I am fairly new to woodworking, but have done quite a bit of research and I just bought a Jet 14″ bandsaw with the 6″ riser, and a Jet Cabinet saw. I have a couple of questions.
Every article I read says that the miter gauge with table saws are not very good. So my question here is, what do you all recommend for a good miter gauge?
On the Bandsaw, I do not get a fence, resaw kit or miter gauge. So my question here is the same, what recommendations can you make.
I made these decisions on the tools in part because when I was young, a wise old man said buy good tools when you need them, and if you buy good tools and take care of them, they should last a lifetime.
Thanks for your help.
– lee –
Replies
Well, Lee, first let me say, Welcome to Knots, welcome to woodworking and welcome to the wonderful world of Jet tools! You got yourself a couple of beauties there!
I love answering the miter gauge question, as I have an Incra 1000 and absolutely love it! It'll run you a little over $100 if you just run out and order it, or if you shop around, about $89. Here is a link to their miter gauge page:
http://www.incra.com/Miter/MG.html
Most WWers probably don't need anything fancier than the 1000, but it depends on what kind of WWing you'll be doing. The bar is rock-solid in the miter slot, absolutely dead, dead on once you set it to 90-degrees. I'm nuts about mine, as you can hear. I just finished making two auxiliary fences for zero-clearance cross-cuts. Could never go back to the stock gauge now.
There are a couple of different band-saw fences out there (see Rockler and FastTrak), selling a bit below $100, or you can make your own. They generally come with a resaw attachment. I don't do that much bandsaw work right now, so no glowing recommendations. Bandsaw fences aren't all that complicated, near as I can tell. I'll be interested to see what the more experienced WWers say about using the miter gauge on a bandsaw. So far, I've not found that much use for it, and of course the gauge that came with the saw is a pretty sorry excuse for an accessory.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
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