Best table saw for a beginner woodworker?
Sunday, July 11th, 2010 at
2:30 pm
I’m starting out on woodworking/home improvement projects and want a good, sturdy table saw. I’ve been combing HD and Lowes and most of the ones I’ve found have had flimsy feeling rip fences. I’m trying to stay around the 0 price range, but definitely don’t want to short myself on quality. Is there a preferred saw for woodworkers that are on the affordable side?
It doesn’t need to be portable (stationary would probably be better) and I need it to be long enough to support larger pieces. Any opinions? Also, what should I look for when shopping? Thanks
Don’t bother looking at new saws – and especially not at the big box stores – what they carry is only good for rough carpentry. Buy used. A quality saw will last a lifetime, and you can buy used for 30-50% of new.
I agree with Toddrf, Except…
-unless you’re far from any large cities, you should be able to find a used Cabinet saw for $500, not a contractor saw. I recently found a Grizzly for my dad, on Craigslist – with mobile base, extension wing, a Powermatic dust collector, and a bunch of extra goodies, for $500. Getting all the extra goodies was a bonus, but I saw lots of Grizzly, Jet, Delta and Powermatic cabinet saws in the $400-600 range.
-Do get a 240v saw, even if you need to have a circuit brought into the garage (if you’re going to start collecting power tools, you probably need a subpanel brought into your shop area anyway
Unless the saw looks like it’s been knocked around, these brands are all really solid, and there’s not much to worry about. A simple test is to turn on the saw (with the blade down) and set a nickel on edge on the table top. It will stay on edge on a good saw, because the run so smooth.
These suckers are HEAVY. Best way to move one is to get one of those low 5×8 trailer from Uhaul – they run about $15/day — and you’ll need 2-3 people to get it in and out. If it doesn’ have a mobile base on it, this would be a good time to get one, so you can roll it out of the sellers shop and into yours.
Along with the new saw, you’re going to need blades. If you want to do cabinet/furniture qualitey work, plan on dropping about $60-80 for a good Forrest blade. You’re also going to want a dado blade pretty quick, if your doing cabinets. You can spend a couple hundred dollars for a high-end set, but you can get a good Freud stacked set for under $100, a no-name stacked set for under $50, and a cheap wobble-blade for under $30.