This weekend I placed an order for a big tool that I’ve never used before: a band saw. Specifically, it’s a Grizzly G0555LANV 14″ Deluxe Bandsaw Anniversary Edition. As I’ve gotten more into woodworking, I’ve realized that it is an incredibly useful tool that will open up a lot of builds that just aren’t feasible right now. This is sort of a middle of the road model. It’s not a smaller benchtop unit, but it’s a fraction of the price of some of the big name brands. Grizzly makes great tools with no frills. No, it’s not the same quality as a Powermatic, but it’s also going to be a quarter or a fifth of the price. For a home woodworker like me, even the Grizzly is probably overkill.
I struggled for a long time about whether to buy this new or used. I know that I could have saved money buying a used one, but since I have almost zero experience with a band saw, I did not believe that I could accurately evaluate a used model to know if I was getting a good deal or not.
I’m lucky to be located pretty close to one of Grizzly’s three showrooms, but I still chose to have it shipped from Bellingham. I was able to get it shipped for $35 (had to pay for curb side service since I don’t have a forklift to unload it myself) and for that much money, it was hard to justify borrowing a truck and making the ~2.5 hour round trip drive.
If you’re not familiar with a band saw, you might be wondering what it is good for. In general, pretty much anything you can do on a table saw, you can do on a band saw and it’s arguably a bit safer for some tasks such as cutting dove tails or box joints. Additionally, you can cut curves and you can resaw thick lumber and save wood. When I built Tyla’s jewelry box, most of the pieces were 3/4″ thick so that’s the stock that I bought. But a couple of the pieces only needed to be 1/4″ thick. If I had a band saw, I could have cut the board in half to make two thin pieces. Since I didn’t have one, I had to run it repeatedly through the thickness planer and turn 2/3 of the board into expensive saw dust.
I’m excited to get this thing set up and learn how to use it! Stay tuned for my first projects. I have a big stack of ideas waiting for me!
I’ll say up front that I’m from Indiana. There’s not a lot of seafood in Indiana. It’s not really my thing and I know next to nothing about cooking it. But every once in a great while, I cook some salmon. Meat Week seemed like a good reason to try it again.
Welcome to Bremerton
I apologize in advance for those who didn’t attend Peace Lutheran Church in Granger, IN in the 80s and 90s. You’ll probably just want to skip this post. Even if I explained it all you’d probably just say, “Meh.” Then again… maybe you say that after all my posts?
On Sunday, July 26, Tyla and I headed over to Bremerton for church. It’s a 90 minute drive if you head around the south end of the sound and skip the ferries so it’s quite a hike for a church service, but this one was special. Chris Hintz was getting installed at Christ the King as their new principal! Pastor and Mrs. Hintz were there too and Pastor even gave the sermon.
It was so much fun to catch up with them again after all these years! I haven’t seen them all since Chris and Nikki’s wedding in the summer of 2005 down in Arizona. After spending so many days together growing up, our lives took us in opposite directions.
It’s pretty crazy to think that our tiny little grade school now has three alumni (Chris, Ken and me) who graduated within five years of each other living out in the Pacific Northwest! Hopefully we’ll all be able to get together soon.
But the craziness doesn’t end there… the Christ the King church building is the same design as Peace in Granger! It’s not brick for brick the same, but it’s probably 80-90% similar. There’s no mistaking that the two buildings came from the same set of plans. Pastor Hintz said that the WELS had a set of three designs that they were recommending for new buildings around that time and this was the biggest of the three. It was so weird to be sitting in church in Washington with the Hintz family watching Pastor Hintz give a sermon!
Chris and I played together for three years on the Michigan Lutheran High School baseball team. We’ll be playing against each other in a few weeks at the area church softball tournament. I tried to snag him for our team but his own church wisely scooped him up first. I hope that we get to play against each other! It would be awesome to be on the same field as him again.
So welcome to the Pacific Northwest Chris, Nikki and family. We’re excited to have you out here and looking forward to getting together with you soon.