I bought a new bandsaw last year after being without one since I moved in 2013. I had an old home made 12 inch saw but didn't want to pay to store it until my shop was built. I bought a Jet JWBS-14SFX which is a steel frame, 13 inch resaw capacity, saw with a 1 3/4 hp motor. Until this week I had not resawn hardwood with it. I've still only done three cuts each a little over 40 inches long on 8/4 cherry about 8 1/2 inches wide. But when recent threads came up I couldn't really comment, now I can.
I cut the first piece with the 1/2 inch 3 or 4 teeth per inch (can't remember which) blade I had on the saw. It cut OK but wanted to wander a bit. Not sure if that was the blade, my technique or the wood. But for the two I finished this morning I used the 3/4 blade I had not put on the saw until today. It has a similar number of teeth per inch and cut great. Feed rate could be pretty fast and the cut quality is good. The only real problem I had was the weight of the workpiece. I did not have infeed or outfeed support and holding a piece of wood this big was a little bit of a pain. I ended up coming from both ends on the last piece and will do that again. The cuts lined up well - another indication the saw was cutting well, I think.
I really like this saw. I made little wooden chutes to guide dust to the dust ports and with them dust collection is very good. Virtually nothing collects in the saw frame. I need to move one of the hoses but that is my installation issue, not a fault of the saw. I branched my 5 inch metal duct to 2 four inch flex hoses but I think one 4 inch branched at the saw would work fine. I don't think it heeds two 4 inch hoses.
I still haven't challenged the 13 inch stated capacity of the saw but I probably won't. My little AP-10 planner is only 10 inches wide and I don't see much wood wider than that. So I am pretty sure that this saw will work well for what I plan to do with it.
It doesn't test the saw but I bought it largely for the project I am working on currently, new dining room chairs. I couldn't get the 5/4 cherry close to me so I am cutting down 8/4. But I also rough out the curved back legs on the saw (trimming them to a template on my router table) and the curved back slats. That is going well too.
I bought the Jet because it was on sale for $1000 at the time I bought it. I was considering a similar Rikon and Laguna. I think it deserves to be considered if you are shopping for a high resaw capacity 14 inch saw but I can't say which of these saws is the "best". But I think my Jet is a pretty good saw.
I cut the first piece with the 1/2 inch 3 or 4 teeth per inch (can't remember which) blade I had on the saw. It cut OK but wanted to wander a bit. Not sure if that was the blade, my technique or the wood. But for the two I finished this morning I used the 3/4 blade I had not put on the saw until today. It has a similar number of teeth per inch and cut great. Feed rate could be pretty fast and the cut quality is good. The only real problem I had was the weight of the workpiece. I did not have infeed or outfeed support and holding a piece of wood this big was a little bit of a pain. I ended up coming from both ends on the last piece and will do that again. The cuts lined up well - another indication the saw was cutting well, I think.
I really like this saw. I made little wooden chutes to guide dust to the dust ports and with them dust collection is very good. Virtually nothing collects in the saw frame. I need to move one of the hoses but that is my installation issue, not a fault of the saw. I branched my 5 inch metal duct to 2 four inch flex hoses but I think one 4 inch branched at the saw would work fine. I don't think it heeds two 4 inch hoses.
I still haven't challenged the 13 inch stated capacity of the saw but I probably won't. My little AP-10 planner is only 10 inches wide and I don't see much wood wider than that. So I am pretty sure that this saw will work well for what I plan to do with it.
It doesn't test the saw but I bought it largely for the project I am working on currently, new dining room chairs. I couldn't get the 5/4 cherry close to me so I am cutting down 8/4. But I also rough out the curved back legs on the saw (trimming them to a template on my router table) and the curved back slats. That is going well too.
I bought the Jet because it was on sale for $1000 at the time I bought it. I was considering a similar Rikon and Laguna. I think it deserves to be considered if you are shopping for a high resaw capacity 14 inch saw but I can't say which of these saws is the "best". But I think my Jet is a pretty good saw.
