Keep Table Saws for Carpentry

[Stew Denton]

Hi All,

I am working on carpentry on my shed. I have water damage in some areas on the bottom edge of the plywood siding I put on my shed years ago. What I decided to do was to make what amounts to a drip edge along the bottom of the siding to keep water away from the vulnerable bottom edges. I am making these out of 1X4s and will paint them and install them over the bottom edges. They will also seal the already damaged areas, once I caulk them.

I made the prototype from a piece of Western Cedar picket fencing that I had using saws and planes, 10 cuts on each piece, although 6 of the cuts are pretty short. Each piece of 1X4 had to be run lengthwise through the table saw 4 times. I have vertical divider battens ever 2 feet covering joints in the yellow pine vertical siding so each I used a hand saw to cut each piece to an oversized length, to be cut to fit later. The bottom line is I had 20 pieces 24" long, and 2 pieces about 18" long.

What this amounts to is a total of 172 running feet of table saw cut total length.

Point is, given how long it took to make the prototype by hand, the table saw saved many hours of hand saw work and plane work.

If you do much in the way of carpentry, keep your table saw, even if you are becoming a bigger percentage Neander, like I am.

Regards,

Stew

[Andrew Seemann]

3 feet of ripping by hand is fun. 10 feet hurts for a couple days. 172 would probably put most of us in the grave.

[Jim Koepke]

A nice drip edge can be cut on a piece of 1X4 with a side bead plane or a plow plane.

jtk

[Jim Matthews]

I follow Jim Tolpin's example with a bandsaw for this same purpose.

[steven c newman]

When I have a LOT of parts that need done...NOW....tablesaw gets cleared off, and put to work. Tablesaw can also be used for part storage ( to clear off the benchtop) and even as an assembly table...

Nice when I am still working in a Hybrid Woodshop.....

Tablesaw IS in use on the current project.

[ken hatch]

Hi All,

I am working on carpentry on my shed. I have water damage in some areas on the bottom edge of the plywood siding I put on my shed years ago. What I decided to do was to make what amounts to a drip edge along the bottom of the siding to keep water away from the vulnerable bottom edges. I am making these out of 1X4s and will paint them and install them over the bottom edges. They will also seal the already damaged areas, once I caulk them.

I made the prototype from a piece of Western Cedar picket fencing that I had using saws and planes, 10 cuts on each piece, although 6 of the cuts are pretty short. Each piece of 1X4 had to be run lengthwise through the table saw 4 times. I have vertical divider battens ever 2 feet covering joints in the yellow pine vertical siding so each I used a hand saw to cut each piece to an oversized length, to be cut to fit later. The bottom line is I had 20 pieces 24" long, and 2 pieces about 18" long.

What this amounts to is a total of 172 running feet of table saw cut total length.

Point is, given how long it took to make the prototype by hand, the table saw saved many hours of hand saw work and plane work.

If you do much in the way of carpentry, keep your table saw, even if you are becoming a bigger percentage Neander, like I am.

Regards,

Stew

Stew,

While I agree, if I were still refurbishing the house the TS would be sitting in the middle of the shop. I hope those days gone and I'm looking up at the rocks before ever doing it again.

Mine is pushed into a corner of the shop, I could only get pennies on the dollar for it and will occasionally cross cut something if it is short enough to fit but is mostly used as a flat surface to store things that have no where to go. I hope to go to the grave with never again using sheet goods on a project but if I did the TS is still there. Maybe the boy child or SIL will want it someday. Bottom line there ain't nothing I do that a track saw or band saw can't do about as well and much safer.

ken

[Stew Denton]

Ken,

When I work with plywood I cut it up using a handsaw on the sawhorses. I would use the table saw for trimming small sheet stock pieces to size, but I am not all that fond of using the table saw. Still, it is too practical not to use it where there is a lot of ripping to do. Also relatively narrow stock is hard for me to rip at an angle really close to 90 degrees with a hand saw, so in those cases the TS is nice to have. Like you, mine is a bit of a job to get out to use, but I made a platform with casters on it so when I need it I can roll it out to where I can use it near the front of the garage.

I don't like the noise and the dust, I always wear ear plugs and a dust mask because the dust bothers my lungs a lot, so use a hand saw whenever I can. I think I do a pretty good job with a hand saw anyway. However, for crosscutting to a fine degree on pieces that can be handled easily, I can't beat the saw sled and a hollow ground planer blade with a hand saw.

All things being equal though, I much prefer and enjoy using hand saws over any power saw.

Stew

[lowell holmes]

I have a tables saw, a band saw, a 3" and a 5" "skil saw. I also have rip and crosscut hand saws. I also made a saw bench.

I use whatever moves me at the moment.

[ken hatch]

Stew,

Funny this thread, from my earlier reply "...I hope to go to the grave with never again using sheet goods on a project...", I must be pushing daisies today.

Too long a story for all the gory details but a full sheet of 3/4" Baltic Burch followed me home yesterday and the TS has been pulled out from the wall.

ken

[steven c newman]

Just used mine as an assembly table, to do a glue up...
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Crowded enough in my shop...
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That I had better not gain too much weight, over the holidays.....dry fit was at the bench..
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