What’s a good basic table saw? I look at them online and can’t really tell much a difference. I’m tempted to just get a harbor freight one but know the fence will probably be loose and other annoyances…
Anyone have a specific recommendation for someone who is only occasionally playing around with simple carpentry?
I’d recommend a sawstop, even the folding or contractor one. It’s a fingersaver.
The most expensive table saw is not “basic”.
Edit: You’re telling a person who occasionally does wood work to buy a thousand dollar saw. Do you people even listen to yourselves? I bet you all bought $600+ saws when you were occasional woodworkers right? What a joke this thread is
The contractor one isn’t that expensive. And it saves on medical bills if an amateur cuts their fingers.
But yeah be a prick about it.
I got a DeWalt, used for $50, mainly for the rack and pinion fence. Makes setting the fence so much easier
I’d recommend ignoring this pile of thousand dollar saw gate keepers and go buy a used Bosch portable saw. You can probably score one for like 150 bucks. This thread is full of people with too much money. Thousand dollar saw for a hobbyist who occasionally does woodwork. What a joke these recommendations are. Go have fun and probably don’t ask for beginner help on here again.
Bingo. My first table saw was a heavily used Ryobi direct drive. It was noisy at hell and hard to use with precision, but it only cost $25 and helped me figure out if I wanted to get into woodworking or not.
Seriously, if you’re just getting into this, you don’t need to drop $1000+ on a SawStop. If you have the money, fuck yeah, get one. If not, just use proper technique, tools, and PPE. Be extremely careful as even the cheapest, most underpowered saw will take multiple fingers off in less than a second. If you’re not scared, get scared. I’ve been doing this for over a decade and my table saw still makes me wary. That’s a good thing.
I got a delta 36-725T2, it was around $650 when I got it, looks like it’s gone up around $50 since then, but I still think that’s a good deal.
The fence is super solid, the saw is on wheels but they retract for a super stable feel, I really like it.
That being said, if you can’t buy a quality new saw (plan to spend at least $500 and harbor freight is NOT quality) I would start scouring the classifieds.
Any older craftsman 10" saw will be worth a look. Delta, DeWalt, Milwaukee, Bosch, and Rigid are also solid brands.
You should mainly narrow down if you are looking for a portable saw or not.
If you have an area you can dedicate to woodworking, I would highly recommend a cabinet or contractor saw. The stability and capacity you gain over a bench top or job site saw cannot be overstated. That said, if you do need a portable saw I would recommend a job site saw over a bench top model if you can afford it.
I cannot make any recommendation on portable saws, but for me, I was between the Rigid R4560 and the Delta. I ended up getting the Delta simply due to the fact that I felt the fence was a bit more stable. There are upgrades for both models, so really it’s just a personal preference.
I love my Sawstop Contractor saw, but honestly the biggest upgrade was going from an aluminum jobsite saw to the then 20-year old Taiwan import Contractor saw I had before the Sawstop. I’d say it’s an even bigger step than going from an old-design 110v motor-hanger (of which the Sawstop is last man standing, I think) to a big 220v cabinet saw.
The HF Hercules might not be that bad; it’s lifted a lot of idea from the well-regarded DeWalt jobsite saws. I will second the other people on here and suggest you get something with a 27" cast-iron table, whether new or used (an old craftsman belt-drive can still be a good deal especially with an upgraded fence). The improvement in work handling, accuracy, and stability is absolutely night and day, not to mention that they pretty much all use induction motors which, while still loud when cutting, don’t scream like a banshee the entire time they’re turned on. Putting it on casters somehow will help you live with it in a garage shop more easily.
Barring that, I’d still say get something with the biggest table you can fit, probably a Ridgid aluminum table; consider a folding stand too. A table saw can be insanely versatile, but anything other than lengthwise ripping is a pain the ass without a big stable surface. If you STILL want something small, the DeWalts are the best, but then you’re gonna end up building some bespoke outfeed workstation to bolt it to and/or using all you saved in money and space to get a sliding compound miter saw.
