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I've gotten some great advice on bandsaws and blades from Shawn and the Zootman, but I would appreciate some of your advice also.
I met a guy today who has stacks of Black Walnut, WRC, and Big Leaf Maple, but they are in slabs about 4-5" in thickness, 6'- ??? in length and 24" to ??? in width. He runs a sawmill and has stacks and stacks of this stuff laying around.
My question is "What size and brand of bandsaw and blades can handle resawing slabs like this?
Any help would be great.

If money were no object, I would get a big Laguna.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

....or a MiniMax, and even Grizzly is making some serious bandsaws these days, similar to the European saws, at a much better price.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Doug I would consider the Laguna or the Minimax. I have the Laguna 16" HD and I love it. The ceramic guides are fantastic. The other thing and very important one to me is the Baldor motor. What ever saw you buy don't get a 2 hp motor. Way underpowered for some of the hard exotics. As for blades carbide is the only way to go for what you want to do.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Whatever one you get make sure to get the one that is one size bigger than you think you'll need. Saves a lot of pain later. I used to use ceramic guides but I now have roller guides fitted nad prefer them, but BobC know more about this than I ever will.



Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

If you have the cash I like the Laguna like Bob C and Brock. That being said I have an older Grizzly 18" that works fine with the roller bearings bought extra like Colin and myself prefer. I had to do some modifying and tweaking to get the Grizzly going well and the 5 h.p. motor that came with it IMHO is not 5 h.p. but more like 3 H.P. A lot depends on how much much re-sawing you intend to do. I wish I also had a smaller bench top model to cut out tops and backs so I wouldn't have to change blades so often!

What I like about the ceramic is the 5 point contact above and below the table. I like the looks of those roller bearings too. Where did you guys buy them? The one thing I hated about my Grizzly was the motor. Burnt out two of them. However Grizzly customer service was very good and replaced them. The big differance that I see here is whether your sawing a few sets a year for personal use or re-sawing 4-5 days a week.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Doug, I have the Laguna 18. It was a bit more than I had planned to spend, but it's a great saw and I'm very glad that I got it. It is the most used power tool in my shop by far.

Bob, I bought the roller guides as an extra on my old 16" saw, But I've just bought a new bigger 21" saw which I haven't seen yet as I'm stuck on this boat that comes with these ready fitted. I get mine from Axminster here in the UK about ?34.00.

Axminster guides

ColinColin S38619.5159259259

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

I agree Bob it all depends on how much re-sawing you do and I don't do anywhere near as much as you. I bought the roller bearings from grizzly extra when I bought my bandsaw about 5 yrs ago. They will only fit the saw that I have (and none too good at that).    

Thank you all for your input. As to how much I'll be resawing, hopefully quite a bit. I don't know yet. but I want to be prepared.
I am curious about the 5hp motor that is really a 3 hp motor that Paul S wrote about. What's that all about? Is it a standard out there for Grizzly to misrepresent the power output of their motors. Or is that the standard throughout the industry?
Also I've heard that the bigger in width the blade is, the better. I saw a resaw Grizzly that will accomodate a 2" blade.(thanks Shane)It says it has a 5 hp motor. How can I verify that before I buy? And finally, what do you guys think of this saw, or is there a better on on the page. (my budget is around $2500.00). See link below
www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?itemnumber=G3620

My impression is that Grizzly over rates the power of their motors. Keep in mind that is my personal opinion, however my drum sander is also a 5 H.P. and is almost twice the size of the one on my bandsaw. I can "bog down" my bandsaw buy my drum sander just screams.

Doug, a couple of cautionary words. The Grizzly is a fine saw, but make sure you are aware of its limitations.

First, on the motor issue, it is very common in the industry for motors to be over-rated in terms of horsepower. It is not the industry standard to over-rate, but some companies' numbers are much more reliable than others. When you see Baldor tell you they have 3 hp, you can take it to the bank. Laguna uses Baldors on most models, so their HP ratings are very reliable. I'm not sure what motors Grizzly uses --- I don't doubt they are good motors, but I don't know whether their HP numbers are reliable. 7-1/2 HP, if accurate, is an incredible amount of hp. Way more than would ever be needed by anyone but a big shop. Even if that number is inflated, and it's only half of that, that's probably plenty.

Here's a couple other limitations on the Grizzly to make sure you are aware of. First, it uses a 3-phase motor, so you MUST have 3-phase power in your shop. If you don't, look for another saw.

Second, the Grizzly takes 1/2"-2" blades. If you are planning to use the saw ONLY for resawing, that's fine. But if you also want to use it for cutting out tops, etc, it is really nice to be able to use a smaller blade.

Along those lines, don't get too excited about the 2" blade. You can resaw just great with a LOT less than that. I don't think you will see much difference in the quality of cut between a 2" resaw blade and a good 3/4" resaw blade, if any.

Finally, you mention that you hope to be resawing a lot. If you mean several hours a day, five days a week, it is probably worth a dedicated resaw bandsaw like the Grizzly. But if "a lot" means spending one or two afternoons a week or less resawing, you may be happier with a saw that accepts smaller blades for other tasks. If so, Laguna and Minimax make outstanding saws in that price range that will resaw as well as your skills will allow.

Good luck.

I think it is all in how you measure it. Sometimes people are aggressive about rating their equipment, sometimes they are realistic. Vac systems are the same way... there is more to it than what they show you on the surface.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Some one made a suggestion about carbide blades, I was up at Jason Voth's place this past week and I seem to recall they don't use carbide blades when cutting cedar. Something in the resin dulls the carbide quickly.

These guys cut a ton (or probably more) of cedar so I know he knows what he's talking about.

Jason where are you on this one.

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Jee, I was just re-reading my post, sounded like I was saying you guys don't know what your talking about. Did not mean that at all sorry if it sounded that way.

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"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

Darned Canadians. ;)

Rod, I used to live close to where you are when I was a kid. Columbia Valley, just outside Chilliwack. Oh, the wood I could have stocked up on if I had only known. . . .Kelby38619.6200810185

I have a minimax mm16 and have resawn woods 10"+ wide with no
problems....

Get something with a large motor (get more than you think you'd
need)...mine is 6hp..

Keep your blade sharp. The only time my saw does not want to cut really
smooth is when the blade is dull...

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Doug,

American made 5 hp single phase motors are probably less than $300 re-conditioned. That Grizzly saw that I forwarded to you is very similiar to the General International re-saw that I have and at about half the price. The other bonus is the 16 inch throat depth, mine is about 13 inches. So I can't cut some wide tops as easily as I would like. I cut a bunch of one piece top sets for Cumpiano and his partner, Harry Becker, for the cuatro's they are planning to build. They needed something over 12 inches. On my saw that left very little wiggle room that would have been nice to have, doe-able but more care required.

My suggestion, get the Grizzly, the 5 hp single phase version with the roller guides. If the the motors is no good, buy a reconditioned one and use the grizzly replacement for a back up or on some other machine. I run 1.5 inch woodmizer bands (.045 plus the set)) for cutting spruce and cedar. I have used them on birch and they work even better. For dry hardwoods like what Bob cuts I would probably try a 1.5 inch carbide. I didn't have any luck at all with the custom made ($340 each!!) bands I had made to my specs. They cut great but I couldn't keep them on the saw as these wide bands need to be removed and re-tensioned often, I am not set up or skilled enough to do this. On the saw use. I have 3 band saws. Keep your little grizzly for your guitar work and get this bigger one for re-sawing. Let me know when you are ready and I will help you out with a sliding table for squaring your billets. Also I will try to arrange to get to your place when I am in Seattle in Novemeber. If you have it by then I my be able to give you a few set-up pointers. It took me a few months to figure out what I was doing and I still learn a bit more every time I cut.

Hope this helps Doug.

Shane

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Canada

As far as the HP issue goes I had a sales rep once show me two band saws side by side that Had 5the exact same motor in them.. I don't mean they looked the same I mean they were the same motor. The motor had right on it that it was 2 HP yet one company claimed that it was a 2 HP band saw and the Other claimed it was three HP. It is all in how you measure it. One company measured peak Hp while the other measured continuous Hp or something like that. My Dad has a Delta with a 1HP in it but His is the Year 2000 Melienium eddition and the Motor was made in the USA (apparently a special that year). It can blow away any of the ones with the Asian motors in it and has more cutting power than any of the 2 HP band saws I have tried.

A few things...

Resawing tops (softwood) is very different than resawing hardwoods for backs. Softwoods can actually be harder to resaw and the important issue is to make sure that the number of teeth per inch is as low as possible so that more sawdust is pulled out of the cut. Because softwood is typically cut green or partially air dried it can tend to bind in the cut if the sawdust is not extracted from the cut by too many teeth per inch.

I always use carbide or stellite tipped blades for resawing hardwood but prefer good quality bimetal or hss blades for softwoods although if I reduce the feedspeed, carbide works okay for softwood.

The horse power issue is an important one. If you run underpowered motors when resawing it places a much greater load on not only the motor but can overload the electrical circuit as well.

Additionally when using an underpowered motor the blade will tend to bind in the cut and cause a ripple in the cut that then requires more stock removal in cleanup and reduces the yield that you get from a billet. This can amount to the difference of another set per billet so it directly affects your cost as well.

If production resawing is what you are thinking about then a power feeder can also help to increase the consistency of output.

I have the 24" Laguna.
If I had to do it over again I would have bought the Bridgewood and saved myself around $1200.!
Take a good look at the Bridgewood. They are made in Italy just like the rest and they have American motors as well.

[QUOTE=Kelby] Darned Canadians. ;)

Rod, I used to live close to where you are when I was a kid. Columbia Valley, just outside Chilliwack. Oh, the wood I could have stocked up on if I had only known. . . .[/QUOTE]

Hey Kelby, The shop is in COLUMBIA VALLEY

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CVT Inc.
A tour of our shop (Somewhat outdated)
My Personal eBay profile. BCWoodBug

There are all kinds of good saw out there but I would recommend Carbide for any precise resawing. Unless your running green/wet cedar. As Rod mentioned Cedar has a resin in it that seems to dull carbide very quickly. You'll find steel blades will stay sharp just as long in cedar.

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CVT Inc.
A tour of our shop (Somewhat outdated)
My Personal eBay profile. BCWoodBug

Oh also I thought I'd mention we use 1" blades on the resaw.. We have 2" on the vertical saws but the 1" on the resaw work just as well.

_________________
CVT Inc.
A tour of our shop (Somewhat outdated)
My Personal eBay profile. BCWoodBug