Forgive me for I have sinned

I went by my local BORG this morning to grab some screws and naval jelly and noticed they had a clearance area with quite a few tools. Good deal on a Dewalt cutoff saw and a Dewalt cordless tool set but there are too many other things I need right now to buy them just because it was a good deal. They had about 5 of the little toy Ryobi BTS10 table saws marked down to $87.00. I picked one up for the fun of it. I did one of those deals where you lift something up higher than you mean to and nearly throw yourself off balance because you are expecting it to be heavier than it turns out to be. And I wasn't expecting it to be very heavy. I put it back down and laughed with a little shake of my head to be sure the guy standing next to me wouldn't think I was considering actually buying one or anything. Gotta protect your image ya know. I paid for my stuff and went home where I took apart the Baily #7 I got off Ebay to see what I'm in for with my first plane restoration. It looks to be in pretty darn good shape by the way. I picked up new Hock blade and cap irons for it yesterday at Woodcraft but the ones in it were surprisingly square and even somewhat sharp.

Anyway, this is where it gets sad. I started eying that Mahogany over in the corner my wife expects me to have cut and joined into something that looks like a box pretty soon. I got a great deal on some scrap pieces that start about 2.75" X 2.75" and taper to about 2" X 2" ten feet later. Seem perfect for making corner posts to mortice so they will support the rails of a frame and panel side. I started trying to figure out how to get the taper out and said to myself for the 1,000,000th time lately that a tablesaw would sure be nice for this. Too bad I'm not going to have one until Santa comes to visit in late December. Then the image of that little Ryobi popped into my head. I tried to resist but ended up driving over there and grabbing one. I had a $50.00 giftcard anyway so it only cost me another $50.00 out of pocket and I bet I can sell it for that when I get a nice saw. I plan to just use it for rough cutting and then clean up with hand planes afterwards. So, I now have a tablesaw that requires a table to sit on. If I say a couple hail Powermatics or hail Unisaws will I be forgiven?

I didn't plan on making such a long post about this but it sure turned out that way.

-Chris

Reply to
Christopher
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Reply to
Lazarus Long

It was apparently worth it to you at the time to buy it, but how many times down the road will you think to yourself that it was a waste? The only way you'll ever be forgiven is when you finally dispose of it, buy a saw that you know cost you a lot, and then forgive yourself.

Reply to
Upscale

You'll say a lot more than that before you've figured out how to force that little beast to cut anything resembling a straight line >where you want it

Reply to
Fred McClellan

Wait until the time comes to buy a real table saw and you're met with, "You already have one that you never use".

-- Jack Novak Buffalo, NY - USA

Reply to
Nova

I bought the cheap Delta table saw about 1 1/2 yrs ago for around $100. When i got it I had no serious interest in woodworking. The price was right and I figured it was good for plunkin around. A few times I almost had enough saved for a contractor saw but something always came up and I didn't get it. I'll probably get one here in the next few months but I wouldn't do without that little saw. I put a freud 80 tooth blade on it and have built quit a bit. It's a long shot from what I want but it cuts wood and if one is careful setting the fence it will cut a board straight. So enjoy the saw, you'll get a lot more use out of it then you think. When I get a good contractor saw I'm holding on to this one. I'm a auto tech by trade but also do some carpentry on the side and it is handy to be able to load the little table in the back of the truck and take it to a job.

Reply to
Mike S.

At some point you have to jump in and buy something. I bought a cheap Craftsman saw to start with. I did buy a good blade though, and that made a huge difference.

While your saw may never compare with the bigger, more expensive saws, it will still cut and you can still make a lot of nice things. Sure, I'm glad I spent the money and upgraded to a Delta contractor saw and Beis fence. Sure it is much easier to get an accurate cut, sure it has more capacity. BUT, I still made some good projects with the cheap saw. I learned a lot and had a lot of fun.

Take a little extra care in setting up the cuts and you will be amazed at how well you can do things.

One more thing. I did not sell my saw when I upgraded. I gave it away. I got as much satisfaction by making another person happy as I got from cutting the first piece on my new saw. Ed snipped-for-privacy@snet.net

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Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

Your pennance is to henceforth always use your paints and stains full strength. "go forth, and thin no more."

Reply to
Robert Bonomi

I need that much satisfaction...

-Doug

Reply to
Doug Winterburn

I have to chip in with a me too on this one. I went through just what you're describing. Once I got over the "I can't wait to be able to replace this piece of crap" and finally got around to tuning thing thing up and MAKING stuff with it, I came to find new joy with my little $50 saw. A crosscut/miter sled does wonders, and getting the blade at 90.0 degrees to the table makes a world of difference too.

It has myriad problems still, but I can work around enough of them that it's a lot better than nothing. In fact, I don't even have a table saw on my list of things that need replacing in the short term. I've decided that the next time I can spare some cash, I'm going for a better router.

My router really *is* a piece of crap. Went through the same tune-up process with it, and I can now pronounce it utterly hopeless with a straight face. It's literally worse than nothing. I might try cutting it up and seeing if I can mount the motor/collet in something stable to get by for now, but it's impossible as it is.

Reply to
Silvan

While not a ww tool, I just bought a Sony DSC-P32 at wally world for ~

200 bucks yesterday.. It isn't the camera I want, the ones I want start in at about 800 bucks and because of that I haven't bought one to replace my Cannon F1 (film camera).

If it will do the job within it's limitations and remove a limitation from what you are trying to do than your little saw will earn it's keep.

The first pic's were of my horizontal band mill :) (ww content)

Some day I will have my dream camera and I will still have a knockabout camera that I won't cry about if it gets lost/damaged/stolen.

Wes

Reply to
clutch

seriously consider doing the same.

-Chris

Reply to
Christopher

I started playing around with it today. It is LOUD and the fence can be wiggled back and forth several degrees in each direction after being locked down. The table surface is so small that it's a juggling act to rip anything over about two feet long. I had to check both sides of the miter gauge and average the offset from square to get it fairly close since the face was far from flat. There is a ton of slop between the gauge and the slot. It is LOUD. Having said all that, I got some pretty decent cuts out of it while building a little extension table to support the back end. Much better than I've done with my circular saw that cost quite a bit more that this whole contraption. I think it is worth what I paid for it and I believe I can get enough use out of it that I won't be concerned with recovering any of what I spent. If I had gone for the BT3100 as I started to, I know it would be more useful now but I would be more concerned with lost investment when replacement time comes.

-Chris

Reply to
Christopher

I thought that line went, "Repaint, and thin no more." ARM

Reply to
Alan McClure

Wow, I think that is the most words I've seen in one of your posts. Good philosophy. I have no doubt that the limitations of this little saw can be overcome and good results obtained. It would sure be nice to just set the fence and cut with confidence though.

-Chris

Reply to
Christopher

tools creator would profit from sales of books on how to use the tool and consulting.

;-)

-Chris Unix Systems Admin

Reply to
Christopher

That's why we each have a personal checking account. Most of our salaries go into the joint account but we each get a little money each month to do with as we please. No need to ask permission and no fights about it in our two years of marriage so far. I think she wastes her money and she thinks I waste mine but neither of us gets upset with the other about it.

-Chris

Reply to
Christopher

That's not so bad. I always have a hard time stopping the figure from showing through when I paint curly maple anyway. If I use it full strength it should cover much better.

-Chris

Reply to
Christopher

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