On Jul 7, 10:56*am, 4fingers wrote:
OK -- I know they're two different tools with different main purpose.
However -- I have ~300 bd.ft. of black walnut. Most of it is rough and some
is S2S, all of it is a full 1 1/8" thick or more. Although I like hand
tools I can't see planing that much lumber just to surface it much less to
get it to a full 1" or 3/4" thickness. I think a bandsaw would be more
practial since I could use it for other things including (I hope) resawing
/ surfacing the lumber to thickness. I'm thinking about getting a 14" and a
riser block or a 17". Either would have to be 120 volts. How practical
would surfacing on a bandsaw be? Or would I be better off just getting a
planer? BTW most of the boards are 8 - 14" wide. I also have some oak
that's 16" wide that will need surfacing also. Thanks.

Well.......... This is one of those chicken and egg questions; and it
appears as though you are making a purchase decision based on your
acquisition of quite a bit of Walnut.

You might think downstream from the walnut about which tool would
benefit your style of woodworking in the future ... AND... do you have
an acquaintance of buddy who has the other tool? You might be able
to pay him for a saw blade or share sharpening and still buy the
preferred tool (some of my buddies will do anything for a 12-pack).
Personally, I would go with the planer because even with decent band-
saw re-sawing you are still going to have to surface the wood
eventually. From you comment, hand surfacing that much lumber seems
like a daunting task and I agree.

A couple of thoughts:

1) Re-sawing with a band saw, especially with wider stock, isn't all
that easy for a beginner. You will get the knack down but you could
screw up some nice walnut learning.

2) With the 14" to 16" widths you mention, keep in mind you are
looking at buying a 15" or larger planer. When you make the move from
12" or 13" planers up to the heavier duty 15" machines the price goes
up quite a bit. But there are some good affordable machines in the
$1,000 or so range. If you decide to go with the planer you might
take a look at one of these:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/15-3...Series-/G0453P

http://www.grizzly.com/products/15-Planer/G0453

They are both essentially the same machine, just dressed up a little
different. The "P" version has a few more features for the same
current sale price. You can spend a lot more for the same capability,
with yellow paint, but the Grizzly planers are good machines. I have
had the Polar Bear version for about 1-1/2 years, it has planed quite
a bit of hardwood and no complaints whatsoever. Our son-in-law has
had the other version for about seven years and it has been a good
machine too.


RonB