Circular Saw advice

[mr]

Anyone used one of these Axminster own brand saws?
http://www.axminster.co.uk/name/cir...duct-Axminster-AW184CS-Circular-Saw-21364.htm
I'm looking at ripping some lengths of walnut 2 inch thick and wondering how best to do it short of paying the wood yard to do it for me. This seems one option, another is an old DIY quality table saw with a useless fence. Any words of wisdom?

Thanks Mike.

 

[Colin C]

Hi mr
That will do it fine and will be a lot safer that a saw with no fence.
You do it free hand ( with a line drawn) or with a fence pined to your board,
just make sure you keep your hands behind the saw at all times, I can be easy to put your hand in front of the saw if it is a bit hard going

 

[mr]

Thanks for the advice Colin, Im always wary of these things that spin blades at high speeds (had a recent mishap with a mitre saw where the blade arbour broke and the blade came flying out, fortunately it was caught by the guard). The table saw has a fence but its next to useless if I was to use it I'm going to have to work out some means of either replacing it or making it more solid. As you can imagine the table saw doesn't get much use as a result. One of my concerns was that the motor on something like this wouldnt be up to the depth of cut.

 

[Colin C]

Your table saw sounds like mine (Ferm and tries to stop spiting when I say that name).
The saw shoulb be ok as it has a thin blade and you can do it in 2 cuts ( inch at a time if you dont think the saw will do it ), its best to try in one but if th saw is not up to it you will know right away as the saw will find it hard work.

 

[paulm]

You could rig up a temporary fence for the tablesaw with a straight piece of timber clamped in position at either end, or even just add a clamp or two to the existing fence to lock it into position.

Cheers, Paul.

 

[mr]

Hi Paul your suggestions re table fence are almost certainly whats going to happen at some point. The table saw was one of those embarrassing "must have one of those " moments before I knew what I might need or how to evaluate the bits I did. Consequently it wasnt / isnt really appropriate. Ive now veered entirely the other way and agonise for weeks before buying new tools.

 

[RogerS]

Mike

I'm with chisel on this..I reckon that it will be a lot easier and safer running these through your table saw as opposed to steering a circular saw along the timber...with all the associated hassle of supporting the timber/having a gap underneath for the saw blade/inching (kneeing?) your way along the length.

In the short term, the temporary fence gets my vote.

I still vividly remember chummy in the local woodyard cutting through an 8x4 with a circular saw, one knee on one side of the cut, the other knee on the other....three quarters of the way through, the board split...spinning saw in one direction, chummy (luckily) in the other. He then started on board number two but this time managed to trap the saw mains cable underneath the board...big flash and a bang.

Having said all that I realise that I'm being a bit hypocritical as these days my Festool gets used much more than my table saw but given your task, it's table saw everytime for me IMHO

 

[mr]

Hi Roger
Thanks for that, it does seem to me that the table saw after some modifications to sort the fence may be best. Ripping like this is I guess what that type of saw does by default - without jigs & sleds etc. Ive been thinking about how I would do the same thing with a circular saw and have visions of exactly what youre talking about kneeling on a board set up on chocks. If I was using some kind of rail mounted system then I can see that the circular saw might be the easy way to do it but without that sort of thing Im not sure I feel that comfortable with the idea of kneeling on a board on the floor sort of thing. COurse the other option is a handsaw and some elbo grease but my handsawing is so poor that I dont trust myself to stay anywhere near the line over the lenth of a metre or so of rip cut.

Thanks all for the advice so far.
Mike.