Table saw or Mitre saw

[load2go]

Im looking for a little advise on what would be the best to buy Table saw or Mitre saw?
What make/model.

Hi, I have been upcycling old furniture like pine tables etc and selling to family and friends and a few through flebay.
Im planing to start and make some simple furniture my self, simple things such as thick pine toy boxes, coffee tables etc.

I don't really want to just go out and buy without asking a little advise first.

 

[jdeacon]

I had similar questions a few months back. I reckoned that apart from taking the machine out into the garden and dealing with very long lengths, there wasn't anything a mitre saw would do that I couldn't do on a table saw. (I'm sure I was wrong but that was what I thought. And so far it's been true.) However, there seemed to plenty of things I could do with a table saw that I couldn't do with a mitre saw.

(I also had a similar question as to whether a band saw would be first or a table saw. My thinking there was that you could make a bandsaw - and I intend to - one of Matthias Wandel's designs - if you had a table saw; but that it would be much more difficult (and less effective?) to make a table saw if one had a bandsaw.)

 

[load2go]

At the moment I'm thinking a table saw might be best as I'm going to be working with reclaimed/recycled timber.

 

[DennisCA]

I mostly use a mitre saw to cut long planks down to size so I can do the fine work on the table saw. Or I cut firewood down to size on the mitre saw (using cheap rip blade).

 

[JandK]

At the moment I'm thinking a table saw might be best as I'm going to be working with reclaimed/recycled timber.

In your case a table saw would be more versatile than a mitre saw. " A table saw is the hart of a woodworking workshop".

 

[woodchip]

A table saw with an incra mitre gauge and a crosscut sled (homemade) will do everything you will need to do

 

[RogerP]

Whichever you go for, and I agree table saw is overall more useful than a mitre saw, you may like to throw a bandsaw into the equation.
I find I use a bandsaw more often than I use any other power saw.

 

[load2go]

Thanks for all the replies, appreciated.

What would you recommend would be a good make table saw to invest in?
I don't want to go out and buy and in a few weeks regret what I bought wishing I bought something else.

 

[woodchip]

Mine is a wadkin bursgreen ags10 born in 1962. Superb cast iron tables, great accurate fence. Probably £500 on ebay. If you decide you don't want it any more you'll get the £500 back!

 

[deema]

There are three IMO really good saws, depending on preference

Wadkin either the 10" or 12" saws. The 10" will take a 12" blade. Rare to find a 240v version and the costs of conversion are high / single phase unit is normally very expensive. Awesome kit, and you will always get your money back. No one ever regrets buying Wadkin. Some spares are available, but very limited. Often requires the need to have parts made. However, they don't wear out normally in two or three lifetimes of work!

Sedgwick. Great modern saw, Middlish expensive of the three I will highlight. Great motors, last for ever. Spares easily available for the modern machines and some available for the older LK saws. Try to find one with a sliding table. The only downside of the modern sliding table is that the fence has to be removed when not being used / stored.

Startrite DS275. Great saw, some say the standard motor is under powered at c1.2kw. However, this is my saw and I've never had any real issues. Again, find one with a sliding table. The table and fence saw neatly without the need to detach. Probably the cheapest saw of the three. Spares are available.

For all three, if you buy at 'normal' secondhand prices, they will all keep their value and you will get your money back

 

[DennisCA]

I've been making do without a bandsaw but there are times it would be nice to have. I make do with a jigsaw. And with a jig & my sliding table I can get perfect circles on my TS.

I also 2nd buying used quality. I was going to buy a small modern saw but went with a huge old german saw, it's a much better saw for similar money.

 

[John Brown]

+1 for table saw.
I actually have an Elektra Beckum flip saw, but I almost always use it in the table saw postion. With a home-made sled you can do pretty much everything, apart fom which I believe the optimum tooth shape is different for table/mitre use, so a flip saw is always going to be a compromise, unless you swap the blade when flipping, which would be a major PITA.

 

[wizard]

just picked this up for £225.00 lots of good old stuf out there

 

[mailee]

Ideally you would really need both, the mitre saw for cutting long pieces to length and the table saw for smaller lengths and ripping widths. :|

 

[DennisCA]

Yes but a table saw first. Also look for 2nd hand handheld circular saws, they are also good for cutting stocks to length.

 

[load2go]

just picked this up for £225.00 lots of good old stuf out there

That looks the bees and ees. Is it 240v?