*So far this product works really well exact same machine **MyBest.Tools** as the other ones just different colors in Parts such as the handles versus Ryobi skill exact same machine. Changing the blade Is a little difficult at first, but when you get it it's easy it's all about the tensioning and leveling out the blade, Great price*
thanks for the video, I'm buying this saw in a few days. you're not the first person I've heard say that the tired needed to be upgraded. good food for thought. I might just do that.
I spoke with Laguna customer support (very impressed with their service) about the tire vibration problem. They told me that some of the tires were not heated properly when installed at the factory and resulted in un-even application on the wheel. Anyone with this problem should contact them for free replacement tires. The problem has since been corrected.
I have had my 1412 now for just over a week. Only setup problem I have had was that the upper wheel was stuck at the top. A slight adjustment to the two horizontal bolts behind the wheel and problem solved. Blade installation was a snap. I called Laguna and they immediately told me how to release the wheel took me less than a minute to adjust. Beyond that the saw is a workhorse. Plus Laguna has a 14 part setup video here on you tube and covers everything and I mean everything. However, if you rewire the saw for 220 the light wont work without rewiring the light back to 110, a simple task for any qualified electrician. Great buy, great fit and finish. Love it.
I've had my Laguna 1412 for just over a year and a half and can verify all the great features of it that you testify to. That Resaw King blade with a log cutting jig has cut all that I have given to it. I've sent it back to be resharpened for the $30 fee and it cuts great again. I have the new tires on my model. Laguna must have upgraded it based on the user feedback. A great purchase. Also have the Laguna 18/36 lathe and like it as well.
I am very grateful for this video. I do boat work, most of my band saw needs are re saw. My ancient Delta is getting to the nursing home. Thank you for diverting me to Laguna. Your the Best. :-)
really good video, am getting into wood turning and looking at these saws to see what you may need for processing blanks. realy swayed me towards Laguna over some of the "amateur" manufacturers that we get given here in Australia ( wood fast)
This was a damn good review. Alot of useful information! I was looking at the grizzly g0555 Brevard i only cut curves...but by the time you add the resaw kit and other accessories...I've found that you are close to the cost of the laguna 1412 and rikon 10-326.
Have I seen sparks? Yes, very tiny ones once in a great while. Has it been an issue? Not at all. The ceramic guides were one of the big selling points for me and haven't let down yet.
I bought one of these in the Fall of 2014. After being laid off from my corporate job of 26 years, I needed a "gold watch" to assuage my feeling of abandonment. Or so I told myself. I DID get a ride from my office to the front gate in the Security Department's wagon. We laughed all the way. I had a 14" Taiwanese C-frame clone of a 14" Delta bandsaw earlier, and it was OK. But the cast iron C-frame wasn't very rigid, and I couldn't properly tension a blade wider than 3/8". I wanted to see what the big spenders were getting for their money. I found a long deal on a 14 Twelve and brought it home in my pickup. Put it together and tuned it up according to the excellent video that Laguna Tools put out on RU-vid. I was impressed! I've always made do with cheap tools. This saw was different. It's smooth, cuts through 12" thick material without bogging the motor down and the balance and smoothness bespeaks quality. Like driving a luxury car. The difference is really dramatic. I have since retired and the Laguna 14 Twelve bandsaw is one of the joys of having a woodworking shop. I find myself using it for short cutoffs that I won't bother cutting on my Delta tablesaw, just because the cut it produces is so smooth and effortless. And quiet! I offered to do a repair on a piece of furniture a neighbor had. It was a bench made from (no joke) a 12" x 48" section of a telephone pole. The guy who made it power planed all the layers of creosote-saturated wood away until only the beautiful Doug Fir growth rings remained. I was surprised they would use such a nice piece of timber for a telephone pole. It turned out the neighbor didn't have room for a 4' bench, but she did have room for a 3'. So I offered to cut it down a foot. That's what I did. With the 14 Twelve's built-in re-saw capacity, I just cranked up the blade guides and cut off a foot of the bench, then cut through the glue lines and cleaned up the joint. Re-glued the seat to the rabbeted vertical support and clamped it overnight. No fasteners needed. Easy-peasy. Neighbor was ecstatic, and wanted to pay me. I declined, but took her up on a dozen butterscotch pecan cookies. The point I want to make is this tool is absolutely first rate. It's powerful, very smooth and absolutely worth the money.
Cool story about the telephone pole. Had no idea there was decent wood within. I am still thrilled with my saw as well. I have a Powermatic 14inch bandsaw I use for detail cuts with 1/4 and 1/8 in blades. Not that the Laguna can't do detail cuts but just eliminates constant blade changes. Hope you are enjoying your retirement. Just finished my 3rd year of retirement after 40 years of teaching.
Hi Dave-I am in the process of changing over to urethane tires on my 1412. The top tire went well and I put the new one on easily by removing the wheel and locking it into a vice.The bottom though.....I can’t figure out how to get the wheel off. I’ve removed all the nuts/screws inside & out except that center giant one, on the outside, connected to the center. It is a giant one piece washer/nut with some kind of fastener in the middle. Did you take yours off to replace the tire? Or maybe have advice on how to remove the main center connection? I hope this makes sense! Thank you and I appreciate all your videos!
I replaced the tires with the wheels in place. You can heat the new urethane tires in hot water. They then go on much easier. I used small shims to pry them on.
Great and informative video, thanks! I have next bandsaw narrowed down to the two you own, I'm going back and forth between the Laguna and Powermatic with riser block. I like the extra quarter horsepower of the Laguna, and a lot of features such as the Carter tension release lever and blade guides. I'm concerned that the "ceramic" guides on the Laguna are just metal with a ceramic coating. A question for you, which of the two has the most solid guide post for up and down adjustment without having to re-adjust the guides? And which has the better fence system? So many things to consider and I don't want to regret it if I buy the wrong one. I'll mainly use it for cutting the outline of guitar bodies with hardwoods, and re-sawing flame maple for book matched guitar tops and max of 8".
If you set up the bandsaw as per the Alex Snodgrass method (if not familiar just search RU-vid) you will find both of these models will retain guide alignment whenever you move the post up and down. I never have to re-adjust either saw after movement. There is a reason I own both and not just one. Even though people have been re-sawing for years with the cast frame saws with risers (the Powermatic) the solid steel frame (Laguna) saws are just far superior for this task. I basically keep a 1/4 in or 3/8 in blade on the Powermatic for fine work and keep a 1/2 in blade on the Laguna for re-sawing and milling lumber. If I could only own one I would have to go with the Laguna. You can always throw a smaller blade on it and make detailed cuts. Be aware though that the Laguna has a lower table height making it more comfortable for the task of re-sawing and milling while the Powermatic table is higher making it better for detail work. Hope this helps. Any other questions, feel free to ask. Will do my best to help.
@@daveswoodshop782 Oh Ok thanks! I wish they would mention that in the description. It's also deceiving how they always picture the saw with accessories that do not come with it.
Dave, thanks for a really good and succinct review! I see a lot of tool reviews on RU-vid that go into odd details pertaining to niche projects/cuts, but your review really hits well on the major points, features that are really relevant to 99% of users, and I see that you're fair in your reviews, but not "critical for the sake of being critical" like many other reviewers. This is the first video of yours that I've watched, but I already trust your opinion! Thanks for excellent quality reviews and video. Can't wait to watch more from you. Quick question, if you have the time to answer: Is this "the saw" you'd recommend for 12" resaw capacity? I'm looking to buy my first bandsaw in the coming 2-3 months, and I don't mind spending the money on a great product. Based on your experience with this and others, is this the saw you'd buy again? Thanks again for the great reviews. Glad to be a subscriber!
I thought cast iron frames like the powermatic is more rigged than a steel frame like the laguna? You was saying your powermatic had some flexing in the frame? I think you just need a stronger tension spring for your large resaw jobs. You got a riser block upgrade and everything it needed but a heavy spring. That just my 2 cents. Nice video tho.
Thanks for the input. The European steel frame band saws were designed to overcome the shortcomings of the Delta style cast ones. One of those problems is the slight flex introduced when you put on a riser block, wider blade, and crank up the tension. A heavy duty spring will do nothing to alleviate this flex. It just allows you to apply a little more tension. Don't get me wrong, people have been re-sawing on these cast saws for decades and doing just fine. In my opinion, an opinion shared by many others, the steel frame saws just do it better.
Interesting that you say that the lower guides are just as easy to adjust as the upper ones... I have heard otherwise from several reviews. They say they are very difficult to adjust.
Just relating my personal experience. I don't understand why the bottom one should be any more difficult as they are the exact same part as the top guides only upside down. I could see how someone with larger hands might have accessibility issues getting to the lower guides. In that case it is easy to just remove the table to gain full un-obstructed access.
@@landoncarter6452 It's no big deal to pop off the table. Most experts recommend it in order to get clear access to the lower guides. Check out the RU-vid video by Alex Snodgrass on how to setup a bandsaw. It has become the defacto standard on setup for many woodworkers. His concept of centering the gullet rather than centering the entire blade is a game changer. It has completely eliminated drift on both my Laguna and my Powermatic bandsaws.
@@daveswoodshop782 I've seen the Snodgrass video. He seems like quite the bandsaw wizard. I don't like the thought of having to remove the table and then re-align it every time I want to check the bottom guides (I would mostly be making bandsaw boxes). The 1412 manual states that access to the lower guides can be improved by angling the table; perhaps that would be enough.
I have met Alex on numerous occasions. He is quite the bandsaw wizard. Rotating the table might help a little. Remember that the table has a stop that lets the table rest perpendicular to the blade. If you set that stop properly when you originally set up your saw then there should be no need to have to adjust the table each time you put it back on. If you are still concerned about removing the table and alignment afterwards then just try to tilt the table up to see if it buys you any additional space. Best of Luck.
Steel frame saws are a fabrication method that have come to almost replace the old standard of cast iron frame band saws. In my experience, I have never see a 12" old Craftsman, a 14" Delta or a 36" Oliver cast frame bandsaw "deflect" in any measurable or noticeable amount, thus impacting the functioning of the saw due to blade tension being applied. Steel frame saws are becoming the norm due to economics (not because of being less likely to flex). Modern methods of making steel tubes and welding accurately in fabrication plants have made the steel frame band saws style become more ubiquitously available in the marketplace. While the process of casting parts, letting them cure properly and machining them is costly (and environmentally dirty). Don't discount a super find of a cast iron framed bandsaw in good shape because you think it's more likely to "flex" than a steel frame saw and is somehow substandard in comparison along that regard. If you get a saw shipped to you, the cast iron parts can break when roughly handled. The steel frame may be able to take a harder knock in transit and not have a "failure", but with a steel frame saw, the steel can still be bent and the welds can be broken with poor transit handling. (They just break "differently" due to the different properties of the steel and fabrication methods.) In my opinion, differences of frame rigidity are noticeable coming from the marketing departments of the companies that make the saws, versus the woodworkers in the shop cutting on the saws.
I respectfully beg to differ with the above comment. I own both a traditional cast 14 in bandsaw (Powermatic) as well as the Laguna in this review. The Powermatic is a great bandsaw but it is not up to the task of handling a 3/4 in blade and re-sawing a wide board. The Laguna has no problem. I did a lot of research on this topic before I upgraded to the steel frame Laguna and there is a bunch of data to support what I state in the video.
I also have a Laguna bandsaw. It vibrates more than I would have expected. I asked laguana and they said they would send out a new tire. Never received it. They refuse to respond since then. :(
