Which saw?

[Tin Gill]

Hi Guys,

I do a fair bit of diy for myself and friends and for wood cutting I normally use a circular saw or a hand saw. The thing with using the circular saw is that I find it takes a fair while to set up each cut on my workbench so I was thinking of investing in a table saw or mitre saw.

My question is which one - I've never used either so I don't know the pros and cons of each and then there's always the question of which one!

Any thoughts...my main concern is that table/mitre saws seem to only cut certain width of wood...so I guess you can't cut a piece of 8 by 4 but what should I look for in a good table/mitre saw...

And finally, which ones are good - the DeWalt ones are so expensive - I wanted to spend up to about £150 and I need it to be portable...

Thanks...

 

[fitter]

It really depends on what type of work you do.
If most of it is going to be with stock timber, then a mitre saw is a good choice, because you only need to cut to length which it will do with accuracy and if you need angles it's there.

With £150 to spend you are not going to get much in the way of a bench saw but if you intend to size a lot of smaller pieces of sheet material it could be your best bet.
You could cut up a sheet of 8x4 on a small bench saw but I think that it is pretty dangerous.
I always cut it into a manageable size with a circular saw and a guide and then size it on my bench saw.
I have a 9ft length of "H" section ally., which used with a couple of clamps
works fine.
You can get a saw to do everything but it's way outside your budget.
Hitachi make a decent little mitre saw costs about £90 and I'm sure I have seen a 10in. bench saw, on special offer at under £90 (B&Q?).
Why not stretch your budget and have the best of both worlds

 

[ChrisR]

A kitchen fitter I know had his tools stolen so bought a B&Q pull-over (sliding mitre type) saw for £120 to get him through his current job. He's still using it many kitchens later. I'm almost tempted!

 

[Tin Gill]

Thanks for the input - other than the ChrisR's B&Q sliding mitre saw, if I did stretch my budget, which saws are worth checking out?

 

[fitter]

I think B&Q should always be first port of call, in particular the big stores (used to be called the Depot), they always seem to have special offers.
Also try here

For the mitre saw a 10in sliding, would be a good purchase.
For saw bench again 10in.

Bear in mind that the blade supplied is not going to be the best quality and is for general purpose, it's always a good plan to have a couple of different blades anyway.

The old saying about getting what you pay for, really does apply to tools and it really is always worth spending that bit extra, trouble is there is always that bit extra there to tempt.

 

[aussie1]

depends on what you want to cut .for wide sheets go for table saw,for general cutting and mitres buy a radial arm saw.They do almost every thing.There are many types around.

 

[Dewy]

depends on what you want to cut .for wide sheets go for table saw,for general cutting and mitres buy a radial arm saw.They do almost every thing.There are many types around.

Most table saws are too small to cut sheets.
You would be lucky to get a rip fence that will be more than 9-12 inches from the blade.
Sheet material needs a large panel saw.
Anything else is dangerous.
Sheet material is easily sawn on a couple of saw horses with a straight edge clamped on as a fence and cut with a circular saw.
Make sure you know the offset from the blade to the base of the saw so you can set the straight edge to it.