Steve H Graham
01-16-2009, 8:35 AM
I already posted about a 19" Shop Fox W1729 some guy is Craigslisting for $900 (hopefully $800 with some haggling). Today I found another interesting buy, and I wanted to ask what people think. It's a Rockwell 14" saw; I believe it's a 28-200. The owner claims it cuts metal as well as wood, although he does not mention any modifications in the ad. He says it's in very good shape. Cast iron construction and so on.
I have read up on these things, and evidently you can add a riser and get 12" of height, so resawing should be easy. And the price is $165, so if I'm not happy with the motor or whatever, I can modify the saw a lot without making a big investment.
What would you do? I'm just getting into woodworking, so I don't know if I'll ever need 19", but my general philosophy is never to underbuy, and it has served me well. I would very much like to be able to resaw raw wood; I'm hoping to get some boards from a barn that used to belong to my grandfather, and maybe I'll be able to pick up mahogany from the local trash piles.
I suppose the Rockwell is the better buy; I can use it for now, and if I don't like it, I'll still be able to cut while I watch Craigslist like a hawk.
One nice bonus: it has casters.
I have read that these things don't have dust collection. Would it be possible to add this, by cutting a hole in the cabinet and doing a little welding? I assume the cabinet itself is sheet steel, so I wouldn't have the problems cast iron presents.
Edit: looks like I totally misunderstood the design of this thing; I see now that dust would not go into the cabinet.
I have read up on these things, and evidently you can add a riser and get 12" of height, so resawing should be easy. And the price is $165, so if I'm not happy with the motor or whatever, I can modify the saw a lot without making a big investment.
What would you do? I'm just getting into woodworking, so I don't know if I'll ever need 19", but my general philosophy is never to underbuy, and it has served me well. I would very much like to be able to resaw raw wood; I'm hoping to get some boards from a barn that used to belong to my grandfather, and maybe I'll be able to pick up mahogany from the local trash piles.
I suppose the Rockwell is the better buy; I can use it for now, and if I don't like it, I'll still be able to cut while I watch Craigslist like a hawk.
One nice bonus: it has casters.
I have read that these things don't have dust collection. Would it be possible to add this, by cutting a hole in the cabinet and doing a little welding? I assume the cabinet itself is sheet steel, so I wouldn't have the problems cast iron presents.
Edit: looks like I totally misunderstood the design of this thing; I see now that dust would not go into the cabinet.