My name is Nate Meadows and I have had the honor and privilege of owning a Laguna 16HD for several years. I am the soldier mentioned in the Laguna Stories Section. Some may think that since I was given the saw I will be unable to offer an objective review. I will let you read and decide for yourself.

The 16HD is a brilliantly designed piece of machinery but I will first start with how it arrived. It was crated very well and wrapped so tightly nothing could scratch it. Everything was greased very liberally so rust was not a factor or worry at all. Just about everything was assembled. I had to put together the mobility kit, which I highly recommend. It makes moving the saw a breeze, even when one has other struggles. Unpacking the saw took about two hours. It does not come with its own power cord, so make sure you purchase a heavy duty one.

The Saw: This Bandsaw is built beautifully. The parts fit together nicely without rattling or fuse. The paint does not scratch easily and it is easily cleaned. The knobs and handles are well made and should last a beyond a single person’s life time wih proper care. The blade tensioner very smooth but I would like it better if it were behind the band-wheel housing instead of below it. This is a personal preference thing as it does not get in the way of the maximum height of the saw guide for resawing. The blade tension monitor is a brilliant and very helpful tool. Adjusting the height of the blade guides could not be smoother! The guides themselves are a genius design. Should you have trouble with them, just watch the videos that Torben has set up or call customer service and they will get you squared away. I used to wish it could care a 1.5in blade but that was before I fell in love with the Resaw King blade. The standard fence is nice and tall so resawing to the max 16in is easy, especially when combined with the resaw king. The 4.5 HP Baldor is the perfect match for this saw! I have run many board feet of hardwood, like bloodwood and ironwood, through this saw and it has yet to complain or slow down. The electric foot break is a great feature and practically a much when resawing.

This is a great saw. If you do tons of resawing this is your saw of choice. There is on major thing that can be improved. I do think that adding another dust collection port below the table, like on the Resaw Master, would help enormously, especially when one is cutting wetter woods. There is one in the back that picks up 90% of the dust, but when one is cutting wetter wood 10% can led to trouble. For now, I just open up the covers and vacuum out the remainder. Over all, this saw is truly awesome and I have no idea how I would get by without it! That you so much Laguna!