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I'm stuck with a wimpy 1/2 hp bandsaw that stalled whenever I tried to resaw anything tall. Then my neighbor turned me on to a technique that solved my problem. I pre-cut a 1-1/2" deep kerf in each edge of the board with my tablesaw and do the final cutting on my bandsaw. Now I can take advantage of the full 6" capacity of my bandsaw and it only has to do half the work. My neighbor has a 3/4 hp bandsaw with a riser block and he says it helps him resaw boards a full 12" wide.
Rob Charles
My Take
This one struck a chord with me. Not because I had a wimpy bandsaw, but because I had a wimpy circuit in my unattached one-car garage shop. To make matters worse, the circuit breakers were in the basement of the house. So I'd be sawing a board and all of a sudden everything – including the lights – would shut down. I'd manually open the garage door, head back in the house, get my dirty boots off, head to the basement, reset the breaker, and then head back to the garage; often finding that I'd forgotten to turn the switch off on the machine I was using. My workpiece either bouncing precariously with the spinning blade or thrown across the room! Oh, the joy of setting up your first shop!
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