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Rikon or Jet Bandsaw

11K views 13 replies 13 participants last post by  tvrgeek 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
I have recently retired and moved and am in the process of setting up a new workshop. Initially, I was intending on buying the Laguna 14BX2 which was already pushing my budget. Now with the recent price increase together with the cost of shipping and sales tax, the total cost is a little under two grand. (I also looked at the Harvey, but that is already over two grand.)

I had an old 14" Delta with the closed stand and except for the re-saw capability, it was fine. I am now looking at either the Rikon 10-326 or the Jet 14-SFX. Unfortunately, I do not live near any store that has them on display, so checking them out in person is not an option.

I have read the reviews and gone through the forums and both appear to be satisfactory. Any additional insight would be welcome.
 
#3 ·
I purchased a 10-326 a little over a year and a half ago.

I don't use it every day, but when i do, I absolutely love it. Easy to set up, easy to use, tracks nice, love the ball bearing guides, the tables good and solid, great vertical capacity, the fence works great, and is easily adjustable…

The only Jet tool I own is a lathe… Not because i wouldn't love more Jet tools, just have had ot go cheap on some things in the past. The lathe has been rock solid and run so smoothly since i got it a year ago, for Father's Day.
 
#4 ·
Wow, HUGE price increase on the Harvey. I paid $1300
All the tools went up though. Still, I think it is a better saw than the Laguna and Rikon. I thought the Jet and Griz more than a step down from the above three.

It is cheaper to buy the "right" tool the first time.
 
#6 ·
I have the Jet 14-SFX as a 2nd bandsaw in my shop. I did not buy it, I am storing/using it until the owner can take it back. I would not recommend buying this saw. There are a number of issues with the saw but the 2 biggest ones are:
1. The trunnions are flimsy stamped steel and offer very little in support for the table.
2. The lower guides. The thrust bearing is attached to the table and extremely difficult to adjust. The guide bearings are equally difficult to adjust and poorly made. I leave a 1/4" blade on the saw and will only change it when it is too dull to use. It would be a royal pain to swap blades to different size.
There are several other problems with the saw, that I won't go into, but Rikon, Laguna or Grizzly would be much better choices.
 
#8 ·
I was going to recommend the Harvey C-14 but the price is thru the roof. I bought one earlier this spring. Rikon was the runner-up. Not sure how long delivery is for any equipment these days, or what the price will be. I wonder if the prices will come back down as things settle down. I doubt it.
 
#9 ·
I suspect all the prices will come down: people going back to work means less time in the shop; and people who got into woodworking thinking it was going to be easy and cheap to build fine furniture, both for themselves and to sell, will discover that it ain't so-both of these will end up with some new owners discovering that they have an expensive toy they don't use-so the used market will increase, putting competition on the OEM. Also, once their backlog of orders is met, manufacturers will face pressure to keep up level of sales. Additionally, as demand slows down, manufacturers will start cutting prices in order to undersell their competitors, who will do the same to stay competitive. I expect this to all happen end of 2021 - beginning of 2022.
 
#11 ·
I have a Grizzly GO513X2 and love it.
But I also have used many other saws, either Friends or School.
My local Woodworking school had two Laguna saws. and older 14", and a brand new 18BX.
Both have been a pleasure to use.
The couple of Jets were 14" saws, but not the same model as what you are looking at.
I agree that setting up blade guides on them sucked.
However looking at that Jet 14-SFX, Another forum a couple months ago got me reading about this saw.
It has cast Trunnions, and blade tension has been moved to the top to allow better resaw.
I did not read farther today on it. But remember liking the changes from my previous read.
And while I own three other Jet tools, Lathe, Drill Press, and air filter. I have not been impressed with there band saws.
No experience with Harvey or Rikon.
But I have never read anything negative about Rikon. and you mentioned Harvey prices getting out of hand.
Budget led me to Grizzly. I would have bought a Laguna 18BX in a heartbeat, but simply could not afford its price tag.
Looking at prices on your options Rikon and Jet are clear price winners.
I have not read any reviews about that Jet 14-SFX. I believe its a newer model.
But the Rikon has been around awhile. Lots of good reviews out there.
Spending more does not guarantee a better saw. But I do like the Laguna's performance.
Love the performance of that lower cost Grizzly too.

https://www.acmetools.com/shop/tools/jet-714400k-jwbs-14sfx-14-in-steel-frame-bandsaw?irclickid=RGASl9VylxyLUFc0EHQlB1XYUkB1lsRl3TjA1k0&irgwc=1&utm_campaign=PriceSpider&utm_channel=Affiliates&utm_source=impact&utm_medium=affiliate
https://www.woodcraft.com/products/rikon-14-deluxe-bandsaw-model-10-326
https://www.southern-tool.com/store/laguna-bandsaws.php
 
#13 ·
First of all, thanks to folks above helping me decide to stay the course and wait for my Rikon 10-326 to ship. And wait. And Wait. Possibly Halloween at this point. And to Bill for starting a new thread on the topic.

Second of all, this was a really hard decision for me between these two saws. Based on reading review after review, after review: Jet looks to have better dust collection, bigger table, arguably a more solid guide post assembly, wider range of blades, cheaper upfront. Rikon has stronger trunnions, toolless guide adjustments, better fence. I had an opportunity to snag the Jet used today, and the seller wouldn't meet my price point (he was asking $1100 and without a warranty I thought it was worth about $800) This thread tipped me away from negotiating further.

Now, for those reading this and still interested in getting a the Jet (because it seems pretty great, too), I'm going to share a discovery I made today: While Rockler has it on backorder and is charging $145 for shipping, Home Depot claims to have 328 units available to ship FOR FREE to my house or my local store and arrive within in the next week or so.

Free shipping to home or store and IN STOCK might make a difference for some of you out there. Hope this helps.

Take care,

Josh
 
#14 ·
Rikon, Laguna, Harvey. All great saws. I too had a very hard decision between them. It was easy to drop the obsolete Powermatic and the Grizzlies. I think one should buy the right tool and not let price within a category be the decider. Nothing is worse than saving a few hundred and regretting it for a long time, as these are all long term tools.

For me, I decided I wanted to do some resaw, so 3 HP or close was important. I had 20A 220 available.
Ceramic guides are fine, but too any reports of the Laguna guides slipping out of adjustment. Some suggest they are better for resaw and much better with "gummy" wood.
Easy of guide adjustment. Harvey won hands down. Not perfect, but best.
If one wanted to run a 1/8 blade, the rear guide block on the Harvey is exactly what the Carter single guide needs.
No continuous multi-reports of a critical flaw. The Jet failed on that for upper wheel trunnion as well as the guides.
Brake is nice, but no biggie.
Dust collection in all of them are about the same: Poor. There are some good ideas to improve all of them as they are basically the same.
Customer service can be an issue. All these companies I thing want to be responsive, but don't always succeed. Of course, we hope we won't ever need support and for all three, I suspect it is very low.
Tables are too small on all of them.
Multi-speed on the one was not really useful as it is not slow enough for metal. I don't think I would want to contaminate a wood tool with metal shavings anyway.

It is still the blade that does the cutting. The saw just goes round and round.
 
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