New Laguna 18" Bandsaw

thats one big Laguna…. congrats.

-- When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

Man look at the size of the freakishly large blade there!

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"

Wade, that bandsaw is almost as good looking as your shop mate. Hope you have loads of time to enjoy keeping company with both of them. LOL.

-- I love the smell of sawdust in the morning....

I must admit to suffering from tool envy. Very nice saw; How big is that blade?

-- Chris

nice saw… I have to wonder how they can crew up the customer service so badly

-- making sawdust....

I bought a big bandsaw too its a 23 inch and cuts eighteen inch height of cut they are fantastice well done I hope you have long years of life to enjoy God Bless Alistair ps your wife looks beautiful too.

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

Great looking saw!

Thanks for the post

Callum

-- For wood working podcasts with a twist check out http://thetimberkid.com/

Wow…cool saw! I’ve heard a similar story about Laguna service however. Thanks

Congratulations. That ought to keep you out of mischief for a while. I’m actually quasi-interested in the idea of stocking a Driftmaster on my Minimax BS. If it’s any consolation the documentation that comes with Minimax saws aint much better than having none at all. Great saws but their manuals suck. MM customer service is pretty good at answering questions but if the Laguna experience is similar to the MM one, your best bet for good advice is an online user group of Laguna owners.

-- Use the fence Luke

That sure is a big Bandsaw , I’m glad to hear everything worked for you and your happy with the saw . That little dolly you move the saw around with is kool .

Thanks for the review .

Thanks for the review. Looks like a great band saw.

-- My favorite piece is my last one, my best piece is my next one.

Thanks for the review. And the board you’re holding looks evenly and smoothly ripped by this saw.
I hope I could have one smaller BS in my workshop. But.. I am not familiar with the sizes of BS. If you don’t mind, can you roughly tell me the relation of the wheel size to the cutting hight’s capacity?

-- masrol, kuala lumpur, MY.

mmmmm. Im suffering from bansaw envy. Yours is bigger than mine.

-- Robby Myer, Walnut Creek, CA

To answer Woodworm’s question, the wheel is 18” and the resaw is 18 3/8

-- Wade, Nashville, www.casetn.com

I have a driftmaster installed on my Taiwanese 18” bandsaw and I love it. When I got mine it didn’t have the universal mounts. I had to wait for it to be shipped. The resaw blade does a great job. I resawed some yellow birch today for the kitchen cabinets I’m building for my wife.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

This is a nice review. Thanks for the info on the saw.

-- With God's help all things are possible- even woodworking. Woodworking is not just a hobby, it is an (expletive deleted) expensive hobby.

Yup, tool envy to the max, nice addition to the family.

-- I can so I wood but why are my learning curves always circles

Ahhh….the Resaw King…....I bow before you…... :)

-- For free video tutorials and other cool woodworking stuff, check out http://www.TheWoodWhisperer.com

I am always curious as to why almost every review gets a “5 STAR”.......despite the grumblings of said reviewer.

At the risk of repeating myself. I occasionally get well paid to help sell tools at woodworking trade shows, selling what the owner hasnt a clue as to how a “tool” works. At one particular show the booth was located right next to Laguna’s booth. A young gentleman came up and asked if the re-saw band saw would cut his small piece of Jatoba that he held and I replied…..”No” and explained that depite the fact that its an 18” re-saw band saw and came with a carbide blade that it was still a single phase motor, small amperage and small voltage….........it was never made to re-saw heavy timber and he replied that Laguna said they would

We both strolled over to the Laguna booth where the teckie put on a somewhat fancy demonstration of how perfectly his 18” Re-Saw band saw was going to slice the piece of Jatoba into lunch meat thick wafers.

Within seconds his rather smug disposition was turning into desperation because the saw was screaming very loudlly, the beads of sweat dripped from his forhead as he saw his carbide blade bending and twisting when the entire Booth went BOOM as all the circuit breakers tripped.

They eventually removed the entire blade from the wheels with jatoba wood firmly wedged into it.

I still think that it’s a nice toy but remain cautious in the 5 out of five rating on just about every tool ever made.

Cheers

-- http://www.furnituremann.ca/

I agree, and if the stars were for the documentation and customer service, they would be minus stars, but the machine so far has performed as advertised. I don’t know about the saw at the show, but mine has a 5hp 220 volt motor and so far nothing I have put through it has had any effect. I plan to do some sawing of some walnut logs soon and that should give it a test. I will post the results.

-- Wade, Nashville, www.casetn.com

If all it took was a piece of Jatoba to kill a Laguna machine w/ carbide blade, I have no doubt that it was NOT properly adjusted for drift. I have a 40+ year old 20” bandsaw w/ Highland WoodSlicer that I got from a high school woodshop. I chose to replace the puny 1HP 3-Phase motor with a 3HP 1-Phase motor. I bought a motor that ran at 3450 full load RPM, and I used the pulley system to reduce to the proper speed. Because of the MASSIVE torque produced from the motor turning at high speed and driving a low-speed drive wheel, I haven’t noticed the saw so much as blink an eye when resawing anything.

Maybe bandsaw companies should use high RPM motors to drive their saws…
Most importantly, the saw MUST be properly adjusted for drift. Otherwise, even a big saw like mine or Wade’s WILL bog down, tripping the breakers and possibly breaking an expensive blade.

Just my 3-1/2 cents worth ;-D

-- Lane Custom Guitars and Basses

From what I’ve read the Resaw King isnt carbide at all but stellite. I’m under the impression that they dont specifically say it’s carbide but dont try to dissuade you from thinking that it is. Though I’m sure HP had a lot to do with the saw jamming, I’d be curious to know how the same saw, setup, and Jatoba would have done with a Lenox TriMaster. I haven’t found anything the TM cant munch easily including DevilWood (Ipe).

-- Use the fence Luke

Very nice!

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

I have purchased several items from laguna a 16 hd bandsaw,a tilting motiser, resaw king blade,and drift master fence there has always been a problem with what they tell you and what really happens . The 16hd band saw I purchased seems to work fair but I was shocked when I purchased a 12” grizzly jointer and found the bed to have a much finer finish than my $3800 band saw from laguna, as an example if the laguna might a have a 60 grit finish on it’s table and the grizzly a 220 grit. Another thing is lagunas manual says to take tension of the blade when not in use, but they don’t include or even offer one as an accessory were grizzly offers it as standard equipment on $ 450 saw. The drift master fence is hard to install when it should just bolt on and does not work that smoothly, at the cost of what inexpensive band saw cost I expected more. The ceramic guides are one item that always gets great reviews in woodworking magazines but I find them only slightly better than the jet band saw I replaced and if you break one of the guides ,One not a set 1/4” X 1/4” x 3/4” ceramic guide is $20 and a full set cost $100 that will all fit in a shot glass with enough room that the glass can be mostly full
I also purchased a tilting mortiser that is not designed or finished very well. I can elaborate more but all said and done my reply to any one who wants a band saw or what ever equipment is to investigate grizzly, Powermatic , delta or others and save yourself the aggravation of dealing with a company that their customer service takes a week to get back to you if ever, and of course you can save a couple of thousand dollars you can use elsewhere in your shop. Sorry Wade I hope you have a possitive experiance with your 18”

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop, custom furniture ,maker, woodworking school, heirloomwoodshop.com

try MINI MAX for equipment and follow up service -

Thanks for the info Rob it’s worth a try.

Jim

-- Jim from Heirloom Woodshop, custom furniture ,maker, woodworking school, heirloomwoodshop.com

I sure liked them Lagunas, but when i seen how light they are, i was skeptacle. I ende up with a pm 2415 1000lb machine. (if only i could find a review on mine)! Congraats on the Saw