There are many advantages to having a shop that has a bandsaw in it, whether it's a homemade bandsaw, which is what I have, or a commercial bandsaw. After I made my bandsaw with mostly things I had sitting around my shop, I was able to do several things that I could not do before without a bandsaw. I will share the top ten reasons I believe having a bandsaw has given me more opportunity in my woodworking hobby than I had before.

1. There are many types of bands for many types of cuts. From 1/8 inch to 1 inch, teeth from 20 TPI (teeth per inch) to 1 TPI depending on the type of material you are using gives you many options for the type of work you will do.

2. You can use a very thin blade to make decorative scroll such as different types of figurines, toy animals or small figurines. Without a bandsaw, it isn't impossible but makes it very difficult to do with just a table saw.

3. You can cut very thick lumber with a bandsaw. The one I made will cut a depth of 12 inches, which is not possible to do with a table saw.

4. You can make resaw cuts on lumber with a bandsaw to make bookend type doors or plaques, as one side will be a mirror image to the other. You can also resaw lumber and make thin boards for such projects as miniatures. With my saw I was able to make small outhouse toilet paper holders, kleenex holders and other miniature outhouses for a friend that had outhouse decor in her spare bathroom.

5. You can make lumber from tree limbs that have fallen from storm damage or limbs that you harvest for the purpose of making lumber. I usually use about a 4 foot piece, which is about how much I can lift. I have made lumber from oak, walnut, elm, boxelder, and hickory limbs. The beautiful rose color that the boxelder had enabled me to make nice pen blanks, plaques and other pen holders.

6. With the use of a fence, it is easy to make straight cuts or repetitive cuts of the same length with a bandsaw.

7. You can switch to a metal cutting blade with a bandsaw and slow the bandspeed down to about 2-300 FPM(feet per minute). This can be done by changing the pullies and adding another reduction.

8. There is less waste of wood with a bandsaw because you have a very narrow nerf cut. The wider saw blade of a circular saw would eat up much more wood than the narrow nerf of a bandsaw.

9. A bandsaw is safer than a circular saw as you can stop the saw in the material without damaging the material. There are not as many cutting teeth exposed at high speed with a bandsaw, thus making it less likely that you will be injured.

10. A bandsaw has a much easier cut or feed pressure than a table saw, and there is no danger of kickback with a bandsaw like there is with a circular saw. With a bandsaw, the material is pulled down toward the table holding it tight, where a circular saw will tend to let the wood rise up off of the table. You should use a push stick on both types of a saw. A circular saw holds the stock down, a bandsaw keeps your fingers away from the bands.

Whether you have a homemade bandsaw or a commercial bandsaw is up to you. But these 10 suggestions in making a great cut should help. The biggest difference in a homemade bandsaw and a commercial one is mostly just the cost, but either way it is a great item to have if woodworking is your hobby.