Jobsite Tablesaw Failings at Furniture

[Phil Gaudio]

A good a place as any to tell this brief story: years ago, before I got into woodworking, I commissioned some furniture for our new house. During the build, the fellow making the furniture invited me to his shop to check on progress. When I got there, I was in shock. He worked in a very old barn/garage-like structure with no heat, very little light, and the structural integrity of a paper bag. The truly frightening element of the experience was the table saw: it was an ancient Sears Craftsman unit mounted on, wait for it......., and old rotting log. I was certain that any furniture that would come out of this shop would end up in the fireplace. In the end, this true craftsman made incredibly fine furniture which we have to this day and is still in our living room. You don't need the best tools to make the best furniture, and some folks can make the best furniture with the worst tools.

[Jim Becker]

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.

Hybrids are a nice solution for anyone who wants to move toward the cabinet saw style but has either power restrictions (120v required) or limited budget. The sizing is similar to a heavier cabinet saw, of course. Consider them a "prettier, upgraded" iteration of what historically has been called a "contractors' style saw"...not many contractors these days will drag that heavy of a machine to job site and many are moving to the battery operated portables for that purpose, too, so "contractors' style saws" have mostly been sold to woodworkers in recent times. No harm in considering SawStop for a North American design type saw...they do raise the level of blade safety.

[Justin Rapp]

So - on top of what other's said about vibration, fence or blade alignment issues, one issue I had on a jobsite saw was the actual table. It was aluminum to keep the weigh down for transporting. There was in no way to wax the table top to get it as smooth as a cast iron table. The added friction on the workpiece sliding on the table helps with does add to the accuracy issues. All of the inefficiencies add up, vibration in the table, vibration in the blade, fence and blade alignment and table friction all added together can cause accuracy issues in the cuts.

With that said, I know someone who uses a dewalt jobsite saw and has made some nice smaller pieces of furniture.

[Robert Engel]

All the guys buying SawStops have to do something with their old ones.

[Richard Coers]

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.

I've been woodworking for 48 years. 37 years ago I sawed through a joint in on finger. I'd pay $5,000 more to not go through the two surgeries to try and stabilize the bone in that finger. The bone in that finger still sits at a 15 degree angle. At least the cold doesn't make it throb any longer.

[Rob Sack]

In the shop, I use a Sawstop ICS and my old Wadkins-Bursgreen just for dadoes. For a jobsite saw, I have the Bosch and for the money and portability, you can't beat it. With a good blade, it is quite accurate and with the addition of an out feed table, works well. When I bought the Bosch, the Sawstop jobsite saw was not available yet. If I had to do it again, I would opt for the Sawstop jobsite for its quality of construction and safety features.

[Curt Putnam]

A good a place as any to tell this brief story: years ago, before I got into woodworking, I commissioned some furniture for our new house. During the build, the fellow making the furniture invited me to his shop to check on progress. When I got there, I was in shock. He worked in a very old barn/garage-like structure with no heat, very little light, and the structural integrity of a paper bag. The truly frightening element of the experience was the table saw: it was an ancient Sears Craftsman unit mounted on, wait for it......., and old rotting log. I was certain that any furniture that would come out of this shop would end up in the fireplace. In the end, this true craftsman made incredibly fine furniture which we have to this day and is still in our living room. You don't need the best tools to make the best furniture, and some folks can make the best furniture with the worst tools.

A talented person can do wonders with little and/or poor tools. Mediocre woodworkers will do better with better tools. It helps the mind focus when you know it YOU and not the tool. Has worked that way for me most of my life. BTW, you last cabinet is sure purty.

[Phil Gaudio]

A talented person can do wonders with little and/or poor tools. Mediocre woodworkers will do better with better tools. It helps the mind focus when you know it YOU and not the tool. Has worked that way for me most of my life. BTW, you last cabinet is sure purty.

Thank-you kindly sir!

[Robert Engel]

A talented person can do wonders with little and/or poor tools. Mediocre woodworkers will do better with better tools. It helps the mind focus when you know it YOU and not the tool. Has worked that way for me most of my life.

I agree to the extent a highly skilled person may get a better result, but I completely disagree with "its you and not the tool". Focus all you want but that doesn't help you get good results using a lousy tool. Lousy tools create uncertainty, frustration and lack of confidence, and can turn ww'ing into a very frustrating venture. I am absolutely convinced about this, at least personally.

THE biggest mistake I made starting out was buying the cheapest machines and tools I could. Not that I couldn't afford them, but b/c I didn't want to have a lot of money tied up in something I wasn't sure my dedication would be. All this accomplished was constant frustration and disappointment, thinking every poor result was my lack of skill -- me, not the tool. Try as I might, it was very easy to develop feelings of inadequacy and watching people get results with tools I simply could not duplicate. Then I began to take note of the tools they were using. It was not my lack of manual skills, or failure to focus, it was the crummy tools I was using!

[Phil Gaudio]

I agree to the extent a highly skilled person may get a better result, but I completely disagree with "its you and not the tool". Focus all you want but that doesn't help you get good results using a lousy tool. Lousy tools create uncertainty, frustration and lack of confidence, and can turn ww'ing into a very frustrating venture. I am absolutely convinced about this, at least personally.

THE biggest mistake I made starting out was buying the cheapest machines and tools I could. Not that I couldn't afford them, but b/c I didn't want to have a lot of money tied up in something I wasn't sure my dedication would be. All this accomplished was constant frustration and disappointment, thinking every poor result was my lack of skill -- me, not the tool. Try as I might, it was very easy to develop feelings of inadequacy and watching people get results with tools I simply could not duplicate. Then I began to take note of the tools they were using. It was not my lack of manual skills, or failure to focus, it was the crummy tools I was using!

Its easy to forget that there are those that may not be able to afford the best tools, and the reason I posted the brief story above was to give some perspective on a forum where it is not uncommon for large numbers of members to discuss their newest $5000 - $10,000 purchase of this Felder or that Minimax, etc. machine. I've seen amazing work done by people who had nothing more than a sabre saw and a ruler. You can make a very modest investment in tools and equipment and get great mileage out of this investment in terms of work satisfaction and work quality.

[Curt Putnam]

"its you and not the tool"

By that I meant that with poor tools, one is left wondering whether or not the tool was at fault when an error occurs. With good (not necessarily expensive) tools there is no doubt as to the source of the error.

[Douglas Mosman]

I too have the Dewalt job site saw. I haven't put it through its paces yet so i hope it's going to be be adequate.

But have a suspicion that if you spent a $150 on a decent old Craftsman with a flat cast-iron top and wings and then invested $350 in replacing the fence and tuning it up, you'd have a better saw ... if you have the space.

That was my issue. I had that Craftsman but it was always buried under a pile in the back of the garage and too much work to dig out to ever get used. So I figured that a jobsite saw that's accessible would work better than another table-saw that's never available. And maybe if I can spend more of my time woodworking instead of shuffling stuff around in the garage I might eventually get to a skill level where I can tell the difference!

[Frederick Skelly]

I started out going to the BORG and buying a little Delta jobsite saw for about $125. I quickly came to hate that saw. It was screaming loud, had a tiny table, a cheesy little miter gauge and a horrendous fence. Looks like they stopped making that model and that's all for the best.

For me, the most important features for funiture building are a solid fence, a high-quailty blade and a decent size table. I replaced that little jobsite saw with a used Delta Contractor saw that had a Biesemeyer fence. I put a Forrest blade on it and later added an INCRA miter gauge. Since I work primarily in soft woods that are less than 6/4 thick, this saw is right for my needs.

Remember: You don't have to break the bank to enjoy woodworking. Buy the best you can afford within your budget, learn to set it up right, and learn how to use it well. Then post pictures of what you build so we can enjoy them too!

Fred

[Patrick Varley]

Don't underestimate the flexibility/versatility of a job site saw.

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(Yes, I'm kidding)

[Thomas McCurnin]

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

+1 on the Bosch. I borrowed one too, and loved it. Add an infeed, outfeed and side support table, and you can do almost anything with it.