Building a bandsaw on the cheap from mostly scrap wood

[glatt]

Not my design, so my feelings aren't hurt. So what does a spring in a band saw even do? The nut on the bolt tensions the blade. Why even have a spring? Off to Google this shit...

SOME WEB PAGE:

the blade heats up while cutting the wood and expands its length. This allows the blade to become slacker and lose its tension. To overcome this, the bandsaw has a compression spring that allows for the expansion and keeps a constant pressure on the blade. The spring will compensate for the expansion in all but the most severe cases, such as cutting very hard, thick woods for long periods of time.

I think the wood slats will work as springs. I've seen beds with wood slats that serve that very purpose.

I'm going to try it with the wooden slats and if it performs poorly, I'll check out replacement springs.