Choosing the best bandsaw for resawing in 2021

Nothing could be worse using a crappy bandsaw to do a bunch of stuff,  nobody wants struggling and complaining about it the whole time. We’ll help you to find best bandsaw for resawing with a lot of oomph to be super happy with it. And for affordable price.

What is resawing on a bandsaw

Resawing is a pretty common task for woodworking. For example, most cabinet doors are build now days are book matched panels. The best way to thin stock and maintain higher yield for  6/4″ or 8/4″ boards is resawing.

Resawing wood a is cutting a sawn plank into thinner ones with a bandsaw. So you are splitting the thickness of the wood to get two thinner slabs. Although resawing is a type of rip-cutting, however, not all rip cuts are resaws. Resawing cut runs through the wood width and this fact distinguishes bandsaw resawing from bandsaw ripping where the blade runs through the stock’s thickness.

The bandsaw is far safer than a circular saw, because it doesn’t cause kickback. Bandsaw blade cuts extremely efficient, relatively easily and quickly. It also wastes minimal wood and cutting. All you have to do is cut straight lines.

Best bandsaw for resawing

Big and expensive saws

In my practice nobody has ever told me that the bandsaw he has is too heavy, too powerful or too big. If you resaw large amounts of wood everyday, it’s better to save up and wait for what you want if you can’t afford it now.

And the reasons are:

1. Resawing puts a whole different performance demand on the tool than just cutting furniture legs or something.
2. Every time I talk to an friend who bought a tool what “would get the job done at the moment”, it sounds like the machine somehow disappoints them but they don’t want to admit that. Most of cheap bandsaws do their job more or less acceptable, and work for many years without breakdowns. If you really need a better bandsaw, this can be said to be a disadvantage, you get stuck with what you bought.

In other words, try to focus on what you won’t be getting if you don’t choose wisely.

All of the maid in Italy bandsaws: Mini-Max, Agazzani, Laguna are great  but highly priced. Industrial grade Grizzly saws come with much lower price but nearly as good at a quality and productivity. I would get the biggest Grizzly bandsaw that fit the budget and then put a high quality carbide-tipped resaw blade on it.

Benchtop saws

You should try to get the best bench bandsaw your budget allows, even (in fact, especially) if it is a bench model.

Of course, the large Laguna or Agazzani are a dream machines. But they are too rich for occasional-user blood. Some of the modern benchtop saws are quite good.  In addition, there are often restrictions on the unit size due to lack of workshop space. With limited space, choosing machine size is a tough decision, but my best advice is still to buy the most expensive bandsaw you can afford. If that’s small, try to purchase the best one you can.

Don’t be afraid of the Taiwan-made saws such as the Deltas, Grizzly or Jet. They are pretty good machines for the money if you get one used. But I’d avoid small Craftsman benchtops. Of course, it has good reviews and the price is about $200. But, it is really too small and the motor doesn’t have enough power to do any real resawing. New Ridgid machines look real good and I really like them. Their old band saw models had quite a few bad reviews, the newer models are significantly better.

With low cost units probably you’ll need to make some upgrades, such as installing urethane tires, adding better tension crank and tension spring. Adding a Kreg Bandsaw is also very common.

With a 1/2″ wood slicer such a unit can resaw 6″ veneers  down to 1/32″ thick quickly and very accurate. Adding a riser block kit will rise resaw capacity up to 12″. With an Olsen 1/8″ blade the bandsaw will be able to do tight curves,  bandsaw boxes, or scroll patterns very efficiently, so it will become one of the most used tools in your shop, maybe next to the circle saw.

Best bandsaw blade for resawing

I’ve had the Laguna bandsaw for about five years and have used many blades by different blades. Some of them did well and others not so good.

Some time I’ve just been buying cheap blades from local box store. Of course, they were less than impressive in quality and efficiency. But at $10 per blade you can buy just stockpile a few of each size.

At the end of the experiment I’ve decided that good blade will last longer than cheap junk. And think about how much is your time worth, how much time do you spend changing blunt blades and buying another? I don’t shell out for the best of the best but it’s pretty accurate to say that you get what you pay for. That also depends on what you are using the unit for and what wood you are cutting. Of course, resawing sugar maple will kill a blade  far quicker than resawing poplar. I’ve also found that almost all cheap blades are not exactly the length claimed. For example, I have one 93.5 is closer to 92.5 and required major adjustment to get to fit. Other four blades were within simple tensioning distance.

Therefore, personally prefer to buy middle priced blades. Even if the result is a little more expensive cut, I will benefit in terms of efficiency and quality.

Best blade for resawing on 14″ bandsaw

I read somewhere that 1/2 inch blades are the widest ones recommended for a 14 bandsaw. And in my practice, the 14″ bandsaw is perfectly able to resaw with a 1/2 inch blade.

When I am asked about the best blades for resawing, the first brand that comes to mind is Laguna. These do an excellent job cutting, they cut straight and true. But they are really expensive. As I mentioned above, the highest price does not guarantee the best performance for every dollar spent. So before I load up on expensive blade, I do my own evaluation and comparison. And please, adjust your bandsaw properly, otherwise it will knock out a brand new blade. If the tool is set up correctly a decent quality blade can last a very long time.

The one thing you should remember is the saw up to it? What horsepower is your saw and what are you trying to resaw? The 3/4 hp saw will have difficulty resawing. A 14″ 2 horsepower steel frame Grizzly bandsaw resaw with a 1/2 inch blade  with excellent results. It also is able to work with a 3/4″ 3 tooth blade, and  I didn’t feel the need to go with that big of a blade.

I’ve also used Timberwolf blades some of them had weld issues, so I could see them slightly moving backwards and forward (but not side to side, so it  is not so important). Both 1/2″ and a 3/4″ Timberwolf blades works great.

Conclusions

If you are cutting large amounts of wood every day, an industrial band saw from known brand is your best choice. If your budget is tight, used equipment can be a good alternative. But for occasional DIY projects, a compact table saw is fine.

In any case, be patient to spend a lot of time on getting your blade tensioned and squared just right. And you will definitely be nervous when starting to cut material. But in my experience the difference between a band saw with a decent setting and a band saw with a good setting is huge. Spend a decent amount of energy end time on setup and tweaking the saw to get it just right, it will pay off.