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Tool: ALPHA HW615 Band Saw Buy Now
Manufacturer: Harvey
MSRP:$3,399
A band saw is an invaluable tool in the shop. In fact, I know several extraordinary woodworkers that don’t even own a table saw, favoring a band saw instead. After seeing a few of the Harvey band saws in person at the IWF show in Atlanta, I knew that I would want to add one to my shop in the near future.
For several years, the Harvey band saws (both the ALPHA and the smaller AMBASSADOR) have received rave reviews from users in the woodworking community. At IWF, Harvey released an update to these beloved saws in the form of a nickel plated table. They’ve dubbed this nickel plating their “Stain-less” coating, and it’s now available on almost all of their large tools. Having put this coating through the paces for the last several months, I have to say that I’m a believer. The coating, being nickel, is not only resistant to rust and stains (as a turner and butcher of green wood, that’s huge), but it’s also harder than the cast iron and can take a higher polish. This leads to a lot less friction than a cast iron surface as well as additional wear resistance.
The new nickel plating on the saw is bright, low-friction, and stain/rust resistant.
Coating aside, let’s talk about the saw. Were all of the positive reviews I had read hype? Nope. It’s as simple as that. The ALPHA is a fantastic saw. For
being a 15“, 3HP saw, it has a fairly small frame, which is a benefit in a lot of shops. There’s plenty of power for heavy resawing duties, and with 14“ of capacity, you can pack a lot of wood under the guides.
Speaking of the guides, they might be my favorite feature of this saw. Most of the time, when people have an issue with a band saw, you can narrow it down to improper setup of the blade guides. A lot of guides can be tedious to set up, and when you tighten them, they shift. The tool-less adjustment of the guides on the Harvey saws are easy to set up and stay where you set them.
The adjustments on the saw are well-made. The table tilt and upper blade guide are geared for easy adjustments. The table tilt adjustment has a pneumatic shock to help with tilting. The fence is well-made, though after using the Harvey Big-Eye fence for over a year now, it doesn’t surprise me. Harvey seems to know how to make a fence.
The fit and finish of the ALPHA band saw are top-notch, as has every piece of Harvey equipment that I’ve used. Having hosted several classes in the shop in the last several weeks, I’ve had a lot of students using the ALPHA. Almost all of them have mentioned how nice the saw is to use, and as beginning woodworkers,
they all were completely comfortable on it. The retail price of the saw is listed at $3,399, but it’s often found on sale for as low as $2,599, which in my mind is a steal.
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