Do I really need a table saw?

[Steve Maskery]

Crazy

When you say that your Festool struggles cutting doors, do you mean when trimming the bottom, for example? And are you using the blade that came with the machine?

S

 

[crazylilting]

Yes that is what i mean. Concidering that my 7 1/4 Dewalt with a cheap blade cuts through a door with no problem i would expect a £500 saw to out perform it, but that isn't the case at all. And since you can buy a Bosh Table saw for £600 I think value for money isn't in the festool plunge saw. Don't get me wrong i do use it and like it but i think I'd be looking at a cheaper option like the makita or Dewalt one if i had to make the choice over again.

 

[Steve Maskery]

Crazy
The problem, then, is that you are using the wrong blade for the job. The standard TS55 blade is for cross-cutting and board materials. When you trim a door, you are ripping (apart from the first and last bits of the cut when you are cross-cutting the stiles). The cross-cut blade will struggle with ripping because of the smaller gullets.

If you get a rip blade for those jobs (the Festool has a quick-change facility) I think you will be very pleased with its performance.

Cheers
Steve

 

[head clansman]

hi

working without a table saw of some sorts i can't imagine that . Mind having said that it does depend of what type of woodworking your actual into . i had my trusty old triton mk3 now since the 1980 ish fitted with the (beast) a Makita with 250mm blade had it since it first came on the market , i chose it for it versatility being able to fold up and go into my van while i was jobbing.

Now retired and fitting out my workshop with machinery to do work solely for myself my triton and saw + a few more bits will all be up for sale shortly .

Been pondering between the axminster aw10bsb2 250mm and the sip 01332 of the same size tending to lean to-wards the sip i think its good value for money and has the edge over the axminster saw unless you know different be glad to here your thought on these two saw . hc

 

[crazylilting]

If you get a rip blade for those jobs (the Festool has a quick-change facility) I think you will be very pleased with its performance.

wrong blade...

*whistles*

I'll get on that

 

[Tomsk]

I use my table saw often, and though it's a cheap saw (Sealey ) that requires me to double check everything, every time, I still wouldn't be without it! To make the best of my limited space (single garage) I wind the saw blade down and use the saw top as my main worktop!

If I want to use my band saw (small bench top type) I clamp it down onto the extension arm of the table saw!

 

[LocalOak]

Well after thinking long and hard I have actually splashed out on the baby Axminster band saw, answering my own question as a result :lol:

I've made a sawboard and am happily using my circular saw to rip the sheets, and really good to know its what others do too...

But the bandsaw is a revelation. I bought some new blades from Trucut, very good service, helpful on the phone and they seem to work very well to me (though I don't have anything much to compare them with). I find myself turning to it to do all sorts of stuff which I wouldn't have bothered with before, cutting a few bits of 3mm ply for spacers, trimming some offcuts to make brackets for fixing some legs to the wall for my new desk etc. Its a joy.

But most of all I have done what I consider is probably my first bit of "proper" woodwork. I have a branch of yew cut from a tree a couple of years ago, about 4" diameter at the thick end. For fun I cut a log, on the bandsaw, then had a go at ripping it into planks. Planed those smooth (some sanding, the grain was all over the place) and have just made some very crude finger joints on the bandsaw (far too small for comfort, couldn't quite get my 6mm chisel in to clean them up, pain in the proverbial) and put together the shell of a little box. Have butt glued two of the planks (they are about 30mm wide by about 3mm thick) to make a bottom of the box and cut a larger piece from the stock to make a rebated top. Its not beautiful, there is a lot more to learn, but it will be OK to give to SWIMBO as a little present. Dead chuffed, squared ends with my shooting board, planed to a glass like finish with my BU jack, marked out and cut moderately accurate finger joints, hey I feel like a real woodworker!

Not sure I'm prepared to post photos, not finished yet and I'd have to find an angle that didn't show the huge gaps between the finger joints.

I'm sure a bigger, stronger bandsaw would be fantastic but I don't have the floor space for one and I've learned to go slowly and be patient with the sawing on the Axminster ASBW2, its a great tool.

Thanks for all the advice, am a happy man!

Toby

 

[crazylilting]

hey I feel like a real woodworker!

That's brilliant!!! I remember when i first started out in woodworking with very little in the way of tools or money for that matter. I made a coffee table, end table and bookshelf from some pallets i got from the back of some store. All i had was a skill saw, block plane, some chisels, and a hammer, and a desperate need for furniture. When they were done i could dance on the tables, a test i did for strength. They were brilliant and lasted for 15 years that i knew about and i think my ex still has them till this day. But i didn't feel like a woodworker till i started getting what i considered real tools.

A true test of a craftsman is what he can produces with the least amount of tools. But I find that a bit limiting as it takes a long time to make something with the minimum amount of tools making one feel as though they aren't up to the task. So I think a balance of tools and abilities is more appropriate.

glad your liking your new bandsaw.

 

[Mr Ed]

I'm sure that because of the slightly different things we all make, we all need slightly different tools. For me, the tablesaw was a pivotal tool in my early woodworking, as it seemed to help me suddenly achieve the things I wanted to make with accuracy. In my view its an essential tool and would be the first main machine to buy in a new workshop - thats the order I did it in and I would do the same again.

Ed

 

[wizer]

I'm sure that because of the slightly different things we all make, we all need slightly different tools. For me, the tablesaw was a pivotal tool in my early woodworking, as it seemed to help me suddenly achieve the things I wanted to make with accuracy. In my view its an essential tool and would be the first main machine to buy in a new workshop - thats the order I did it in and I would do the same again.

Ed

Even 6months after I bought my bandsaw, my opinion was the same. It was only when I sold the TS and was forced to use the bandsaw, that I realised that, if I had to, I could get along just fine with the bandsaw for real wood projects. But as Johnny put it on the other thread, I'm a hobbiest and I wanted another toy, so I bought another TS

 

[Chems]

I'm sure that because of the slightly different things we all make, we all need slightly different tools. For me, the tablesaw was a pivotal tool in my early woodworking, as it seemed to help me suddenly achieve the things I wanted to make with accuracy. In my view its an essential tool and would be the first main machine to buy in a new workshop - thats the order I did it in and I would do the same again.

Ed

I agree, you can do with out a bandsaw but not a TS in my opinion.

 

[Joiner]

A table saw will do everything a bandsaw does (excepting curved cuts), plus a lot more, like rebating - although you will have to remove the guard for that. Hard to imagine even an amateur doing much woodwork without having to cut rebates at some time, but I guess you all use a rabbetting cutter in your router.

About fifteen years ago I needed a saw on site and nipped around to the local Machine Mart (when they were still customer oriented, would never use them now) and bought a small NuTool table saw. It's still doing sterling work on site. I also found that it was designed to take a router, the fence being designed for use with either tool, so it's paid for itself about a hundred times over. It takes up about as much space as a large toolbox!