{"id":385,"date":"2009-04-28T00:51:58","date_gmt":"2009-04-28T05:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/?p=385"},"modified":"2009-04-28T07:24:34","modified_gmt":"2009-04-28T12:24:34","slug":"machine-number-two-and-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/2009\/04\/28\/machine-number-two-and-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Machine number two. And why."},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/img_1261_edited-3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-337  aligncenter\" title=\"img_1261_edited-3\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/03\/img_1261_edited-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"466\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>To a woodworker tooling up a new shop or upgrading an established one, I suggest the second major machine acquisition should be a good quality <strong>bandsaw<\/strong>. Nope, not a table saw, not in the number two slot. True, the table saw rips and crosscuts very well but is far less versatile.<\/p>\n<p>The great freedom afforded by a good <strong>bandsaw can change your relationship to wood<\/strong>. Here\u2019s a sampling of some bandsaw work:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>cut <strong>curvy<\/strong> legs from 12\/4 mahogany<\/li>\n<li><strong>resaw<\/strong> a 10&#8243; figured board into bookmatched panels<\/li>\n<li>make your own 3\/32&#8243; <strong>veneer<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>select out<\/strong> furniture parts from stock irrespective of their orientation to the original edge of the board<\/li>\n<li>cut <strong>tenons<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>cut and dry some wood from a tree felled in your <strong>backyard<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>try some <strong>sculptural<\/strong> work<\/li>\n<li>rip laminates for bent <strong>lamination<\/strong> work<\/li>\n<li>cut out cartoon characters and toys for your <strong>kids<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A bandsaw will generally not <strong>rip<\/strong> as cleanly as a table saw, but with an excellent blade it does a surprisingly good job that is just a very few hand plane passes away from finished. For clean, accurate, consistent <strong>crosscutting<\/strong>, it must be conceded that the table saw is the clear winner. Still, the shooting board can take care of that issue. Nonetheless, if I had to give up one of these two machines, there is no doubt the table saw would go because the <strong>lack of a bandsaw would be far more limiting<\/strong> to my range of designs and work.<\/p>\n<p>The bandsaw also takes up much less shop <strong>space<\/strong> than a typical table saw. There is an additional, hard to define virtue of bandsawing. It is the machine work that <strong>I liken most to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/2008\/12\/15\/who-is-a-hand-tool-woodworker\/\" target=\"_blank\">hand tool work<\/a><\/strong>. I feel in touch with the cutting action and in control of the work, unlike with the table saw where, after the setup for a cut, the machine essentially rules. A bandsaw is also way more just plain <strong>fun<\/strong> to use than a table saw, jointer, or planer.<\/p>\n<p>I would strongly suggest a <strong>steel frame saw<\/strong> in preference to a cast iron version. While a review of specific machines is beyond the scope of this post, I suggest to look for at least 10&#8243; cutting height, preferably 12&#8243; or more. Lower priced steel frame saws in the $800-900 range, such as the Rikon 10-325 or Grizzly G0457, are not more expensive than a quality cast iron model plus a riser block. Better still, move up to a Minimax or Agazzani.<\/p>\n<p>So just as my <a href=\"http:\/\/www.patriots.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">New England Patriots <\/a>(to raise the hackles of lots of readers)\u00a0produce consistent winners by building the roster based on players\u2019 <strong>value and versatility<\/strong>, go ahead and add a quality bandsaw early on in your woodworking lineup. Just remember, the pursuit of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/2008\/09\/12\/perfect-nope\/\" target=\"_blank\">perfection<\/a> is fraught with agony. (Yea, yea, I know: 18-1.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To a woodworker tooling up a new shop or upgrading an established one, I suggest the second major machine acquisition should be a good quality bandsaw. Nope, not a table saw, not in the number two slot. True, the table saw rips and crosscuts very well but is far less versatile. The great freedom afforded [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tools-and-shop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":387,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385\/revisions\/387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}