I haven't posted much on here and have only been making knives for about 7 months, but here's my take.
I HATE the HF 1x30 with a passion.
Variable speed is worth it's weight in gold.
Making good knives is hard as crap.
I do not have a band saw but cut a section of stock and profile with a 36...
I'm a relatively new knife maker from South Florida. I started making knives about 3 months ago and am waiting on my first batch of 14 blades to come back from Bos this week.