Small portable bench-top band saw suggestions

[TDKPE]

My oldest is getting into woodworking, but lives in an apartment. He has garage space with power, but can't fill it up with stationary tools. Most of his work so far is with hand tools, but ripping solid wood isn't easy, especially when all you have is an OK-at-best cross cut hand saw.

I have an old Rockwell/Delta or Rock. Int. 10" on a stand (that I bought for the retirement light biggrin: ), but he's too far away to ship (cost more than a used saw). I was thinking of giving him a bench top BS. But they all seem so, well, cheap.

Are there any out there that aren't total junk? If I could only have one standing power tool in the world, I'd have a BS, like my late father with his Gumby head 10" Delta. But one so cheap as to be unusable isn't going to solve anything. Lotta used ones on CL, some looking like new, which makes me think they're not worth spit and the owner figured it out pretty quick.

Any suggestions?

[Wilbur Pan]

I’d look at a 14” Delta clone. The nice thing about bandsaws is that you can go up in capacity without a huge increase in footprint. A 14” Delta-style bandsaw doesn’t take up a whole lot of floor space, and if he had the space for a 10” bandsaw on a stand, then he has the space for a freestanding 14” bandsaw as well.

[Lumber Yard®]

The Rikon 10" 10-305 and Craftsman 10" 21400 are fairly well regarded. I owned the Craftsman version at one point to use as a second saw for curved work while keeping my large saw set-up for resawing. I ended up giving the little Craftsman saw to my dad when I ran into a deal on another large saw to take its place. My dad still has it and uses it quite a bit. The one weakness is the bearing guides go bad but they are cheap and easy to replace.
The Craftsman used to go on sale for under $150 but even at $200 it is a pretty good deal. The Rikon is usually $250ish IIRC. HTH

[stav]

I love my Gumby head Delta 10". I think it would be a little heavy for apartment life though. As was already mentioned, the Craftsman 10" that looks like one of the Italian saws is pretty decent. A friend of mine had one before he got a Gumby Delta and said it was pretty good but not as good as the Delta.

[TDKPE]

Thanks for the replies, all. That Craftsman looks like it might be serviceable. Refurb'd online for about $150. But I'll sniff around the used market.

Or maybe I'll just give him my Dad's Gumby-head Delta. If he ever drives up here (he's in Houston). I remember going with my Dad when he got it from a model maker friend of his (models for industry, like business machine mockups - a looong time ago). Lotta memories of stuff we made when I was young. Like wooden boomerangs that actually worked, long before Wham-O started punching them out in plastic. I'd like to see it put to good use.

But I really think a light weight bench top type is best for his current situation.

[jteneyck]

Look for a used Inca 3 wheeler. One was listed here or on SMC recently. It's a low/no compromise table top BS.

John

[BaileyNo5]

I started with a Rikon 10" benchtop. Had it for about 2 years before giving it to my son. I would put it in the "OK" category. It did OK for light duty stuff, but for long rips or thicker stock it was just not up to the task. The precision is not there, and the horsepower certainly isn't.

If a 14" bandsaw won't work, I would probably just spend the money on materials for a sawbench and get a good Disston rip saw. Learn how to sharpen. Build a good shooting board to square up crosscuts. He's young, he can handle the physical work, right?

[mdhills]

used: inca or shopsmith
new: rikon/craftsman 10".
Make sure to get a good blade (stock blades seem to be universally poor)

Matt

[EvilTwin]

I replaced a Gumby 10" with an Inca 10". Both are incredibly good saws for their size. New, not sure, maybe the little rikon, but I'm not a fan of most of the new import stuff.

[TDKPE]

I fired up the Rockwell/Delta 10" I loaned (gave, whatever) my FIL yesterday, and suddenly remembered why I didn't think too much of it. It vibrated and shook, and had a very tough time starting with it's split-phase (no starting capacitor), 1/3 hp motor. But that part is due to sticky bearings on the lower wheel, which I believe are plain bearings, though I haven't looked into it. By contrast, the Gumby-head Homecraft runs smooth, and starts fine with the 1/3 hp split-phase that's on there for the last 4 decades, and it used to have a 1/4 hp antique motor on there before that (which sits restored on my bench, as it's too purty to put to work ).

I may have to see if he wants one of those, although a bench top type would be more practical at this time.