Do you have the wrong table saw? A no-BS buyer's guide.

I'm James Hamilton from stumpy domes woodworking journal and I'm often asked my advice on choosing the right table saw it seems a lot of new woodworkers looking for their first saws and even longtime woodworkers looking to replace existing saws are making poor decisions when it comes to choosing the right type with the right features and at the right price this isn't a small investment so the worst thing you can do is settle for something less than you should have only to have to replace it again later so is someone who has tried just about every kind of saw out there and who really has no dog in this fight I don't sell table saws and I don't have a sponsor who does I feel like I can help you make the right decision what we're gonna do is go through the pros and cons of the four most common types of saws out there I'll throw in observations and opinions based on my personal experience and I'll wrap up with my recommendations some of which may surprise you so let's get started for a short time I owned a portable bench top saw much like this one at first I thought it was great it was lightweight and compact I could put it on a shelf I could throw it in a trunk of my car set it on some saw horses outside pretty handy right but it was also wool fully underpowered it struggled to rip hardwoods the aluminum top was small and not even close to being flat the fence was flimsy and nearly impossible to keep parallel to the blade the direct drive Universal motor was loud and the saw vibrated excessively I came to realize it was more of a saw shaped object than a proper table saw but at least it was easy to throw away later we got a Bosch portable jobsite song and after that bench top saw this thing felt like a dream you have to give credit to Bosch they really revolutionize portable saws with bigger motors better fences and clever features like extendable rip capacity and those all-terrain stands that fold up easy if all I ever made were small projects with thin hardwoods I may have been able to make do with that song but while the fence was better it still didn't lock down reliably parallel to the blade the table was still small it's lightweight didn't dampen vibration sufficiently and with only 24 inches of rip capacity it was difficult to work with sheet goods so the bottom line on portable and job site saws is you may get by with one if you're a contractor or an occasional hobbyist but to get a good one you have to spend about as much as you would and a larger contractor saw so unless space and portability are major issues I'd pass on the portable sauce my first real table saw was they used Delta Rockwell contractor saw from the 1970s they called these contractor saws because they were smaller and lighter than the big cabinet sauce so technically you could remove the motor that hung out the back and then lug the thing to a job site but who wouldn't want to do it very often because they're pretty in our heavy mine had a cast-iron top which was way better than my father-in-law's old craftsman with its crappy aluminum top and the stamped steel links cast-iron stays flatter and the added weight dampens vibrations better unfortunately the wings on mine were cast aluminum but it was still a great song I occasionally see old cast-iron contractor saws like it on Craigslist for a couple hundred bucks even today that's a lot of soft for your money they typically have one and a half horsepower motors that hang out the open back which is bad for dust collection but it provides plenty of power for most hobby level woodworking the fences on older models are usually junk but there are good aftermarket options available they do vibrate a bit both from their relatively lightweight and their single V belt drive and they can be a little difficult to align and keep that way because you have to adjust the trunnions inside the saw instead of the tabletop itself but if you spend two three hundred dollars on a good used contractor saw with the cast-iron top and add another two or three hundred dollars for a high-quality fence system you might just have a sod that will do everything you need for less than a quarter of the price of a cabinet saw cabinets AHS take their name from the cabinet that fully encloses the motor within the base they're big heavy powerful and expensive they're for professional woodworkers and serious hobbyists the tops are larger the internal mechanisms are heavier duty the motors are more powerful they're built to absorb vibration and remain precisely aligned despite cutting through these thickest hardest woods all day long they're enclosed bases are better for dust collection their fences are usually robust and more accurate and their motors are at least twice as powerful as contractor sauce every serious woodworker wants a cabinet saw it seems but there aren't without drawbacks for one thing they're expensive even good use ones may cost you $1,000 or more and new ones can be as much as five grand they usually require two hundred and twenty volts on a dedicated 30 amp circuit so your workshop might not have the capacity for it and their size and weight make them difficult to move especially getting it into the shop in the first place I recommend cabinet saws for anyone who can afford them but I do admit that they may be overkill for many hobbyists so if you're on a budget like a lot of people are and you work mostly with three quarter-inch thick materials and you only build smaller projects and maybe the occasional piece of furniture you may not need a cabinet saw hybrid saws are relatively new to the woodworking world they combined some of the features of a cabinet saw like the enclosed motor and often more substantial bearings and trunnions with a smaller footprint and the lower pricepoint of a contractor so they're easier to align and to keep aligned than a contractor saw but they feature less powerful motors than camera sauce the bottom line is they are a step above a contractor saw but a step or two below a cabinet zone so which saw is right for you normally I say buy the best tool you can afford but that advice can lead you astray in this area if all you can afford is a $50 aluminum top portable saw with the bad fence you'd be better off waiting and saving a bit longer than wasting your bankroll on something that will actually be detrimental to your craft so if money is an issue I highly recommend that you just patiently save and watch for a used cast iron top contractor saw and the 200 to 400 dollar price range they made millions of these things over the last half-century they're out there you just have to be willing to expand your search and be willing to drive you can get by without cast iron wings but stay away from anything with an aluminum top if at all possible don't overpay if the fence is junk save some cash for a good aftermarket t-style fence that'll cost you at least two or three hundred dollars but that is the single best upgrade you can make to a saw is a real gamechanger now I saw like that may last you a lifetime yes it will cost a bit but this isn't a cheap craft as well accept it and the last place you want to compromise is on one of the most important tools in your shop of course if you have the extra cash and you want to invest in a new saw I consider a hybrid saw instead of a contractor saw they're a bit more expensive but the increase in quality makes it worth the investment finally if you do a lot of woodworking at a high level a cabinet saw might be for you a three horsepower model with a 52 inch vents will be enough for most but it never hurts to go for the extra horses if you have the extra cash of course choosing a saw is just the first step you also need to understand table saw safety choosing the right blades and how to use it for more than just simple cuts we've got you covered with our five-part table saw series which I'll link to in the description below this video if you're watching this on an app click the little arrow to expand if you're watching this on youtube click show more if you get what you pay for then why our bandsaw blades so inexpensive a saw blade calm seriously they're as good as any I've used they come in any size you need and they cost quite a bit less than anything comparable at the woodworking retailers try them for yourself at the link below this video you'll see 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 or woodworking journal it's always packed with tips tricks and tutorials designed to make you a better woodworker

Channel: Stumpy Nubs

Views: 1,206,390

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: cOPTam9r4eA

Length: 8min 16sec (496 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 22 2019