What is the best table saw regardless of price?

[doc44]

If price were no object what would be the best table saw?

[Lew Hodgett]

What ever costs $100 more than you are willing to spend.

Lew

[Andy Dingley]

Something like a Unisaw with all the trimmings.

You can easily spend more on commercial-grade saws. Even a couple of grand buys you a separate scoring blade, which is an excellent feature if you work sheetgoods all day. But these big-ticket machines get to be pretty big pretty soon and they just won't _fit_ in the workshop of the lucky lottery winner.

There are also features you can add that are useful for repeat production work. But they're not much use if you're doing one-off cuts, no matter how much you spend.

You can spend a lot of money on a saw, but it's probably not a good idea to just spend it there.

[doc44]

okay lets narrow it a little for the home workshop not production work

[AAvK]

Old Oliver.

museum: Oliver Locator: new Oliver: (company)

I ain't no expert, I get to work with it in adult ed. though. Awesome equipment.

[mat]

Well if you're a box maker (kitchen cabinet maker) a sliding table would most likely fit the bill with a 10" was for solids. If you make furniture a high end powermatic, general in a 12" size. If you're a carpenter a high end portable saw like the bosch or dewalt. If you're a boat builder a general or powermatic 10" And if you're a hobby wood butcher buy something where the color compliments you eyes. So for green eyes I'd recommend a green general. For brown eyes i'd go with powermatic mustard. For blue eyes the delta gray maybe in your future...

[mat]

[Nicky]

If you're not talking specialty saw.....

Oliver 4040, available today, or Older Oliver's. This tank will run 24x7,

12", interchangeable arbors, ~500 lbs., very accurate.

Northfield also makes a sweet machine (#4 Saw?)

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I'd have a hard time deciding between a Unisaw and a General 350.

[Patriarch]

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in news:TgsZd.9907$DW.7566 @newssvr17.news.prodigy.com:

Either of those would do quite nicely. Just leave $4000 in the budget for the big lathe, though. And a good bandsaw. And a vintage DJ-20.

It's not just about one tool.

Patriarch, who bought a left-tilt Uni/Bies, because the local dealer had them on sale when the bonus hit, and is not sorry at all with the choice.

[Leon]

Is the Oliver really that light weight? The Northfield comes in 4 times heavier at about 2,000 lbs for export shipping.

[AAvK]

Okay, then I suggest Sawstop for safety and of what I have read to be good quality, do a search here, for reports that have been recently posted:

Folks have given full length and in depth reports. And see the *videos* on the maker's site:

[Unisaw A-100]

Oliver Tannewitz Northfield Martin

Just four that come to mind this early in the morning and not in any order of good to best.

If you want to tweek/expand the list you could easily add Felder or Hamer.

We could go on but there are baths to be taken and only so much time.

UA100

[Upscale]

I was thinking of some European stuff. Like Griggio for an example. The site below has a wealth of stuff listed. Canadian supplier too.

I'll just get dirty again so there's no reason to take a bath.

[Larry Jaques]

On Mon, 14 Mar 2005 21:05:20 -0500, the inscrutable "doc44" spake:

After seeing one in use (and if I had triple the shop size I do now) a new Altendorf would be my choice.

the real world, I'll move up to a Griz 1023 next.

And the best part is: They DON'T come in gray!

[Dave Hall]

SNIP

Hell you say! It IS and has ALWAYS been about one tool .....

oh, you were talking about the shop....

[Andrew Barss]

AAvK wrote: : Old Oliver. :

guys list two lathes, one with 12" capacity, one with 14", with a 1 HP motor. They start in the $3400 range.

That same amount would buy some of the heaviest duty lathes now made (Stubby, Oneway), which have 3HP and up motors. What makes the Oliver units appealing? Is it just rarity?

-- Andy Barss

[Andrew Barss]

Andrew Barss wrote: : AAvK wrote: : : Old Oliver. : :

These guys list two lathes, one with 12" capacity, one with 14", with : a 1 HP motor. They start in the $3400 range.

: That same amount would buy some of the heaviest duty lathes now made : (Stubby, Oneway), which have 3HP and up motors. What makes the Oliver : units appealing? Is it just rarity?

Took a closerlook: the Oliver lathes are metal lathes, not woodturning.

Nevah mind.

-- Andy Barss

[Ray_Manor]

budget for

What's special about "a vintage DJ-20"?

(FWIW, have a rooting interest as am owner of 1980's DJ-15.)

ray

[Andrew Barss]

: As for worth, they are all cast iron (right down to the : A-frame legs) and Reeves drives and good motors tend to : drive prices up a wee bit. Frankly my question would be : "why are the current crop of lathes (Stubby/Oneway/etc.) : worth what they are worth?". Don't get me wrong, they are : indeed some of the best lathes this world has seen but...

: Not meant to incite, just thinking that a collection of : steel all welded together might come in a little less : expensive than somewhere in the multiple-thousand dollar : range.

Fair question -- I haven't turned on anything like a Stubby or Oneway. The Stubby has a whole lotta cast iron, and a really clever reconfigurable bed, which is pretty cool. People who turn on them and the other big $$ lathes say they're worth it, but I've seen a lot of turners lust for one just because they're expensive and have a high-end reputation.

I have a Nova, with heavy cast iron legs, 1.5 HP variable speed motor, and I think it's a great lathe. Lots of Nova turners want to upgrade to the DVR, and some DVR owners want to upgrade to a Stubby or Oneway ... If I were turning 30" diameter bowls, I'd get me one of them, but I have no reason to turn anything that big (nor do I have easy access to wood that big, being in the middle of the Sonoran Desert).\

I was wrong on the pricing -- just looked it up, and the smallr stubby goes for close to five grand, sans shipping. I imagine the big increase in the cost of cast iron has driven up the price. The cast iron legs for the Nova 1000 are no longer being made, as their manufacturing cost more than doubled.

-- Andy Barss