I have been through several projects finally reducing them all to not having enough money to I just don't have any interest.
All I really want to do is make a chopping block out of some good hardwood. I have a good supplier locally (not HD or Lowes they don't sell it).
All I can afford without debt is one of those $99 saws maybe $125. I saw Delta, Ryobi, Craftsman, and a few others. I know one gets what they pay for.
I wanted to know if it was possible to build a chopping block using these cheap table saws or are they unsafe?
I was going to use the table saw to rip (think thats it) the big hardwood board and then cut it up into the smaller pieces, glue them, etc. I already own a router and a table that I don't know how to use and thought I could learn how now.
Mon, Sep 1, 2003, 12:34am (EDT+4) john_20_28 snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (jm) asks: I wanted to know if it was possible to build a chopping block using these cheap table saws or are they unsafe?
Well, if you can make the chopping block in the first place, don't see why you couldn't use one. I have a $79 HF saw, and it takes a bit of fiddling with the fence, but with a good blade, cuts fine.
Unsafe? I obviously don't understand this as stated. Like it's gonna fall apart, or what?
JOAT No sense in being pessimistic - it wouldn't work anyway.
Life just ain't life without good music. - JOAT Web Page Update 30 Aug 2003. Some tunes I like.
A so-called "Cheap Saw" wil not cut your fngers off. That you will have to do yourself. Ithink it is a verygod thing when a person lives with and learns on very basic equipment, as long as he takethe time to adjust and trueit up t its highest potental. Then asyou learn and ain experience, you will KNOW WHAT FEATURES AND CAPABILITIESYOU need, SHOULD YOU DECIDE TO MAKE ANOTHER PURCHASE. in THIS GROUP i SEE A BUNCHOF cATALOG rATS WHO HAVE BOUGHT EVERY DAMN THING IN THE WORLD AND hAVE NOT SPENT A FULL HOUR ON ANY JOB AT ALL. uSE WHAT YA BRUNG.
Mon, Sep 1, 2003, 2:46am (EDT+4) john_20_28 snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (jm) claims: I don't guess I have to do anything at all now. There is always the option of saving money until I can get the BT3100.
Or, you can save even more money, by getting a decent hand saw, and never buying a power saw.
JOAT No sense in being pessimistic - it wouldn't work anyway.
Life just ain't life without good music. - JOAT Web Page Update 30 Aug 2003. Some tunes I like.
In a 'decent quality' *BUDGET*PRICED* saw, the Ryobi BT3100 is the hands-down choice. gotta spend more than twice the money to get something 'appreciably' better. Oh yeah. I'm _not_ fond of Ryobi tools, in general. :)
Be warned, it's about $300.
None of them are any more 'unsafe' than any other saw. differences are in 'quality of cut', ease of use, the difficulty (or lack thereof) to re-set to the same measure later, to make a matching cut, etc.
You _can_ do 'almost anything' with _any_ of the saws. The 'little' ones (those 99$ 'benchtop specials' you've been looking at) are 'awkward' (at _best_) for dealing with large pieces of wood. where large is anything more than 3, maybe 4, foot long. A second person ('helper') and/or 'supplemental support'(infeed and/or outfeed tables) is a near necessity for larger pieces.
If your hardwood source can supply 'shorts' or cut-to-length, one of those budget benchtop saws should let you 'get the job done'. I don't know where you plan to go 'after this project', which makes it hard to comment on the "longer term" advisability of the postulated purchase. For limited "carpentry", they're an "o.k." device, as long as you understand and respect their limits. For cabinetmaking, or other "fine woodworking" they are *very* limiting, and a source (until replaced) of unending frustration.
Comment: You "know what you _don't_ know", and that puts you ahead of a _lot_ of people.
If you think of one of those little benchtop saws as a lifetime acquisition that you'll never need to replace, you're bound to be disappointed.
If you view it as an "experiment" to see if this is something you'd like to do more of, and are willing to 'write off' most of the cost whether you do not (and try to unload it on the 'used' market), or do (and need a quality tool) decide to continue with the hobby, then I'd say 'go for it'. Keep in mind, however, that you may well spend considerable time 'fighting with' the tool -- 'fighting' that you would *not* be doing with a better tool.
Don't make chopping blocks - they're easily bought ready-made.
If you can't afford / store a good range of tools (no shame in that), then make stuff that doesn't need them. One of the good things about woodworking is that there's plenty you can still do - you just have to choose your projects.
Try green woodworking. You can make a superb Windsor chair with basic handtools and a very simple lathe - if you have the space, you can even go completely rustic and use a pole lathe (but that does go a bit beardie).
S/H old hand tools and doing your own sharpening is the best route to good, cheap tools. Handsaws too.
My first usable table saw cost £200, so that's probably $250 in the US. That's still pretty affordable, with some saving, and I'd not want to use one of the cheaper models. There's also S/H - I saw an eminently restorable Wadkin (as good as a Unisaw) for £160 lately.
Yes, one of those saws will do the job. You will have to cut slowly, pay careful attention to set up, and probably invest another couple of bucks for a better blade (I'd suggest a Freud. for a good balance between price and quality of cut).
It is absolute BS you are being showered with when anyone tell you you HAVE to have something better. If it has a motor that runs, a minimum of run out (which, the brands you name should have), a reasonably sharp blade, it will cut wood. Cutting wood is what you want to do.
A fellow woodworker of my acquaintance uses an ancient 8 1/2" Craftsman direct drive table top saw and I've seen him build an extension to his house with it along with some very credible mission style furniture and his forte, clocks. That pretty well covers the gamut between rough carpentry to precision work.
It isn't as effortless as it could be with a more expensive saw but with attention to saw set up, cut setup, a sharp blade, and a slow feed it does do the job.
If you want to work with wood you don't have to quit buying groceries to do it. perseverance, patience, attention to detail and, practice with the tools you do have or can afford, is all you really need.
There is a whole community of woodworkers out there that think electricity is a tool of the devil and verge on considering electric lights in their workshop is heresy. All they use are hand tools, most, probably bought at garage sales, to turn out work equal to or better then that of many of those insisting on propagating the myth that you NEED such and such a power tool or quality of power tool.
Yes, you get what you pay for but, inexpensive does not mean an inability to perform a basic function. A $100.00 table top saw will perform it's basic function of cutting wood. How well it does that means you have to put a bit more sweat equity into the job then someone who has a $1500.00 cabinet saw does to get the same results.
Thank you. I don't want to buy one. I can buy a lot of things premade and I don't understand why some of the folks said to buy one. It looked like I could make one and something that might be used. I should probably make a bunch of them and give them as Christmas presents. Yes, I am that guy who gives you the "homeade" stuff for Christmas.
One of the nicest pieces I've ever seen (a china cabinet made of Jatoba) was made by a guy who's only power tool was a circular saw. As others have replied, anything is possible. Less powerful tools just require more time and care to produce quality results.
Those saws you looked at will work. If at all possible, set aside another $25 to $50 for a decent blade (the Freud Diablo is about $30 at Home Depot), which will increase the capability of your budget tablesaw.
Plan your work carefully. Pay particular attention to thinking through how you will feed the wood into the blade and support it coming out the other side. It can be done. It can be done by you.
Jim, I think that you're missing the pointthat people are trying to make here. I've never met a woodworker who didn't make presents for friends and family. Comparing the amount of work that it takes to make one, a butcher block is harder than a dovetail box, and much cheaper to buy pre-made. the point being, that butcher blocks take ALOT of work and nobody will see the work, a nicely made box will be turned over and around and examined to a much higher degree. More "WOW" factor. A box is also easier to make with limited tools. Dave in Fairfax
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