4" diameter 1018 steel

Because I also want to spend your money, I can vouch for the Grizzly "G9742 - 5" x 6" 1/2 HP Metal-Cutting Bandsaw w/ Swivel Head"
It has been reliable and is small enough to comfortably fit in my shop. When I got it I immediately replaced the blade with a better one and put a tightly rolled up piece of rubber sheet between the motor mount and the frame to kill the motor/pulley vibration. It has been trouble free since then. My biggest complaint is that the vise handle is small in order to fit under the upper frame so it is hard to torque but fixable if it ever bothers me enough. Also, a couple of jack stands are handy to buy/build to support the stock.
 
+1 on the horizontal / vertical band saw, Set it up and you can even walk away while the cut is happening.
Since your stock will weigh more than the saw you may need support under both ends of the stock being cut so that its weight is not twisting the saw or trying to tip it over. Make sure you are no where near the cut off piece when the saw finishes the cut, It will really hurt if it lands on your toe.
 
-- you remind me when I had to cut a 6 3/4 " diameter 4140 round to give a foot for a friend. even in the horizontal bandsaw, to took forever!
 
Yes for this cut you will want the coarsest, bi-metal, name brand blade you can get. AND a big bucket of patience. It gonna take a while.
 
So, I'm even more of an idiot than I thought.

I woke up this morning being 99% sure what the problem was.

When I removed the blade from the packaging, I believe it was turned inside-out. I had the blade running in the wrong direction.

Now that I look more carefully at the saw, it even has arrows showing the direction for rotation.

So, I've turned it outside-in and re-installed it. I can't try it until my wife gets off the phone (she's a mental health counselor, and her office is right above the part of the garage I'm trying to cut in), but at some point in the next couple of hours she'll need to break for lunch. I'll try it then, and let everyone know how it goes.

My sincere apologies for wasting everyone's time on such an inept screw up; I've never owned a bandsaw before, and this was the first time I've ever changed the blade, and it didn't even occur to me that they could be turned inside-out like that.
 
You are not the first to install a blade backwards, nor shall you be the last. Good luck with it....

John
 
Okay, the blade was backwards. I only had about 10 minutes before my wife needed to go back into sessions again, but I was able to make visible progress. As some of you pointed out, it's going to take a lot of patience; I'm bad at estimating, but it sure feels like it's going to be more than an hour. I'll console myself by thinking about all the money I "saved" by buying more than I need. :)
 
Now the question is how bad did you dull the teeth while running backwards?
The same info still holds, try the coarsest tooth you can find in a quality name brand bi-metal blade.
 
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