A table saw can tell people alot about how much a person enjoys woodworking, how safe a person is while woodworking, and how precise a person can be with woodworking. For those who find themselves in the workshop to build a piece of furniture or to trim out a room, a table saw is more than just a tool that cuts wood. A table saw can shape the workflow of a person, the accuracy of a person, and even the willingness of a person to continue in there woodworking endeavors after receiving a splinter.
The difference between a person who is fighting against the machine as opposed to someone who is in harmony and rhythm with the machine often comes down to the type of table saw that sits in the workshop of a woodworker. Thus, understanding each of the different types of table saws allows for people to understand what type of saw is appropriate for their own workshop, enabling them to make a purchase of the saw without basing there decision upon price and popularity of the saw. Each type of table saw has specific problems that it is designed to solve for woodworkers, but each type of saw also makes compromises in regard to other capabilities of a saw.
For instance, cabinet saws are the most common and powerful saws, but portable jobsite saws must accommodate the needs of contractors and woodworkers who must move the saw from job to job. Additionally, there are also hybrid saws and benchtop saws made for the needs of the typical woodworker. The following table will include each of the major types of table saws, the capabilities of each type of saw, and in what situations one type of saw is likely to be better than another type.
Main Types of Table Saws for Woodworking
1. Cabinet Saws
Cabinet saws are among the most powerful types of saws available for woodworkers. Cabinet saws are typically heavy machines, built with solid iron in their construction. The saws often have motors that range between 3 and 5 horsepower units, and those motors tend to remain cool even after long periods of sawing of dense types of wood like oak or maple.
The solid metal build of the saw reduces the vibrations that a saw creates when cutting. Thus, woodworkers who use cabinet saws can make clean cuts of their wood, and often experience less fatigue than if they were using another type of saw. Cabinet saws are beneficial for people who work on complex woodworking projects.
Thus, they are appropriate for those who build kitchens, furniture, and other projects that require large flat panels of wood. Cabinet saws can weigh several hundred pounds. As such, they are not mobile tools, and must have an permanent location in the workshop.
Additionally, the saw requires a 240-volt power source. Once woodworkers have become used to a cabinet saw, however, they often find themselves unable to return to other types of saws.
2. Contractor Saws
Contractor saws were developed for woodworkers that are less complex in the projects that they undertake, but who require the power of a cabinet saw without the high price of that saw.
The contractor saw shares many similarities to a cabinet saw, but incorporates a motor that hangs out of the back of the saw, and whose trunnions attach to the saw’s working table rather than the base of the saw. This reduces the price of the tool, but maintains the size of the saw’s blades at 10 inches in diameter, as well as the power that the saw exhibits. Many contractor saws also include saws with impressive fence systems, and whose tables are made of solid cast iron to ensure that their saws remain flat.
Thus, contractor saws are a good tool for those serious about woodworking, yet who desire the ability to move the saw in their workshop. The downsides of these saws include higher vibration levels while cutting, and the need to spend additional time aligning their saws to the desired position of the workpiece. However, many saws that include these features still feel that these downsides are acceptable to own the contractor saw instead of a cabinet saw.
3. Jobsite Table Saws
Jobsite table saws are among the most common types of saws to be utilized in the construction industry. Jobsite saws are compact in size, folding saws that can weigh between 40 and 60 pounds, and can collapse into a stand that can roll and fit through doorways. These saws incorporate many features that are useful to construction professionals, including tool-free blade changes, fences that utilize a rack-and-pinion system, and provide enough power to saw pressure-treated lumber.
One of the great benefits of a jobsite saw is that the tool is mobile. They can be set up in a driveway to saw rafters for a home, and collapsed into a stand for transport to another home before lunch. Those who perform renovations at there homes once in a while also like jobsite saws.
They can remain in a corner of the garage, and be rolled out for use as needed. Jobsite saws can be less accurate than other saws, but will satisfy the needs of most woodworkers whose projects require a maximum accuracy of 1/32 inch. Beyond that accuracy, though, a person will have to purchase a larger saw.
4. Hybrid Saws
Hybrid saws were created for the woodworker who desires many of the benefits of a cabinet saw, but who does not desire the weight or price of purchasing a cabinet saw. A hybrid table saw may utilize many of the same features and construction as cabinet saws, but with the use of a lighter motor for the saw, and the saw’s trunnions are attached to the table rather than the saw’s base. Thus, the saw is less heavy than cabinet saws, but still provides many of the same benefits.
They are especially beneficial for those who have limited space in their workshops, or who have two-car garages. A user can expect a hybrid saw to have a flat cast-iron table top, saws that have ports for the collection of sawdust, and very low vibration levels that are beneficial to making precise sawcuts in their projects. Many of the best models of hybrid saws also accept dado stacks for sawing grooves, as well as incorporate aftermarket saw fences that are similar to those constructed for professional table saws.
The compromise for these saws is the size of the saws’ motors. They are typically only one and three-quarter to two horsepower units, and utilize 120 volts. This is adequate for most hardwoods, but may create a difference when sawing thick pieces of walnut, for instance, or when cutting dadoes.
5. Benchtop Saws
Most home woodworkers find this motor limit to be adequate, though. Benchtop saws are among the most minimal saws that are available for woodcrafting professionals. Benchtop saws typically weigh less than fifty pounds, and do not include a stand for the saw.
Thus, they are designed to be placed upon a workbench or sawhorses. These saws utilize high-speed universal motors that exhibit surprising strength when cutting through wood. Benchtop saws’ tables are typically constructed of aluminum, their fences are basic, and the saw may feel to be a toy in comparison to other types of saws.
Despite their relatively low price, though, benchtop saws can perform many tasks. For instance, the saw can be used to cut sheet goods if an outfeed support is built for the saw. Better models of benchtop saws also exhibit decent blade guards and riving knives.
Benchtop saws provide an excellent alternative for beginners in the woodworking world, for those who live in apartments, or for traveling woodworking instructors. Thus, these saws can be purchased as an entry-level tool for a woodworker; however, as a woodworker’s projects become more complex, their desired accuracy increases, or the standards for there projects increases, they will likely have to purchase an additional saw.
6. Sliding Table Saws
Sliding table saws were created based off the engineering designs used in Europe.
As with European wood processing sawmills, it is common for those saws to incorporate a feature that allows the saw’s table to move. These saws are designed for the sawmill industry to allow European woodworkers to cut sheets of wood accurately and safely. True sliding table saws incorporate large tables constructed of aluminum, and that can be moved on precision bearings.
Additionally, the saw may also incorporate a separate blade for scoring sheets of melamine or plywood. Although these saws are not common among woodcrafting hobbyists, they can help woodworkers who wish to be able to accurately cut sheet goods without the assistance of another person, or with the use of complicated sleds to transport the workpiece to the point of the cut. Thus, saws of this type may be beneficial for those who are building many built-in cabinetry elements, or who are sawing man-made materials.
The downsides to a saw of this type are the high cost of purchase, and the amount of space in which it can be stored. A serious saw of this type can take up as much space as a compact car. Thus, the saw may not be beneficial to most woodcrafting hobbyists.
However, once a woodworker has become accustomed to being able to cut a full sheet of plywood with one hand and with accuracy, they will always remember the experience of using a sliding table saw. There are many different types of table saws available for woodcrafting professionals, each of which was created with a specific concept regarding the interaction of the wood with the saw’s blade. Cabinet saws are created with the concept of the mass and the rigidity of the saw to minimize vibration.
Jobsite saws were created with the concept of engineering the saw to be smaller in size. As for hybrid saws, they were created with the desire to develop a saw that was in between the features of a cabinet saw and a contractor saw, a compromise between the two that the saw often achieves successfully. Thus, each of these types of saws may be preferred over the others due to different concepts and ideas regarding the saw’s function, and less due to the words of the woodcrafting magazines.
Thus, the saw that a person purchases should depend upon the work that a person performs in their workshop, their frequency of saw use, the materials that they use, and the accuracy that they require in their sawing endeavors. Ultimately, the saw that is most appropriate and valuable to own is the saw whose design is felt to be an extension of the woodworker’s own hands. Thus, the saw will be recognized as correct in its purchase for the woodworker the first time that a board passes through the saw without any vibration or “chatter” in its motion, and the saw’s cut of the wood appears planed rather than sawn.
Thus, the saw’s owner recognizes the value of each saw during this first project of a saw. In that case, then, the saw that is purchased will be that which has the best fit to the projects that the woodworker loves to create.
