small blades but the lower guide bearings (the ones under the table) will not move forward enough to seat properly on the smaller blades. Not a huge deal, I am still able to make straight clean cuts. It's kind of a pain to change blades so I would like to eventually get a table top bandsaw for small blades, and use the Rikon for standard size and resaw blades.

Not sure how slow it is to do it with 3 TPI blades on a 14" saw, but it takes me about 30 sec. to cut through a back set with Woodmaster CT on the 18" saw...

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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

It would be slower than that Tai. Of course, it depends on the wood species, and sharpness of the blade. Probably 2-3 minutes or more to cut up a back set. Gotta take it slow as not to bog down the motor or get a bad cut.

For occasional use if you use the "nail in kerf " method of resawing you can use a 14 inch saw(without a riser block) with a 1/2 hp motor and 1/4 inch blade. By removing the upper guide assembly and hot melt gluing in a simple wooden guide under the cover I believe I have resawed stuff up to 8 inches wide. With the nail in kerf method the tablesaw does half the work so an under powered bandsaw works fine.
If you are going to be doing conventional resawing I would suggest an 18 to 20 inch saw with a 2 hp motor. It can handle most resaw jobs but isn't too heavy and blades aren't too expensive.

Yea I think I saw they do that in Mythbusters... the board smoked like crazy.

I have used the removed guide trick to allow me to resaw 13" boards in my 18" bandsaw... it only does 11" between the guides because the guide takes up a LOT of space. The problem is, the Woodmaster CT seems to push back with quite a bit of force, and it actually burned through the wooden thrust guides. So I just ended up C clamping the thrust bearing onto the bandsaw to guide the blade more effectively.

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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 used to resaw on my 14" Delta with riser block - 3 tpi skip blade works well considering.

I now have a big saw that I run a 1" x 3tpi Lennox Woodmaster on. There is no comparison.

If you can afford it, try to find a saw that can handle a 1" blade, you won't regret it. I think 18" would be the min. You shouldn't need a ton of power, I think 1.5 HP would be enough unless you are trying to go fast.

My $0.02

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 read (at least according to Iturra's catalog) that a long time ago 1" Lenox Trimaster's band wouldn't work on a 18" wheel because it was really stiff. Now Woodmaster CT/Trimaster uses the same band. However the catalog said Lenox has since fixed the issue and their 1" bands can be safely run on 18" wheels. However according to some recommendation chart I saw somewhere .035" bands needs a minimum wheel diameter of 24"... But I heard of people even running .042" bands on a 18" bandsaw!

Wonder how that works...

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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

Thanks folks...

I've got a 14" saw with a 3/4HP motor, and I use a 5/8" 3TPI Timberwolf blade for resawing. Handles up to 8" hardwood OK, I've cut cocobola and mesquite at that thickness. You need about a tenth of a HP for each inch of resaw depth as a minimum. I'd really like to upgrade my motor to at least 1 HP, but I don't do that much resawing.

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

I use a 16" jet saw. It works great but, the best thing I did was add a 1" carbide tipped blade. That really made a difference on tough wood

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

One of the main advantages of getting a 19" saw is the 1.3 tpi Woodmaster CT. Beast of a blade but I don't think it is useable on a 14" saw. I use one on a 3HP 220V 19" Grizzly Extreme and the re-saw learning curve was pretty easy. I've never had any drift. I just make sure my billet is square and the table is square with the blade and saw away.

In short, get the biggest saw you can afford if you want to re-saw.

I've gotten my 14" cast iron Delta (tail end of American production) to the point where I'm happy with it - riser, 2 HP Baldor motor, other Itura hardware), but have enough money in it that I would have been better off buying a 17" steel frame Grizzly, maybe even a 19". You can't really get more than a 1/2" blade to tension on a 14" cast iron frame. I'm really happy with a Lenox Trimaster.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

There is a new laguna 14in with 1.5hp with a vy nice large resaw fence for 1.1k , just came out. Seems to have all the basic ingredients , including the ceramic guides , which are a big help in resawing.