
What Are Band Saws Used For in Woodworking?
George VondriskaDescription
If you’ve been considering what tool to put in your shop next, and looking at the wide array of choices, you’ve probably wondered if you need a bandsaw, and what are bandsaws used for? We’re here to help you out by letting you know what kind of work bandsaws can do, which will help you decide on whether or not this tool is a good match for you and your woodworking projects.
The Multifaceted Nature of Bandsaws
One thing most woodworkers love about bandsaws is their versatility. From cutting curves in delicate material to ripping logs down to manageable planks to cutting non-ferrous metals, bandsaws can perform a wide array of tasks for you. Need a way to cut really thick material? Need to cut a huge bowl blank round before it goes on the lathe? Want to make dovetails? Bandsaws can do all this and more. Of course, in addition to knowing what bandsaws are used for, you’ll need to know how to use a bandsaw, and WoodWorkers Guild of America has you covered there, too.
Bandsaw Buying Advice
Here at WoodWorkers Guild of America we know that your tool choices are very important to you, and we want to help you make good buying decisions. We are determined to provide buying advice you can use, and will do whatever we can to simplify your tool buying decisions.
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Bandsaw, one of the single most versatile tools you can have in the shop in my humble opinion. So let's talk about what bandsaws do, how they do it, what makes everything so magical here for a bandsaw? First off, I'm going to disconnect power. Let's open this up and figure out what the heck is the deal with calling this a bandsaw. Bandsaw education, we've got an upper and a lower wheel.
The diameter of these wheels is what indicates the size of the bandsaw. So this particular machine is a 14 inch bandsaw, diameter of the wheels is 14 inches. The way that it works, and this is where the name comes from, is that the blade is a continuous band that goes upper wheel, lower wheel, back to the upper wheel, when we turn this power on. By doing so, always in this direction, the teeth on that blade are pointed down toward the table. That's what creates the cutting action as they go past the material.
So one of the things that I've seen students like about this is that unlike a scroll saw, the blade is always driving down toward the table. It's not oscillating up and down. So there is no vibration here. The very cutting action of the saw is helping to hold the material down to the table. Now, right here, we've got the upper guides here set relatively close to the table within a couple of inches.
Let me set that blade down and do this. That is pretty cool. One of the things I really like about a bandsaw is the ability to cut a significant thickness of material. For a lot of band saws, the starting point for that thickness capacity is somewhere around six inches. Many bandsaws in the marketplace can go beyond that.
In fact, this one can, if I do that and I do that, I can actually cut up to 12 inches of thickness on this saw. Now, why the heck would I want to do that? With the appropriate blade, and that's why I brought this blade out, not the blade I have in here right now. But with a thicker and more aggressively toothed blade, I can do what's called resawing. In a resawing operation, I'm going to take a single board and cut through its thickness, so that when it comes out the back, it opens up, I can use that simply to produce two thin pieces rather than send the whole thing through the planer and plane it down to thin material, I can cut it down to thin material, get more mileage out of my material.
The other thing is simply the ability to cut curves in really big stock. This whole post got cut into what's called a corbel, a support, for underneath a mantle. Bandsaw provided a really, really good way to do this. Now let's go back and hit on these blades a little bit. You got to check with the manufacturer of your particular bandsaw or the one that you're looking at.
And on a lot of saws in this 14 inch category, we can go down to as narrow as an eighth inch blade. Some manufacturers still make a 16th inch blade. In this case, we're looking at an eighth inch blade, 14 teeth per inch. So a nice, fine cut, narrow blade. That's going to let me cut some pretty darn sharp curves, almost like jigsaw type tight curves.
Change the blades, go onto bigger blades like this, that's going to allow me to cut straight lines. Cause one of the things we can do with a band saw is, get things set up just right here, and when I have that heavier blade on, that wider blade, I can add a fence, and given the right set up on my fence, which is drift compensation, I can use this much like I would use a table saw and do a lot of ripping here. What's the big deal with that? Well, again, because the blade is driving down toward the table, I don't have a kickback danger like I do on a table saw, this provides a really, really wonderful way to cut small parts, like you would for pen turnings, those kinds of smaller components. The other thing that's very handy about a bandsaw, is the ability to cut non-ferrous metals, again with a fine tooth blade, like I have in here right now, I can cut aluminum, brass, copper.
I commonly use those kinds of components as decoration for other parts of my woodworking. So a very versatile tool, significant thickness capacity, safe to use, because our cutting action is driving down toward the table. Versatility comes from the ability to go from as little as a quarter or eighth inch blade, all the way up to maybe a three-quarter or one inch blade for cutting through thick material, you can set up a bandsaw like a saw mill, and you can turn logs into lumber. So very versatile tool to have in the shop, many, many different things we can use a band saw for.
Where can I find band saw model comparisons to figure out the best one for my small shop? The text describing this video included: " We are determined to provide buying advice you can use, and will do whatever we can to simplify your tool buying decisions." A very intriguing comment that suggests the possibility of help and buying advice somewhere on this site as I consider what model of band saw would be best for me. Where can I find a buying guide?
What is drift and why does it occur.
Do you have a video on trimming lumber or sections of trees for lathe bowl turnings
Any suggestions for a starter? I.e., stand upright or bench mounted, throat width or max thickness?