Which One First?

[Yogibear]

Hi, I'm new here and would appreciate your input. I'm setting up a small workshop in my garage lol 8) . to make beehives, mostly for myself, but friends and other beeks who may want to source mine if they are good enough. SO if I only have room for, or can only afford one of the following, which one should I have first.

1) Table saw (if so which one?)

2) Radial Arm Saw (If so which one?)

I read that the OLD RAS's are the best, is that so?

 

[Peter Sefton]

Welcome to the forum

It's a table saw ever time for me.

Cheers Peter

 

[marcros]

Table saw- you won't be able to rip timber to width with a radial arm saw. If you have a sliding carriage on the table saw, cross cutting will be a breeze too.

 

[artie]

Are you going to make anything other than bee hives.?

If you buy the timber in lengths you could maybe do without the table saw. My mitre saw gets way more work than the table saw but I still need it, when I need it.

Maybe a cheapie of both to get you going. That's what I would do.

 

[WellsWood]

Personally, if I were in your position I'd have neither. Unless your "small" workshop is going in a large garage you will soon regret the amount of space needed for a tablesaw, one worth having anyway. If most of your work will involve, as I suspect, ripping and crosscutting timber with little or no requirement for cutting boards I'd recommend a moderate bandsaw instead. With a decent blade or 2 you'll be surprised what you can acheive with one, and they take up next to no space in comparison. Crosscutting can be done with a very modest chop saw, if you absolutely can't use a handsaw (cheaper, quieter, safer) - don't see why a RAS would even be in the running, nasty scary things that tend to tempt people to do really really dodgy things with them like ripping [-X

 

[custard]

Neither, get a bandsaw,

-for a given sum of money you'll get a far far better quality bandsaw than you will a tablesaw
-all woodworking machines have their own dangers, but a bandsaw is quite some way towards the safer end of the spectrum
-you don't have much space and a bandsaw doesn't need much space
-for cutting up sheet goods a handheld circular saw and a track will be safer and give better quality results than a low cost table saw. Plus it's far easier for one person, working on their own, to take the machine to the workpiece rather than take the workpiece to the machine
-add a small planer/thicknesser (or even a portable thicknesser) to your bandsaw, throw in a few handtools and perhaps a router, and there's not much that you can't make

 

[NickWelford]

Have you considered a flip over table/mitre saw? I agree that a band saw is very useful, but limited in cross cutting. Beehive sides are too long to be cut from planks on a bandsaw.

 

[Mr T]

Although I did recommend a band saw over the table saws on the forum the other day, in this case I would probably go for a table saw. As a former bee keeper I know that accuracy is quite important in making hives. You can get more accuracy with a circular saw, especially if it has a sliding table. You can also use it for grooving and rebating for making the housings on National hives (is it nationals you are planning on making). You can also use the saw to make comb frames. So if you are just going to be making hives you could do virtually all of it on the saw.

I'm thinking of going back to beekeeping when I retire, what's the Varroa situation nowadays?

Chris

 

[yetloh]

I don't have and have never wanted a tablesaw, but I wouldn't be without my bandsaw - much safer too.

Jim

 

[Peter Sefton]

I don't have and have never wanted a tablesaw, but I wouldn't be without my bandsaw - much safer too.

Jim

Much safer yes, but not as accurate.

Cheers Peter

 

[custard]

I don't have and have never wanted a tablesaw, but I wouldn't be without my bandsaw - much safer too.

Jim

Much safer yes, but not as accurate.

Cheers Peter

Tricky one this, because I'm assuming a budget of two or three hundred pounds. Now maybe the OP is Bill Gates, in which case a top of the range Altendorf would certainly get the job done. But if not then we're comparing a cheap site saw, with all the fun they normally entail, against a reasonable bandsaw.

Like I say, maybe I'm out on the budget by a country mile, but if not I still reckon bandsaw/site saw accuracy might be a close run thing.

 

[Yogibear]

First of all THANK You for all your input, also for making me feel at home, Mr T your advice seems better suited to my project's (for now anyway) The hive's will be Nationals - Top Bar and Warre (War Ray) so a bit of rebating and also mortice tenon joints involved, I have a Elu MOF 177E Router.
What make and model saw would you recommend? something with a bit of quality about it. Looking at the list it seams a mine-field to my un-trained eye.

The varoa is still causing concern, at least for some, but there are signs in some aperies that the bees are becoming resistant to the varoa virus and the Warre system is natural, so no chemicals are put into the hive, we just let nature take it's coarse and beekeeping is booming once again, here in the UK and USA also Europe.

Bob

 

[blackrodd]

As MR T Seems to know about beehives and their construction, then I will say go with him on this one.
Bandsaws are very useful, and arguably safer in the using as opposed to the table saw, but
Don't strike it off you're list,
I Can't recommend any particular table saw as I haven't bought one for years, See what others say.
Regard Rodders

 

[Yogibear]

Many thank's Rodders

Bob

 

[siggy_7]

I would ask how you are planning to join the pieces together. Any joinery other than butt joints or screws is going to take a lot longer than dimensioning your pieces. A good table saw can be adapted to cut box joints very well which is a popular joinery technique with beehives. Check out Matthias Wandel's screw advance box joint jig (woodgears.ca) or the Incra IBox jig. Try doing that with a bandsaw or RAS!

 

[Yogibear]

siggy_7 wrote: " Any joinery other than butt joints or screws is going to take a lot longer than dimensioning your pieces. A good table saw can be adapted to cut box joints very well which is a popular joinery technique with beehives."

Yes that's what I want, some are butt joints too, but I feel that with butt joints accuracy is as important as other joints. So what table saw do I go for?

Thanks for your input and links.
Bob

 

[HexusOdy]

I would personally go with a bandsaw.

A table saw is primarily for rip cuts and it you making beehives there's no reason you can't buy timber in the correct width and if not you can do adequate short rip cuts on a bandsaw. I radial arm saw is for large crosscuts which again you wouldn't need for beehives or most projects.

I bought a bandsaw last and wish I'd got one first. They take less space and they are versatile. I'd get a sliding compound mitre saw too as you will have lots of cross cuts to make.

 

[dickm]

From my (limited) experience making beehives, I think we need a bit more information before we can give a sensible answer here. In particular, how far back down the making chain is the OP going? That is, starting from planed timber of the right thickness, or from rough sawn material of mixed dimensions. If it's the latter, then I'd go for a thicknesser as the first requirement. If the timber is already the right thickness (20mm-ish) then a relatively cheap table saw to rip it roughly to width would fit the bill. After that, most of the work can be done almost as quickly with hand tools as with any machinery, even planing the timber to width after ripping. Though I love my 352 and use it constantly, it's of limited use in the beehive trade.
That's my two pennorth.

 

[Steve Maskery]

All good advice above!
If you go the TS route, we need your budget for recs. I have an Xcalibur from Woodford and would not swap it for anything other than the later model, but it is not a cheap machine.

 

[Yogibear]

how far back down the making chain is the OP going? That is, starting from planed timber of the right thickness, or from rough sawn material of mixed dimensions. If it's the latter, then I'd go for a thicknesser as the first requirement.

Well the timber will be rough cut 228 x 38mm of lengths of up to 2000mm. I need to rip some down to 25mm thick (sides) some 9mm thick (top bars) some 20mm thick (Gable ends for roof) and some 15mm thick for other's (floor etc) two of the side of each box have to be rebated 10mm x 10mm to accept the top bars. As you can see I would need a large blade on a table saw to rip 228mm even if I did a turn over. (looked at some videos on the web) and can see that a band saw would do the job. The idea is to get some made sell them and with the money buy other machines as I go along.

Thank you all for helping a old man trying to pass some time making something. (homer)

Bob