Jet JWBS-14SF-3 Band Saw

The new 14″ steel-frame band saw from Jet is nothing less than heavy-duty. With its 3-horsepower, 220-volt motor, this saw is built to handle just about anything you can throw at it.

The one-piece frame makes this band saw extremely rigid for tough cuts such as resawing wide boards (it has a 131⁄2” capacity). At 360 pounds, there’s enough mass to absorb almost all of the vibration created by the moving parts.

Everything from the ample cast iron table to the rip fence body speaks to a machine that is built to endure. Plug it in, turn it on and you can motor through work for years to come.

There is very little assembly needed before you can put the saw to work. You have to put together the rip fence, clean the anti-rust material from the table and attach the rip fence guide bar – that’s it. All told, I spent less than 15 minutes getting the machine ready.

Once up and running, it muscles through the hardest woods with ease. The rip fence and guides required minimal adjustment to use the included 1⁄2” blade. It sawed true from the first cut.

However, I find the locking handle for the lower blade guides beneath the table to be problematic when adjusting the table angle. If you don’t swing the handle out of the way, you can only get the table tilted about 25°.

There’s also a guide pointer on the upper housing that indicates the position of the upper blade guides relative to the table. When in place, it causes the front blade guard to seriously rub against the upper wheel. I removed it.

But these are minor issues. If you’re looking for a seriously heavy-duty band saw at a reasonable price, the Jet JWBS-14SF-3 could be it.  PWM

— Chuck Bender