Jobsite Tablesaw Failings at Furniture

[Curt Putnam]

I am reasonably familiar (bleary eyed reading search results) with the arguments against a jobsite saw for use in furniture making. What I have not seen are specifics related to assertions of inferiority. I need specifics. Just how bad is a jobsite saw compared to a cabinet saw?

Are the cuts visibly worse? How bad is vibration? Noise? Fence lockdown? Adjustments? Sled use?

Or are they perfectly acceptable?

Obviously, I am trying to cobble together a coherent set of thoughts as to whether or not a Jobsite saw is appropriate for furniture making and I would appreciate your thoughts - with specifics please.

Thank you all in advance

[Lisa Starr]

Curt,
I think it all depends on the particular jobsite saw. My husband carries a Hitachi in his truck and it is not a quality saw. The fence will not lock square to the table, no matter what. Also, it tends not to hold the adjustment after aligning the blade to the miter slot. Of course, this saw get abused, but it has been problematic since day one. On the other hand, I've used a friend's Bosch a few times and the fence on his saw locks nicely and is square to the blade. I've had no experience with aligning the blade.

I use a older Grizzly G1023 in my workshop and it works well, though the original fence was finicky. I replaced it with a VSCT fence and now have no issues. I tuned it when I purchased it and it has never needed adjusting even after it was moved between homes.

Sorry I can offer any direct comparisons.

[Robert Engel]

Vibration, etc is going to relate to the particular brand. But even without using one, I have no doubt a Sawstop is a better saw than a Skilsaw or Ryobi.

Generally speaking, they basically a circular saw in a table. They are just as noisy too. Fences and accuracy are an issue.

Jobsite saws are appopriately named as they were never intended for a ww'ing shop, rather riding around in the back of a truck, used/abused at a construction site, and thrown in back in at the end of the day.

That said, I know there are people out there building amazing furniture with jobsite saws. Understanding the limitations and adapting work methods can make any inferior machine work.

IMO the only reason for a ww'er to buy a jobsite saw would be financial limitations. You would be much better off with a used contractor saw. Just my opinion.

[Richard Coers]

I hate the motors on the job site saws. Just screaming sound and low torque. Secondly is the tiny table with very little table in front of the blade. Things like using a sled to cut accurate miters is tough to balance in the little space.

[Alex Zeller]

When I got out of school I went to work for a glass company. The owner was kind of cheap and the tools were either cheap ones or very old and well worn. We did some great work but it was always a lot more work trying to meet our expectations. I think what you are going to find is that a quality contractor's saw will do most everything you want (I would avoid the type that looks like a upside down circular saw for woodworking) but you are going to work harder to get repeatable results. If it was me I would look for a used powermatic 66 over a contractor's saw if I was restricted by a budget.

[William Chain]

I started out with a Ridgid R4513 job site saw with the stand on wheels. It made my first few projects. The good... I could get it dialed in for the day, make some clean cuts (good thin kerf blade!), and have the fence square (enough) to the table and the blade. The next day? Check again. Motor was ok, I could cut 8/4 oak and walnut without too much trouble. Great? No, but good enough. The bad... My table was crowned from front to back. Now, I knew it was and I could compensate for that. I didn't like it, but I could work with it. It made using tenoning jigs tough though. But...could get there. The crown wasn't a major major problem for cutting grooves or the shoulders of tenons, because really all that mattered was the max blade height at the top of the crown. Annoying, yes. The tables were aluminum, so the heavy cast iron tenon jig I got second hand really dug in when I used it. You could tell how much I had used it. The worst bit though - it was an absolute nightmare to get the blade square to the table with the plastic gears/trunnions. That sucked. I checked maybe every third cut and probably resquared the damn thing every 9 cuts or so. If one is just doing job site work, whatever. But for furniture work, I had to move on. It served my purpose, taught me to set up a dreadfully out of square saw, and made me focus. With my sawstop PCS, I have it dialed and it stays there. Moral of the story - try to buy a cabinet saw, but the job site saw will work if you get a good one. If the store will let you check over the saw before going home, and opening a few to get the best one, great. If not, dice roll. YMMV.

[Jason Lester]

I have a Bosch 4100 and a Sawstop PCS. The Bosch is a good saw, but definitely not as smooth or accurate as the Sawstop. It can't spin a full size dado head and the table size is very limiting. As others have said, a contractor or hybrid would be much better for furniture if you don't have the room or budget for a cabinet saw. On the other hand, if I'm helping a friend build a deck or put down flooring, the Bosch will definitely get the nod!

[Matthew Hills]

I started when a friend loaned me his Bosch 4000.
I think you can get a lot done with it. Cut quality was good with a thin-kerf freud blade and a homemade zero-clearance insert. A sled would be valuable. The fence locked reasonably well. Dust collection was better than what I have now.

The biggest limitation from my perspective was the limited table space in front of the blade -- this gave very little room for balancing material or registering against the fence before you reached the blade. I have seen some people come up with better infeed support or fence extensions to help with these issues, and I'd probably look into those if I was still using that saw. But I have liked having a slightly bigger saw (jet proshop hybrid).

Matt

[Bob Johnson2]

About 2 months ago I went from a 3 hp Unisaw to a Dewalt dwe7491rs jobsite saw. I obviously don't have a lot of time with the Dewalt but here's my thoughts so far.

Added wing and an outfeed table, which helps a lot.

Lower power, slows ripping hardwood, burns more too. Have changed to a thin kerf which helps for the power but leaves a rougher finish. So far I'm swapping back and forth, I go to my 1/8" blades when I need a better cut, and the thin kerf when it doesn't matter.

Biggest down side is the fence, going from a Biesemeyer. The Dewalt has the best of the fences that I looked at, but it's hard to clamp to. It's hard to explain, so I won't.

I miss the cast iron table, can't use the magnetic feather boards I have.

Only has a 2.5" dust collector port. The blade guard has sub par dust collection, don't care for it.

My Jessum miter gauge is too big for it, need to add an infeed table.

Adjusting the blade angle is a hit or miss thing, no geared crank. One needs a good way to verify the angle every time you move it.

Overall I'm happy with it, I've managed to find workarounds for it's short comings, other then the blade guard, I've noticed no vibration issue and if there is a noise difference it isn't noticeable to me. The mobile stand is sturdy enough, no issues.


At the moment I figure to replace it with a contractor/hybrid saw once we've moved in the not too distant future, but as it's working out fine so far that may change.

[Jim Becker]

"Which saw" matters. If you go higher end, you'll get a little better performance. Aside from noise and power, the fences at the lower end are particularly bad and inconsistent. That can affect safety and quality of cut. And their small size is harder to use to accommodate some furniture making tasks natively, so you'd want to have provisions for material support.

[Bryan Lisowski]

I have a Rigid job site saw and s contractor saw. I upgraded the fence on the contractor saw and it does all I need. However due to size of my shop I can’t do long rips. This is why I have both saws. I bought the rigid first and I can’t complain about. It isn’t as robust, but the mobility is a trade off. I can lock the fence square and stays there. It does have issues with 8/4 hardwood. This saw has funky inserts, so getting or making a ZCI is a pain. Stability is another issue, if trying to manage large sheet goods it can rock the saw, this isn’t a big issue since I use a track saw for breaking down. In the end instead of buying 2 saws, I wish I would have saved up for a cabinet saw.

[Phillip Mitchell]

I have the same saw and use it strictly as an on-site saw on job sites. I like it for that because of its portability on the wheeled stand. I set it up in front of a 4x8 plywood topped table that I built to be the proper height for outfeed support. Using that saw without outfeed support is pretty frustrating. I have it hooked up to a Dust Deputy / Fein Turbo Vac with 2 1/2" diameter flex hose. It does a decent job on a jobsite and is about 80% better than nothing, but nowhere near being in my shop with a 3 HP cyclone.

You nailed it regarding some of the other shortcomings. The fence is probably the best fence on a job site saw and is adequate for carpentry work, though it still leaves a lot to be desired in furniture making applications. Infeed is too short to really use a miter gauge or crosscut sled easily.

I have a Powermatic 66 and a Tannewitz Model U in my shop that are completely different beasts and vastly preferred if possible, but the Dewalt plays its part well enough for job site use.

I would never consider purchasing a new job site saw strictly for use in a shop with furniture making in mind. I would look for a used cast iron top contractor saw with a Bies fence. That's what I started with and used for a handful of years and made plenty of fine woodworking starting out with it.

About 2 months ago I went from a 3 hp Unisaw to a Dewalt dwe7491rs jobsite saw. I obviously don't have a lot of time with the Dewalt but here's my thoughts so far.

Added wing and an outfeed table, which helps a lot.

Lower power, slows ripping hardwood, burns more too. Have changed to a thin kerf which helps for the power but leaves a rougher finish. So far I'm swapping back and forth, I go to my 1/8" blades when I need a better cut, and the thin kerf when it doesn't matter.

Biggest down side is the fence, going from a Biesemeyer. The Dewalt has the best of the fences that I looked at, but it's hard to clamp to. It's hard to explain, so I won't.

I miss the cast iron table, can't use the magnetic feather boards I have.

Only has a 2.5" dust collector port. The blade guard has sub par dust collection, don't care for it.

My Jessum miter gauge is too big for it, need to add an infeed table.

Adjusting the blade angle is a hit or miss thing, no geared crank. One needs a good way to verify the angle every time you move it.

Overall I'm happy with it, I've managed to find workarounds for it's short comings, other then the blade guard, I've noticed no vibration issue and if there is a noise difference it isn't noticeable to me. The mobile stand is sturdy enough, no issues.


At the moment I figure to replace it with a contractor/hybrid saw once we've moved in the not too distant future, but as it's working out fine so far that may change.

[Felipe Mercy]

Things mostly depend on the saw you picked. I got one in the last month from Bosch and it looks good to me. I read some reviews online and found this worth spending money on. Can't remember the website I read the review on.

[Curt Putnam]

Thank you all for replying. It helps. Having had a contractor's saw, I do know I do not want that squaring hassle again. Therefore, if not a jobsite then I am looking at a hybrid as a minimum and then the question becomes whether or not to drop an extra $1,000+ on a Sawstop on which question there is a current and excellent thread. My advice there was that if a Sawstop is in the budget then that is the way to go. Defining "in the budget"is now the question and y'all cannot help with that.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Late to the party, but my $.02. We use jobsite saws a lot, the Dewalt ones are pretty much all that get used here. They are good little saws, we make some nice stuff with them. Downsides are that they are small to be portable. Table size decreases to do that, so you need to have auxiliary tables at your disposal sooner than if you were using a bigger saw. I don't advocate replacing a full size tablesaw with one, but if its all you have, they can be a good machine, especially the Dewalts. They are just a different tool than a cabinet saw and should be approached that way. The key on these is the fence.