Are table saws becoming obsolete?????

it seems like every time i make a video or teach a class or have any group discussion about table saws someone asks me if they're becoming obsolete in a world with track saws and edge guides can't you make all your cross cuts with a miter saw your rips and your panel cuts with your circular saw and your joinery at the router table does that render a big expensive and potentially dangerous table saw obsolete the short answer is you can get by without a table saw i built full pieces of furniture without one we've been developing an online woodworking course which i hope to launch later this year at stumpynubs.com that shows you how to build five furniture projects without making a single cut at the table saw not because i want to encourage people to sell their saws but to educate woodworkers that don't have the money or the space or the desire to have such a big expensive machine but personally i wouldn't want to be without my table saw and in this video i'll give you four reasons that table saws are not obsolete and perhaps never will be some of what i say is going to tick some of you off i've learned that from experience but i implore you to listen carefully to what i'm actually saying watch the whole video including my concluding comments before you savage me because you may find that we don't disagree as much as you think now let's get started i can rip a sheet of plywood with a track saw or with a circular saw and an edge guide if i use a good blade i can also make clean cuts across the grain without a table saw but those cuts will always be faster at the table saw especially if you have a good accurate fence that you can rely upon that is the critical factor in favor of the table saw if you're using a measuring tape and fiddling to get from the front and the back of the blade to align your fence and it doesn't lock down well well that kills the the usefulness of the table saw it makes it a whole different matter likewise to take advantage of a table saw's speed and convenience when you're cutting your sheet goods you have to have the space to maneuver the sheet around on top of the sawn through the cut but even if you don't have the ability to cut full sheets you can't beat the speed at which you can break medium sized pieces down into project parts at the table saw ripping long narrow boards with the circular saw can be a challenge in our upcoming course we use simple jigs to secure the work pieces and make it possible but there's nothing like walking up to the table saw setting the fence and ripping the board in seconds rather than minutes and those rip cuts are more consistently repeatable with the table saw you can set up an edge guide and a track saw with the jig for accurate rip cuts and narrow boards but if you must repeat that cut several times it not only becomes tedious to remove and reset up but each time you do that you introduce error and that would greatly be reduced if you had a fence that you locked in place and it never changed between your identical cuts as you do at the table saw table saw rips can also be more accurate sometimes because the blades are better suited to making long cuts through thick wood thin circular saw blades can overheat and deform within the kerf this can cause binding it can cause scorching and it can even cause drifting and uneven cuts especially in thick hardwood of course a table saw may be prone to kickback when you make rip cuts but the danger can be greatly reduced by using a splitter or a riving knife some track saws are equipped with riving knives but most circular saws are not a kickback with a circular saw can be very dangerous the saw can pull out of the kerf and go towards a free hand or even into a leg that's why you never disable that blade guard band saws can be used for rip cuts and they're not prone to kickback in fact a band saw may be the safest way to rip rough stock that hasn't been milled straight or flat but you're limited in your width and it can be difficult to get perfectly straight cuts especially on less expensive band saws and the blade marks are far more likely to be left behind at a band saw than at a table saw perhaps the fastest and most convenient way to make a cross cut is not with the table saw at all it's with a miter saw but the accuracy of that cut depends heavily on the quality of the miter saw itself mine makes beautiful square cuts and is pretty reliable for angled cuts as well but it costs more than a good table saw cheap miter saws in my experience have too much slop in the plunge mechanisms and they can deflect a degree or two to the side when you're cutting anything but the smallest pieces of trim a cheap saw may work well enough for baseboards and crown moldings but not for picture frames and boxes and things that will be scrutinized closely at eye level of course you could use a shooting board and a hand plane to fine tune your miter cuts after you rough them out on a chop saw you can even make the cuts by hand with a miter box and a handsaw but you can't beat the speed and repeatable accuracy of doing those miters with a good sled and a well-tuned table saw especially when cutting small pieces that may be dangerous at the chop saw many folks who claim table saws are obsolete have never done a great deal of joinery there's no denying that a table saw is a pure joinery machine by virtue of its power alone i can cut a dado at the router table i can do it with a handheld router the quality will be comparable to what you get at the table saw and the setup time will be about the same as setting up the dado set at the table saw but the speed of the cut will often be the factor that swings the debate in favor of the saw if i have a bunch of dados to cut maybe for some cabinets feeding one piece after another through the table saw is so much faster because i can cut a dado with a single pass at the table saw where it may require two or three passes with a router and i can work with larger pieces at the table saw than i can at the router table a router bit typically has two cutters a table saw dado set has dozens of them this affects the speed of the cut how deeply it can cut in a single pass how much heat it generates and how quickly the cutter itself will dull all of these factors lean heavily in favor of the dado set over the router bit i'd venture to say that a hundred dollar dado set will outlast dozens of fifteen dollar straight router bits hundreds if you consider the re-sharpening that you can do on a dado set which is something more difficult to get done on a router bit i may be able to cut dados and tenons at the router table but to a man in my shop we always choose the table software joinery over the router tables that we have here i know some of you may strongly disagree with my opinions here i admit much of what i'm saying is subjective i find a track saw for example inconvenient for narrow rips you may rather enjoy it my way is not better than your way it's just my way likewise you may not have access to dado sets where you live and maybe you've adapted just fine to the router table or handheld router and edge guide for all your joinery i get that but don't misunderstand me i'm not saying you can't get by without a table saw i know woodworkers who have never owned one i know others who have sold theirs and transition quite happily to other tools in fact anything you can do with the table saw can be done without one if you choose you can make many of your cuts with a track saw a circular saw you can use a chop saw and a band saw for awkward cuts you can use a router for your joinery it's all possible if you're willing to make and accept the compromises that come with these tools but in my opinion a table saw remains the most efficient and versatile machine in the shop and for that i don't think it'll ever become obsolete let me know your thoughts below see you next time rich carbide is the best cup secret in woodworking i kid you not their saw blades are second to none both in quality and performance and they're less expensive than the other ultra premium brands do yourself a favor use the link and the discount code below this video you will never go back to cheap blades again wait don't go yet if you're new here please subscribe and remember to ring the bell i would really appreciate that give us a thumbs up or better yet leave us a comment i always read them and be sure to check out the latest issue of stumpy nubs woodworking journal it's always packed with tips tricks and tutorials designed to make you a better woodworker

Channel: Stumpy Nubs

Views: 438,363

Rating: 4.9627504 out of 5

Keywords: woodworking, stumpy nubs, tips, workbench, table saw, scroll saw, drill press, quick tip, band saw, bandsaw, lumber, hack, hand plane, sharpening, tormek, worksharp, diamond stone, water stone, wood turning, bowls, lathe

Id: n-BJmkjG-Nw

Length: 8min 11sec (491 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 01 2021