Resawing lumber and more

I had originally bought a band saw to re-saw lumber from thicker boards and not waste as much wood into the dust collector.  Don't get me wrong, the dust collector serves it's function well, but I'd rather have the wood on projects than in the dust bin.

At the time, the budget only permitted a 14" bandsaw, which served it's purpose, but did not cover the re-saw capacity I really needed for the board I was able to get.  I've had been looking at the bigger boys bandsaw in the 14" or 16" range of wheel capacity but the price range was still out of my reach.This is when the taught process of maybe, just maybe selling my contractor table saw and some other tools that I seldom used to help finance the purchase of the bandsaw.  Now don't get me wrong, I used my table saw quite a lot since I purchased it and the main concern of letting it go was how could I do the common tasks I did with the tool, could I do it with the new saw or with other tools to accomplish the same tasks.

I had to list of the pros and cons of make the move and then take a decision.  Here are a few of the items I considered and addressed.- The re-saw of taller lumber is a definite winner here is is the main reason that I even considered the move in the first place- Ripping lumber : Not really a concern here, at least from a space perspective- Crosscut : Well yes this one is somewhat of a concern for the because of the table size of the bandsaw, but got a SCMS for narrower boards an for glued up panels, it was somewhat an issue on the tablesaw for longer panels.  Smaller panels, the clear winner is the table saw.- Dados : Yes I had a dado stack and this one of the tasks that the band saw does not do, but this is where another tool comes to the rescue.  This is where the router/router table comes to mind from the realm of the power tools.  I also now got a hand tool alternative to address this portion.- Angled cuts : To me, it was pretty rare that the saw blade tilted on the table saw.  This portion was less an issue and for the rare cases that a 45 degree cut was needed, or any other angle cut is needed, well will address in time. One thing I must admit is the saw cut quality off the saw itself.  I did buy a good saw blade that has great review in the WoodSlicer blade from Highland Woodworking.  It does a really good job at re-sawing and ripping wood, but the cut needs a little work after the cut, nothing that a plane pass or jointer/planer pass can't fix depending on the situation.  I agree that this is an extra step that is required to get a better result for the cuts.  But this is something I am willing to live with.

So I ended up buying the Laguna 16" SUV bandsaw and did sell my table saw in the process.  There is now more space in the small shop that is mine.  I now have tackled most of the jobs that I used to do on the table saw with another way/procedure.  Would I get another table saw in the shop, most probably, maybe in a bigger shop but for the time being, I am very pleased with the combination I got now.

There are a few items that are not settled yet, but maybe soon enough, they will be addressed.Stay tuned.