An upgrade
I’ve had my Rikon 10-325 band saw for about 8 years, ever since my Sears one abruptly died on me in the middle of a project (see A Tale of Two Bandsaws). It’s been okay; great for curved cuts, but not very consistent at resawing. I’ve gotten by, and just not done much resawing because it won’t track straight, so I end up needing to plane from 1/8″ to 1/4″ of each side.
No more. I’ve replaced it with a new band saw:
The 14-twelve is in the same size range as the Rikon — that was deliberate, as I don’t have 220 in the shop — but it cuts really smoothly and straight even without a resawing blade installed. At just under $2,000 it is over twice what I paid for the Rikon new ($750, but the comparable model is $1100 now), but very worth it.
For one thing, it’s quieter than the Rikon. Noise isn’t a huge issue for me because I’m usually wearing hearing protection anyway, but I appreciate the quiet. The light ($130 extra option) works very well, and illuminates the work way better than the goose neck style lamp on the Rikon. The 1.75hp motor seems way more powerful, despite being only .25hp above the Rikon.
Naturally, the first thing I did was try resawing with it! Right out of the box, with a 3/8″ general-purpose blade (so not intended for resawing), I was able to take 1/16″ thick slices off a 7-inch wide maple scrap, and when measured with calipers they were +/- 1/128 inch of that thickness. That was impressive. I can’t actually work with anything that thin because I don’t have a drum sander and wouldn’t dare try to run something that thin through the planer to clean it up, but it was a very impressive test. I also bought a $150 carbide-tipped resawing blade, so when I do it for real I should get a much smoother cut.
Of course it cuts curves like you’d expect. Another splurge on this bandsaw was the Carter guide for running blades 1/4″ wide and less, so I will be able to use a 3/16″ blade and get very tight scroll cuts when I need to.
As for the Rikon, it served its purpose well. It got me through a lot of projects and still works, I’ve just outgrown it. It’s going to a local maker space that is adding to its woodworking tools, so it will continue to work for a good long while yet.
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