I posted a message some time ago about going in on a bandsaw with a friend
of mine and I asked this forum for advise on how to go about it. It
appears that the best advise was not to do it...... Some recent events have
made me glad that my 1/2 of the bandsaw isn't sitting in his garage right
now.

Anyway, I'm now looking for a bandsaw to squeeze into my garage (hmm,
perhaps I can get rid of that chest freezer.....).

After attending the Houston WW show, I fell in love with the Laguna 16HD and
the MM 16. Problem is they both run about $2,000 and that's a little out of
reach right now. Two bandsaws that I am considering are the Jet JWBS-18
and the Laguna 14SE. They are both in the same price range. Also in the
same price range is the Laguna 16 (not the 16HD) but I've read too many bad
comments about it on the Laguna forum.

I would like a resaw capability of about 10" and they both have that. The
14SE actually has larger resaw capability then the Jet 18.

The Jet has a slightly larger max blade size, a larger table size, bearing
guides (not sure if that's good or bad), the blade tension handle is on the
bottom (good for those that are height challenged) and I have a $100 coupon
from buying their canister DC...... I'm a little concerned about the
quality.

The Laguna has a good reputation for build and the one I saw at the WW show
performed very well. The motor is slightly larger than the Jet (2hp vs 1.5)
and the overall construction seemed to be better than the Jet. They have
ceramic guides but, once again, I don't know if that's good or bad (seems to
be a religious topic in the WW world......).

I would appreciate any input, especially from anyone that owns either of
these two saws.

--

Woody
http://www.woodhashing.com