Greetings All,
Just came back from the show in Villa Park at the Odeum. What a
letdown. It seems as if it has been slowly shrinking in size lately,
and now it's too small (IMO) to be worth going. I am in the market for a
band saw and drum sander. I was really hoping to do a side by side
comparison of them. Not only were there very few band saws on the floor,
I didn't see a single drum sander. Delta was there, but no sander. No
Jet display to see the potential band saw. I also used to enjoy seeing
the sawmill vendor who slices trees into slabs and sells them at a great
price. Also a no-show....
Not worth the drive, and I didn't have to drive far at all.
I'm looking for a band saw for resawing. At first I was leaning
towards the Jet 16" which Rockler has for $750 (US). But talking to the
seller of the same saw who ran an ad on Craigslist.com, now I'm not
sure. He said he was selling his because the guides are extremely weak
and move with the slightest force. He recommended the Delta 14" heavy
duty. Does anyone have an opinion? I can't justify a Laguna or MiniMax,
for the amount of use it will get. I am torn between the Jet 18" (which
allegedly has been reengineered to be stronger) the Delta 14" HD or the
Delta 18". What ever I choose, I will check it out on the floor before I
buy it.
Just looking the the Oracle for assistance. And yes, I promise to
Google....
Mark L.

"Mark L." wrote in message
...
Greetings All,
Just came back from the show in Villa Park at the Odeum. What a
letdown. It seems as if it has been slowly shrinking in size lately,
and now it's too small (IMO) to be worth going. I am in the market for a
band saw and drum sander. I was really hoping to do a side by side
comparison of them. Not only were there very few band saws on the floor,
I didn't see a single drum sander. Delta was there, but no sander. No
Jet display to see the potential band saw. I also used to enjoy seeing
the sawmill vendor who slices trees into slabs and sells them at a great
price. Also a no-show....
Not worth the drive, and I didn't have to drive far at all.
I'm looking for a band saw for resawing. At first I was leaning
towards the Jet 16" which Rockler has for $750 (US). But talking to the
seller of the same saw who ran an ad on Craigslist.com, now I'm not
sure. He said he was selling his because the guides are extremely weak
and move with the slightest force. He recommended the Delta 14" heavy
duty. Does anyone have an opinion? I can't justify a Laguna or MiniMax,
for the amount of use it will get. I am torn between the Jet 18" (which
allegedly has been reengineered to be stronger) the Delta 14" HD or the
Delta 18". What ever I choose, I will check it out on the floor before I
buy it.
Just looking the the Oracle for assistance. And yes, I promise to
Google....
Mark L.

I don't know if this will help you, but the Nov. 2005 issue of Wood Magazine
has an article tested 6 different band saws in the 16-18" size from
Bridgewood, Grizzly, Jet, Rikon, and Shop Fox. Among the things they tested
was the resaw speed. I know it isn't the same as seeing it in person, but
maybe it will help.

I also attended the show, but I accomplished exactly what I set out to do.
I purchased some birds-eye maple veneer that I was looking for, but my main
reason for attending was to listen to Marc Sommerfeld talk about how he
makes kitchen cabinets. Afterwards, I was drinking the Sommerfeld Kool-Aid,
because I bought his tongue and groove router bit set in addition to the
Shaker set.

I heard some talk about the Milwaukee show while at the Chicago show. Can
anyone comment on how the Milwaukee show typically compares to the one in
Chicago?

todd

On Sun 16 Oct 2005 08:32:47p, "Todd Fatheree" wrote
in :

I heard some talk about the Milwaukee show while at the Chicago show.
Can anyone comment on how the Milwaukee show typically compares to the
one in Chicago?

I went to the Milwaukee show last year. Or was it the year before last? I
might have skipped it to go to the one in the Twin Cities so I could use it
as an excuse visit my daughter.
That's these folks, I believe:
http://www.thewoodworkingshows.com/index.php

Never been to the Chicago show. I always thought it would be bigger than
Milwaukee, which was okay but not as much stuff as at the Cities. Seemed
like it took me all day to see everthing I wanted to at the Cities, but
only about half that at Milwaukee.

This really bums me up. I'm planning on going to the Green Bay show in
February http://www.woodworksevents.com/greenbay.shtml just because I've
seen the Milwaukee one and want to see how these guys do it, and everybody
who's gone to ANY woodworking show in the last six months has come back
saying it sucked.

The heck with it. I'm still going.

Could be that its a case of "when you've seen one show, you've seen them
all"?
I've been going to the Milwaukee show the last couple of years. Not bad
I guess.

John

That was a good article. The Rikon saw (one that I'd never heard of)
was very impressive in all areas and in the same price range of the
other saws.

Too bad about the show. I was at the 1st American Woodworker show in
the Philly area (I think about 8-10 years ago) and that was really
impressive. It'd be too expensive for me to go to a show like that
again, if you know what I mean. :-)


Bryan