Band saw size/strength?

I've been gathering information, parts, tools, creating my workspace, though what has been eluding me is a reasonably priced bandsaw. I want to start a build from a blank, and don't know anyone with a wood shop I could bug to let me cut.

Does anyone have any thoughts on the minimum size of a band saw for cutting hardwood and making all of the cuts so I can get to the handwork of shaping and in-letting? Those table top bandsaws look like they'd be a bit small, though if anyone has experience with them, I'd appreciate the feedback. I scoured these forums for info but none were very specific.

I can't see how any saw smaller than my 14 inch band saw would be usefull. It's a no name offshore brand saw but suits my needs. Watch the used market. There are articles and books about band saw tuning and reconditioning out there. Grizzly sells some really decent saws. BJH

I agree with BJ.
I have a 14" Rigid (free standing) that does quite well with a good blade. Anything smaller, and you'll never get through a 2 ½" piece of maple.
Been using Timberwolf blades from Woodcraft with great success.

Bought a 14" Jet free standing bandsaw from Menards and it didn't saw on the line too well until roller bearing blade guides were installed. If a bandsaw is to be used on a blank, as much wood as possible should be removed and the plastic guide blocks that came w/ the saw weren't capable of closely sawing on the line. This saw has plenty of power for the hard maple blanks. A real time saver w/ the new blade guides......Fred

Why not just get a regular Stanley hand saw? You will need a surform either way you go; and the handsaw is infinitely safer in every way, plus you could reallocate the band saw budget to a fancier grade of maple or more lead balls?

I run a 15". It's Chinese made, store branded to one of our machine tool chains - it runs a 97 1/2" band.

Think it was about 500 bucks when I bought it many years ago but it really is my "go to" saw for so much more than gun blanks (although it works perfectly for those).

Unless you have other uses for a band saw or you intend on becoming a prolific builder I might suggest that you NOT buy one.

If you buy one of those cheapy bench top 9" things you will be disappointed and out a few bucks.

If you can't justify dropping a few hundred then for cutting out a stock or two from a blank you CAN do it with a jig saw. Not as fancy but will do the job fine if you take your time.

A jig saw and a decent bench mounted oscillating spindle sander, both of which would be a couple hundred less than a band saw would be a great combination. And I personally use my spindle sander A LOT when shaping a blank - awesome tool.

My old 12" craftsman does everything I need for building muzzleloaders.

Just be sure you read up on how to set it up properly the first time..

14", 1 hp minimum, 3 or 4 tooth tooth the inch skip tooth blade will handle deep cuts with a sharp blade.

Get on Craigs List, lots of good bandsaws to be had for cheap prices.

That said, I used and old American made Craftsman 1/2 horse, 12", for years and it never let me down. I cut up a lot of osage with it.

I use a ridged brand bandsaw which I got for a really good price - it was a demo floor model and I caught the Home Despot store manager at a good time ...

some thoughts on bandsaws:

- get the very best blade you can buy. this will make a world of difference (the el- cheap- oh blade that comes with the saw is most probably now worth the trouble ... replace it with a good one and keep it as a spare).

- you will probably want to replace the guides/blocks ... I did and the result was amazing ...

- don't get the 'bench top' style: they're cheaply made (in my experience) and they don't have the capacity you'll need

- speaking of capacity, keep an eye out for a riser block. this will make you current collection of blades obsolete, but a riser block (it goes between the lower and upper halves of the saw) will increase the distance between the upper guide and the table, thus making resawing a possibility ... very nice...

and, having said all that: consider carefully whether you really need a bandsaw. I do a fair amount of woodworking, so I get lots of use out of mine but very little of it has to do with gun building. if all you want to do is cut a blank to rough shape, get a jigsaw with a good blade, as was previously suggested... save the extra money for a nicer grade of blank.


good luck with your project, and send pictures: we love pictures!

A couple extra tips to add to Eric. Adequate tension of the blade is very important to be able to saw to a line. 2 factors to consider are a cast iron saw frame is superior to fabricated steel and, if you find it difficult getting enough tension, use a narrower blade. The tooth pattern Eric described is a good choice & a 1/4" wide blade is adequate for hard maple. Don't force the cut & replace it when dull.
Paul

Also, there is a lot of nuance in the correct geometry for a period rifle within its' respective school. The experienced members who are commenting on band saws and power tools understand these nuances of form that a new builder will more than likely miss, especially when using power tools. Use a handsaw, cut way outside your pencil markings, and you can practice inletting parts anywhere on the oversized stock cut out, then rasp the inlets holes down (I like a Shinto rasp from woodcraft), and keep doing that until you get close to where you need to be to begin the actual shaping. Proper inletting requires the metal to appear to be growing out of the wood, this will take a lot of practice to learn how to do: practice you can gain when shaping down the cut out. Also, save any chip, splinter, or piece of wood larger than sawdust as you can use these with some titebond 2 to tighten up loose inlets and other mistakes. Good luck.

Thank you everyone for your insight. Everyone answered the questions and reservations I had about those bench top saws, so that's safely out of my mind.

I was interested in how many recommended a jig saw, or a hand saw. Should I pass on a bandsaw, at least in the mean time until I work out more uses for one, I'll look into either using a jig saw or hand saw. If I leave a bit more of a buffer, I think I could get this thing going quicker, and put the money into some better hand tools.

Does anyone have any advice, or lessons learned from shaping a stock with a handsaw and/or jig saw?

Silent said:

Thank you everyone for your insight. Everyone answered the questions and reservations I had about those bench top saws, so that's safely out of my mind.

I was interested in how many recommended a jig saw, or a hand saw. Should I pass on a bandsaw, at least in the mean time until I work out more uses for one, I'll look into either using a jig saw or hand saw. If I leave a bit more of a buffer, I think I could get this thing going quicker, and put the money into some better hand tools.

Does anyone have any advice, or lessons learned from shaping a stock with a handsaw and/or jig saw?

Click to expand...

for a first build? just cut way way way outside your outline. you only need two lines, one to determine the length, and one to determine the side profile. The experienced builders will hog out a bunch of cuts, but stick to these first two lines for your first build. the side profile can be cut with a hacksaw by following your line till the spine bottoms out and then come in at a different angle and intercepting it: similar to slicing a pie. same thing with a handsaw, just sharper angles. this slicing the pie with a hacksaw will also get you your rough profile cut for your buttstock (but that cut is probably 150+ hours away)I get my blocks of curly maple from the log cabin shop. (gun stock wood has to go through some long, bunch of years, curing process in a climate controlled facility). pick a school you want to emulate, arrange your parts on the block, keep particular attention to how your lock's pan (I only build flinters) will eventually line up with the face of your breach plug (the part at the end of the threads)once it is properly fitted to your barrel and how your trigger will intercept the sear. mark these lines off, make a paper template to remind you of their location as you remove wood. other areas to be mindful of: location of ramrod channel below eventual lock inlet, wrist transition...much of the detail comes as you/after you inlet, the initial shaping is just getting the correct proportions down. tack as many pictures of the rifle you are trying to emulate to the walls of your work area.

definitely buy a copy of:

Alexander's the gunsmith of grenville county and maybe Dixon's the art of building the Pennsylvania longrifle

and also:

Hershel House' dvd set Building a Kentucky Rifle (ignore the bandsaw part, the man is a wizard, you will get into trouble hogging out that much wood)

the most important part is properly seating your breach plug so that: the face makes contact with the raised portion of the rifling, while the top flat of the tang is level with the top flat of your barrel, while the top and bottom rear surface of the breach plug makes perfect contact with the rear of the barrel and that the threaded portion is longer than the bore is wide (should be way longer because you only make gentle passes and remove tiny bits of metal dust until it is seated corectly) this is only if you have to fit it because you did not get it fitted when you bought it.

man I really opened pandoras box responding to this topic

there is a nice topic a few down titled "smith tools" that covers stuff you need. outside of that...probably a synthetic hammer, a pin punch, either a small lock spring vise or vise-grips, a good rasp, a few files mil cut/b@st@rd cut, half round, triangle, a few swiss files. surform. the only power tool you need is a hand drill (need is used loosely because you could just get a period hand crank but those are tricky drilling through metal, I know bc I own a couple). taps to button up your side plate to lock and breech plug tang to trigger plate, metal counter sink bit, 48 inch long drill bit for ramrod channel inlet, calipers (digital are nice, but you could just get the old fashioned kind), carbide tipped scribe, obviously some rulers...probably missed some stuff, but this is a good start. should probably just delete this wall of text horror show, but...

there is no substitute to studying original examples in person, at a museum or historical society for example.

the Log Cabin Shop has a museum if you are ever in the Lodi area

also, maybe see if there are any workshops available in your area. you can try to see if anyone will take you on as an apprentice, this is rare and usually involves compensation paid out by the apprentice.

I missed feeler gauge. this is more for the inletting and breech plug seating part of the build, but it is pretty important.

also, while not necessary it is incredibly helpful to have cross lighting in your work area. this can be accomplished by simply installing a hanging plug in fluorescent light fixture above your work bench and running the fluorescent fixture along with the regular light bulb fixtures in the room. I can source the information to anybody who does not believe it, but essentially running two competing light sources of both types greatly reduces deceptive shadows.

to the mods: sorry for the text bombs I dropped in all my posts today. I will try and keep it shorter and more to the point in the future. and also curb my use of bold font.

saw out a thin piece of sheet brass, maybe 1 inch by 3 inches or so, bend it over the bottom part of your breech plug tang (the metal below the tang and before the plug), you can then put your wrench over this (below the tang) when putting on and off the breech plug, this will prevent you from marring up the sides of your tang.

in retrospect just read Alexander's the gunsmith of grenville county first. I often time get carried away, there is just too many things to explain/too many areas to make mistakes on. you may also want to consider buying a precarved stock for your first build. take baby steps first, and then go on to more difficult projects as your skills improve.

and the Hershel House 2 disc dvd set

...but if you still intend on carving your first build, I re read my original post and found a number of areas in it potentially misleading. the two lines are just your hogging cuts, the additional cuts an experienced maker would perform should be substituted with a rasp for a new builder, the ramrod channel is below the lock inlet only in a height plane, not depth, bc you will need to eventually inlet a trigger and guard that will intercept this plane if the channel is drilled too long. additional lines marks are dependent on the style you decide on....

just read the book

A small table-top bandsaw will be a waste of your time and money. My Grizzly 14" G0555 has served me well for 15 years. I reccomend. Hopefully not going ff but China or Tiawan made does not necessarily mean low quality. Much is made to American specs and can be very high quality. That said, yes, I do wish more of these tools were American made. atriot: But, like most of us, I also have to be loyal to my pocketbook.