Several people have weighed in justifying their purchase of a bandsaw with descriptions of its capability.? I think Henry is also asking why people in the US feel they need one when people in Taiwan or elsewhere do not.? One important difference is that the US is nowhere near as densely populated as Taiwan.? Per Wikipedia, the US has about 86 people per square mile, whereas Taiwan has over 1700.? Millions of us do not live in urban areas with lots of machine shops nearby.? Even with shops nearby, they'll likely be too busy working on big jobs to stop for our little one-off projects.? Those of us who do live in urban areas may still have a garage or similar work space at home where we work on hobbies or projects.? If that hobby or project involves more than a few cuts a month, and you have enough room to store and use a saw that saves you time and labor, it just makes sense to buy that saw.
Another factor is the combination of a strong do-it-yourself culture and a strong sense of individuality in the US.? We have traditionally taken pride in being capable people who can do things for ourselves.? That's not to say that people elsewhere are less capable, but I think it is a part of our national DNA.? Even though we are more urbanized now than we used to be, many of us (probably most of this group) either have a blue-collar background or had parents or grandparents who made their living working with their hands.? To people like them, and to those in this group, it doesn't make sense to have someone else do something for us if we can do it ourselves.? That philosophy extends from simple things like replacing a light switch or building birdhouses to building our own truck bumpers and utility trailers, and all the way to building motorcycles and airplanes from scratch.
This is especially true now that so many consumer goods are cheaply made.? I'd rather build something the way I want it, and build it strong enough to last a lifetime, than buy something that is almost good enough to use now, and will almost certainly fail before I am done using it.
