Reply To: Premium bandsaw
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I wouldn’t worry about the debate between ceramic / bearing guides. The internet is full of people who will swear by each, and in my experience, they’re both right.
At school we had every size Laguna bandsaw up to 24×24, IIRC they all had Laguna’s ceramic guides, screeched like banshees, but worked great. OK, one time one of the LT24’s choked on resawing a massive 21″ wide slab of coastal live oak, but that’s the Devil’s wood, and it was the only time in my 2 years there that bandsaw didn’t work perfectly, so I consider that an outlier.
We also had both new and vintage bandsaws with bearing guides, some new, some retro-fitted: 36″ Oliver, a Y-A Snowflake, and 2 20″ Felder FB610, an 18″ S45N Minimax, a 20″ Agazzani, 20″ Powermatic and more. They worked great, too.
So after 2 yeaers I noticed a pattern (yes, I’m slow and it took that long)
A quality bandsaw that has been properly set up and sports a sharp blade will do a great job, regardless of bearing type. Get the best machine you can afford, and you’ll be happy. You’ll have much bigger worries these days with 8 month wait times from some manufacturers and high prices.