# New Laguna 18" Bandsaw



## PurpLev

thats one big Laguna…. congrats.


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## sIKE

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


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## FlWoodRat

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.


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## croessler

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


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## motthunter

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


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## SCOTSMAN

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.


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## thetimberkid

Great looking saw!

Thanks for the post

Callum


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## lclashley

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


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## douglas2cats

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.


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## JerrySats

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 .


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## trifern

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


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## woodworm

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?


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## CraftsmanCollective

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


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## WadeP

To answer Woodworm's question, the wheel is 18" and the resaw is 18 3/8


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## Karson

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.


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## sbryan55

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


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## diggrduggr

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


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## thewoodwhisperer

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


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## roman

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


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## WadeP

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.


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## alanealane

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


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## douglas2cats

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).


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## GaryK

Very nice!


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## a1Jim

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"


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## a1Jim

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

Jim


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## logndog

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


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## elrond3737

It appears that Laguna has all it's manuals on line now


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## VillageBoy

Hows your saw these days? Are you still happy with your purchase? I am thinking about buying one, mainly to resaw thick/wide stock Gabon ebony.

I'd love to have your thoughts all this time after buying your Laguna 18" Italian.

-- VillageBoy


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## Bertha

That's one big beautiful saw!


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## WadeP

Overall I am still pleased with my saw.
I am still on the same blades that came with the saw.
I resawed some 14" x 5/4 walnut last week and it handled it fine.
I have used it to square up some walnut logs for turning and I have yet to bog it down.
I don't konw how it compares to other saws of the same size, so my opinion is based on using this saw only.
I saw a Powermatic at a dealer a few months ago, and it is massive and beautiful, but I don't know how it performs, so do your home work and hopefully you will get the best one, whatever the brand.
Hope this helps and ask any other questions you might have.


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## ShaneA

Wow, that is a nice looking saw, and what looks to be a beautiful shop as well. The blade on the saw looks pretty intense.


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## Troutdreams

I bought the 18 about 4 weeks ago. 
I've had some resaw issues but I'm convinced they're based either on my assembly or a third part blade. It's not the saw.
Calls to tech support are returned within a few minutes. Emails are responded to by a pool of technicians all offering their personal expertise and possible adjustments. I'm getting attention from the full team.

Anyway, the Laguna customer service has been excellent. Beyond expectations. They've done everything but fly in their president to make the suggested assembly adjustments.

Wish I had this kind of response from all the manufacturers of my belongings above the $2k range.

Their deficient customer service from several years ago is well documented…but I can attest that they're now completely focused on post sales support.

Laguna' sending me a replacement band (original was from Lenox) just to rule out that variable. Not sure what the final solution will be, but I'm sure the manufacturer will stand behind their product until this is resolved.


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