Recommended bandsaw size

[pdccr]

Ok thanks for that glenn, i will look into it and check my bank balance.

[Glenn]

A tablke saw doesen't have to be anything flash. The first one I had was just a 6" makita turned upside down in a talbe I made myself out of chipboard and pine and it worked real well until I could afford to buy the small metale stand to take to portable saw. For straight ripping they are real good...Glenn...

[pdccr]

I have decided im just gonna get a bandsaw, just a little cheap one, its not just for bows i am also making custom cutting boards and kitchenware for my father to sell along with fruit and veges. Great demand, theyre great presents.

[Mayall]

My Saw has a 300mm throat and a 3/4 hp motor . It cost me $800 .
I get bi metal blades for it they are 50-70 each blade but last a long time , as they are menent for steel . so they handle hitting dirt and bark . the blade lenght is 2240mm long.

I cut a lot of hard woods like ooline,iron bark , gidgee, hair oak , conkerberry, river red gum, boree , myall ,and many others.
I brought about 6 years ago the brand is benchcraft . it has 2 speeds 370m/min and 800m/min I use the fast one as the blades last longer then .

[Glenn]

Mayall, I have never used bi-metal blades but they sound as though they are the way to go. If you can get a proper chisel toothed ripping blade they would be a lot better as well, I don't like the combination blades as they still tend to wander and follow the grain, where as a ripping blade will track straight...Glenn...

[pdccr]

Im going to bunnings tomorrow and see if they have a little 10" bandsaw for sale, got some other bits and pieces i need, i always come out with more than i intended

[Mayall]

Glen
I fined to that if you have say 9-15 teeth per inch thay last longer to .

[Glenn]

Thanks for that Paul, I will keep that in mind next time I purchase one.
pdccr I think Bunnings carry the Ryobi 10" band saw, I don't think they are very expensive...Glenn...

[pdccr]

Ok i think that might be the one i saw, around the $400 mark. I dont need a big gate, i will only be cutting milled boards, making shaft blanks and shaping out boards.

[Gringa Bows]

Bunnings have a little GMC bandsaw last time i looked they were around $200 odd i used one i borrowed for awhile did the job ok for handles and things........................Rod

[Glenn]

That's probably what it was too Rod a GMC bandsaw. That would do the job on boards, but if your most of your work is going to be on boards you would be much better of with a small table saw, much less trouble and easier to use...Glenn...

[pdccr]

With the table saw, i could only really rip and cut with them. You could cut on an angle but it would be difficult unless you had a protecting gate. I have used both machines before and my dad is also going to use the bandsaw, were doing a little reno of the house.

[pdccr]

I will however take the table saw into consideration, i will ask around and get some more help, i am sure you are right just from experience.

[Glenn]

Toby I used a table saw for years for rippind down the limbs of board bows and I use to file out the handle sections. I have made many hundreds of board bows with the table saw and it is by far the quickst way to do it, and before that I used a 9" Makita. But having said all of that I would be lost without my bandsaw and there is a lot less waste with a bandsaw and they are more versatile...Glenn...

[pdccr]

I see where your getting, on thursday i am going to go up to prosserpine to visit my new-to-be bowbuilding workshop. I'll take some pics and i will decide after. If i can remember straightly, my old grandad had an old table saw he has never used. I will go and ask my uncle to see if we can make a deal. That way i can get both like you suggested

[stringnstik]

I too worked out some ways to use my triton table saw rather than jumping out and buying a band saw. If I had the dollars tho, ye old tool accumulation syndrome would force me to purchase a band saw
But for now I really am quite happy table saw and the trusty draw knife. I am very much looking fwd to draw knifing a stick in the wilderness..just love the concept.

[pdccr]

Well just as luck would have it, i should be able to get that table saw pretty cheap, a few jobs around the house and some work on the shed should seal the deal. Im think i am a bad case of
tool accumulation syndrom. Already used one of my new toolboxes up, will have to make another

[Glenn]

There is nothing like seeing timber peel off a stave. The first selfbow I made out of a log I just used a hatchet to roughly shape the limbs up. It was an experience and a half I can tell you. I stayed up on the Idaho Panhandle in 1994 and lived in an permenate TeePee for a week to make this bow. There was no power or running water, she was basic I can tell you. The river we washed in was freezing cold. I have shot game with that bow, it has a lot of fond memories for me. That bow was very hard work but it was an experience full of memories...Glenn...

[pdccr]

I tried making a bow out of a chisel, from a log yesterday, i have these massivle blisters from where she snapped when i tried floor tillering, never again will i rough out a tree stave with just a chisel I did the small stuff with a pocket knife, makes you appreciate how bloody good a rasp is

[Glenn]

After my experience with the hatchet I refer to my makita planner the eletric hatchet I do as much as I can with power tools. I went deer hunting once with a couple blokes, one was into the primitive way of things. He tried to get the fire going the aborigional way with rubbing sticks together. After 20 minutes the other bloke was so sick of it and wanted a cup of tea badly, he threw some petrol on the timber and threw a match into it and had the fire blazing away in no time and said the he was here to go hunting and not watch him trying to light a fire.
I speed up things whenever I can. I doubt if I would ever want to carve a selfbow out of a log with a hatchet again unless I had no choice...Glenn...

[pdccr]

Haha if he wanted to do primitive he should have used the bowdrill, actually works. I see what you mean, i would gladly use a table saw and a bandsaw yo get the roughed out shape but then i would use hand tools as i feel i have more control over it.

[Glenn]

Hand tool are the only way to go for the final tillering stage. I make all wood composite bows as well and you have all of the fancy formulas you like for laying up these bows but you still need to final tiller by hand to get the tiller exactly right and make that limb bend exactly where you want it to bend. Even on fibreglass laminated bow you need to a bit by hand to achieve correct tiller...Glenn...

[pdccr]

It also feels better having finished it by hand.