Official Luthiers Forum!

The eye hook thingy on the top of these saws are not for lifting the saw ,...but for secureing in shipment .
(to keep from tipping over ,...they are very top heavy.

    I have the Laguna HD 16" ,..and can say they are an awesome tool.

        JD Myers Fishook Custom Guitars JD Myers38603.504224537

Hey Paul

How you getting along with that saw ?

Russell

   Ive had the HD 16" saw for 2 yrs now . The only beef I had with it was the factory fence.
It would not stay in adjustment ,...so I came up with a secure fence system.
   Other than that its been a solid tool.

Hi Russell,

I'm learning that resawing isn't quite as easy as it looks in pictures. The little metal resawing post that comes with the saw and attaches to the fence is a waste of time - well it is for me at least. I need to make a better full height fence to resaw against. Resawing is definitly a skill and one that I need to learn. I aslo need to buy some good quality blades.


I have used the saw a lot this weekend for all sorts of things (ripping, crosscutting, resawing). It's interesting (at least to me) in that I have to rethink the way I do things and sort of slot the bandsaw in to my way of thinking about how I go about doing any task that requires sawing. I've been finding that I'll automatically reach for the jap pull saw and have to stop myself, think about it, then end up doing the job much faster and easier on the bandsaw. If I had realised how versatile these things are I would have bought a smaller (cheaper) one years ago, tho I'm glad I waited til I could afford a big one.

Hi Paul

I think you are right a band saw is a very versatile tool, I have a good quality one, but it is no where near the size of the nice one you just bought, I have most of my large sawing done for me. The only thing you might find is that yours is so versatile you may need to have lots of widths of blades for the various tasks.

You are totally right about blades, it my experience that it is worth spending the extra on good quality ones, and in the long run they last much better.

Russell

Paul, great machine!! Did you look at any others before you made your decision? If so what are some of the deciding factors?

Paul,
I have the older version of the Jet 18" saw. I have done a lot of resawing with it. The best blade I have found is the Timber Wolf carbide resaw blade from Suffolk Machinery. It is not cheap runs aroud $185 for a 133" . It has a wide kerf (about .060) but tracks dead straight and cuts so smooth you need very little sanding to clean it up. I've cut almost 200 sets of bubinga, quilted sapele,and quilted maple and it still cuts as if it was brand new. If you look at it from a cost standpoint that less than a dollar a set and the blade still has most of it's life left. As for a fence I built an 8" high fence that slips over the standard fence. It works great.

Colin
   I'm going to bite. What the heck is the Ashes that you are going to win?

John

Hi Barry,

For me the main deciding factor was that I'd have to do a lot of resawing. I buy my tops from the US, but once shipping is added, customs duties paid, GST paid on customs duties, currency converted etc etc, it can get pretty expensive. So I figured that I'd resaw my backs and sides from much less expensive local timbers, and keep importing tops. Maybe even start supplying Aussie back & sides sets to builders overseas.

I narrowed my choice down to a minimum 18" wheel size, I read somewhere that you can't use a carbide blade on anything smaller than this because the continual flexing of the thicker blade around small wheel diameters work hardens the blade and it becomes brittle. And I'll want to use carbide blades if I'm going to do a lot of resawing.

I looked at just about every bandsaw on the market and further narrowed my choice down to the 18" Jet or a local brand (Carbatec) that looked similar and was even slightly cheaper, both were in my price range. I went with the Jet because the fit and finish looked better and it seemed to be better quality. I went to a woodworking show so that I could see them both running in a short space of time, the jet had less vibration and ran much smoother. I'd never heard a bad word said of the Jet, in fact all the owners of these saws that I spoke with on woodworking forums were still enthusiastic about them after owning one for a year or more, if they'd had a problem it'd been fixed by jet pronto. While owners of the carbatec saw were happy with them but not enthusiastic - or at least didn't seem to be.

HI John

The Ashes is a Cricket tournament that is played between Australia and England. We have not won the ashes for 18 years because Auatralia have been and probably still are the best cricket team in the world.

It is a series of 5 Matches and tomorrow is the last day of the last match, England are 2-1 up the other match being a draw. If australia win the last match it will be a tie and as the current holders they would keep the trophy (Ashes). It looks like it will be a draw as the weather has not been great, so England in this case will win the ashes.

It is called the ashes because it is a small pot containing the ashes of a set of cricket stumps which where burnt more than a hundred years ago I think in 1871 but I might be wrong on the year, I think it was after the first game in which Australia beat England, which was considered the death of English Cricket.


Hope this helps or though I'm sure it all sounds incrediably strange.

The ashes were named following a mock obituary that appeared in The Sporting Times on the Saturday following the match:

In Affectionate Remembranceof E N G L I S H C R I C K E T,which died at the Ovalon29th A U G U S T, 1882,Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintancesR.I.P.N.B. - The body will be cremated and the ashes taken to Australia.

They didn't have a body handy, so they burnt a stump instead, put the ashes in a little wooden urn, and that became the trophy that we play for.

And Colin appears to have been right, unless a miracle occurs tomorrow, England will win.

Paul, I'm not counting my chickens yet all the time Shane Warne can still breathe!

Colin

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

Thanks Russell and Paul.
   I saw a cricket match recently from a distance, looking out the window of the YMCA while I worked out in air conditioned comfort. The game obviously evolved in a cooler climate because everyone was dressed in long pants and long sleeve shirts and it was HOT and humid outside.
   What a strange game. I couldn't make sense of it. The pitcher kept bouncing the ball up to the batter and I havn't a clue how they kept score.
   But what a long history the game must have. I myself often use the term "That's not Cricket" for something that isn't right and for the longest time didn't really know what that meant.

Congratulations to England. A deserving win. They played outstanding cricket and beat us fair and square.

At least I've got a new bandsaw to cheer me up.

Thanks Paul, At lunchtime it was still up in the air. One of the crowd had a banner that read, "It's not over till the fat man spins" and that was nearly so true. Without Warne the series would have been 4-0, better put a picture of him in the attic to age so you can keep him going.

The lads will see you in Australia in 18 months time.

Colin

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