Having started turning last year, I found myself doing a lot of spindle work at first, then adding in bowls and boxes, with a few platters and large plates. Not wanting to spend my time and effort turning sharp corners into sawdust, I would knock the corners off larger spindle blanks on the table saw. A jig saw made short work of the corners on platters and plates. I roughed out the blanks for bowls with a chainsaw - not perfect, but no big corners to deal with either. All the while, on the other side of the shop, parked behind a drill press, was a perfectly functional, Rikon 10-325, 14" bandsaw, that had seen very little service since I bought it new, seven years ago. The minor challenge was finding a place for it where it could be accessible. After an afternoon of moving motorcycles, shop tools, and a pile of hardwood. The bandsaw was ready to be set up again.
After installing a new drive belt, some sanding and polishing on the top, and a tune up, the Rikon bandsaw was back in action. Its WoodSlicer blade resawing perfect slices of 1/8" Ash veneer with ease. After that, I spend the afternoon turning square bowl blanks into cylinders.
After watching many Richard Raffan videos on YouTube, I learned just how valuable a bandsaw could be for processing timber for the lathe. The bandsaw can be used very efficiently to remove parts of a turning blank that has splits and other undesirable defects or features that you don't want in your finished product without having to make those corrections while turning on the lathe. I think that any curriculum for teaching woodturning should include some insights into the advantage of integrating a bandsaw in the woodturning shop.
After installing a new drive belt, some sanding and polishing on the top, and a tune up, the Rikon bandsaw was back in action. Its WoodSlicer blade resawing perfect slices of 1/8" Ash veneer with ease. After that, I spend the afternoon turning square bowl blanks into cylinders.
After watching many Richard Raffan videos on YouTube, I learned just how valuable a bandsaw could be for processing timber for the lathe. The bandsaw can be used very efficiently to remove parts of a turning blank that has splits and other undesirable defects or features that you don't want in your finished product without having to make those corrections while turning on the lathe. I think that any curriculum for teaching woodturning should include some insights into the advantage of integrating a bandsaw in the woodturning shop.
