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Bandsaws

C

Charlotte

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I am in the process of loving into a workshop...complete with bench....and lights....and 3 phase! I have access to an enormous panel saw that is frequently used for chopping fire wood (!) and a dewalt lunchbox thingy...I'm not sure whether it is a p/t or just a thicknesser.

I have been given a rather manky Black and Decker bandsaw. It is a 3 wheeler and needs a new blade and quite possibly given it's state, new everything else as well.

I have been offered another bandsaw, an Electra Bektum. It's nearly 6' on it's stand and despite an ali table, damned heavy. He wants £100 for it. Do I want it?!

I'm a little skint at the moment but could find the money...

I have never used one before and truth be told, I'm not that sure what they are for! I know I can cut tenon cheeks on them, like I can with a tenon saw. I know I can cut curves with them...like I can with a jigsaw...presumably I can resaw with it too to an extent...which I can't do with a handsaw....but how much I have no idea.
 
Go for it and the EB much better than any B&D by a large margin.
They are so useful you'll wonder how you managed without one.
It makes all those uses you mentioned so much easier and accurate.
Properly set up it will cut straight as well.
See what Mr G has been doing with his!

Rod
 
Rod is spot on. If you don't want it, for £100, I'll have it. That little B&D bandsaw you'll find to be worse than useless, but the big one, with new blades, is a wonderful tool. Once you have one you really will wonder how you ever managed without.

Oh, and jigsaws? Compared with a bandsaw it is as crude as a stone axe.
 
Definitely get the EB but don't summarily dismiss the B&D. I don't have any experience of it and so Mike G may well be right but I still have the first baby Axminster bandsaw that I bought and I wouldn't be without it. With a good blade from Ian at Tuffsaws it is a little gem.

If you want to learn how to get the best from your bandsaw then I wholeheartedly recommend Steve Maskery's DVD from his range at http://www.workshopessentials.com/shop/

I think your Dewalt is a thicknesser, probably. Before they got taken over by Black and Decker, DeWalt stuff was usually pretty solid and robust.
 
I have no experience with EB bandsaws, but they look OK in pictures. On the other hand, I've never met a small 3 wheel bandsaw that was worth the cost of new blades, and Blech & Darker hasn't made any good tools under that name since the 70's so by all means scrounge the money for the EB.

Dewalt thicknessers, despite being owned by Stanley/Black & Decker, are good tools in my experience. I owned a DW 734 for a while and it did a good job. Blade changes were fairly easy. You have to have some kind of dust collection (a shop vac will work) or the 734 will clog. The DW 735 is much larger and heavier and will need a dedicated stand--you don't want to lift it by yourself. Post some pictures if you have questions, but either is worth owning.

Kirk
 
Go for the EB bandsaw, at £100 it is good value and, as others have said, once you get comfortable with it, you will use it for no end of things. Mine gets used several times per day for anything from ripping garden stakes from reject timber to cutting tenons, to cutting complex curved parts.
 
If you buy the EB, and I hope you do, then you will need to set it up. There are different schools of thought as to how one should do it, but this is the method I use and it works. I'm sure other methods work too, but I can vouch for this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGbZqWac0jU

Another note, the saw is only as good as the blade, if there is an old one in it, change it - you will be disappointed otherwise.
 
+1 for Alex Snodgrass video and set-up, which is very useful. The Steve Maskery discs are also an essential for ongoing use of the bandsaw and is recommended highly.

Alex
 
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