Official Luthiers Forum!

 I made another shop visit today to William Kramer Harrison in Shokan New york. Near Woodstock spent almost two hours with him. He has been building for over thirty years and primarily uses had tools (planes his tops sides and backs). And has one of the nicest working set of planes I have seen. He has a old Japanese resaw probably from the 70's or 80's he wants to sell. Looks like a Makita to me. Has those big 2"-3" blades on it. I quess they were some kind of carbide tips on them. Has anyone had any luck resawing with them or is a newer Laguana the way to go? It has a very small high speed motor he referred to as a screamer.

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Mistakes are mandatory-learning from them is optional. http://www.opensourceluthiersupply.com

Probably a Hitachi. They cut beautifully if well tuned.

Dean

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Dean

 I found some old pictures in a Fine woodworking magazine from 1983 and it looks like the Makita 2116. Are blades available for this thing Stellite tipped 2-2 3/8 wide. I searched on line and came up empty wouldn't want to buy a machine I couldn't get blades for.

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Mistakes are mandatory-learning from them is optional. http://www.opensourceluthiersupply.com

The two choice from that era are the Makita 2116 and the Hitachi B600A (now the CB75).  Both used high speed motors that used gear reduction systems that were very loud and high pitched.  Most of the owners eventually convert them to motors that are more powerful and much less noisy.

I dont believe the Makita is still sold in the US but the Hitachi is still sold and Stellite tip blades are available for it.  Both brands sold with Stellite tipped blades but could use normal bandsaw blades as well.  The blade guides supplied were very crude as there is very little support needed other than at the front and back edge of the blade.  There were upgrade roller bearings available for each to be able to take narrower blades.  Both the Makita and Hitachi had flat wheels, not crowned wheels as in most bandsaws so it could be tricky getting narrower blades to track.

Unless you are going to be doing quite a bit of resawing, I would recommend getting a more general purpose bandsaw that can be used to cut curves as well as resawing.  There are alot of them these days such as the Laguna Beach, Rikon and others.  In the past for smaller bandsaws the only alternative was a 14" delta style with a riser kit.  There are many that use this type of setup as it gives enough height for limited resawing but with the delta style you will still probably want to replace the motor with something with more horsepower.

I have a Hitachi that I used for resawing but have modified it by adding a more powerful motor, a powerfeeder and other enhancements.  I also have a Delta 14" with the height adaptor but dont use it for resawing anymore.  I also have a 1940's Walker Turner 12" that I use for scrollwork and cutting curves.  None of my saws do dual duty so I am not able to speak to that.

Those are compromised "old school" resaws. They depend on the keel/rudder effect of the wide blade to track decently. "Modern" resaws use fairly narrow...1/2" to 1 1/4" hardened or bimetal or carbide blades and track well because of high tolerance sharpening.

You will have a devil of a time trying to get reasonably priced modern blades to track on a Hitachi or Makita resaw.   

On my 20 hp Baker AX resaw, the 28" wheels are plain steel, uncrowned, and the whole setup depends on being able to run the blade with the teeth off the front of the wheels.   I set the guides so the blade only contacts the blade back bearing on heavy cuts.   The guides on the sides of the blades work at about a paper thickness away.   I have a mist coolant system blowing water mist, sometimes with a water soluble lubricant onto the blade.   That is to cool the blade and reduce heat induced stresses. The saw is a horizontal type with a conveyor belt feed below the blade.   It's very, very good.

You are dead on Rick.  With Hitachi setup I made alot of modifications.  The wheels are steel and uncrowned as well but the whole setup is geared to 2 3/8 - 3 inch wide blades.  The Stellite tip blades for the Hitachi are about $130.00 for the 3" wide blade which has less life than a carbide in which you have many more sources of supply.

In the recent GAL article that talks about Bruce Kreps use of the Hitachi, he has ended up doing the same as I have done...a mist cooler (didnt mention sooner lest people start putting them on home shop saws), a power feeder and beefed up fence.  In the end, it is definitely still a compromise compared to the Baker.

The Baker is an incredible machine.  I think that is what Allied uses as well.  The horizontal approach is far superior.