Frugal Machine Saws

There are two reasons to cut wood. The first is to reduce the size of trunks, boards or panels roughly for further operations. The second reason is to make an accurate, or finish cut, exactly to size for jointing or assembly. This truism is obvious to any experienced woodworker, but is critical when it comes to choosing machine saws for a workshop. One machine doesn't necessarily perform both roles well, unless perhaps you have plenty of space and a large budget, which is unlikely for the frugal woodworker.

Rough-cutting timber and sheet materials means you don't have to rely on woodyards for specific sizes, which is usually a more expensive approach because waste and labour and machine time is built into the price. Purists might favour ripping boards by hand, but for most of us a machine saw of some sort is the only conceivable reality for anyone who wants to free themselves of the limitations of having to buy prepared timber. There are, however, numerous ways to work accurately to length, width or thickness. The saw that converts wood roughly does not have to be the same machine that does the accurate jointing, in fact many people setting up a workshop make the mistake of compromising and end up with a saw that doesn't have the capacity for easy conversion nor accurate enough for finish cuts. This is a tempting compromise that reduces the cost and makes good use of space, but can end in frustration.

If you have to choose one powered saw most, but not all, woodworkers will buy a bandsaw. This is generally a good decision. A bandsaw has the advantage of not taking up as much space as a tablesaw, and is quiet and safe and not too dusty, and does so much more than a mitresaw, chopsaw or radial arm saw (though there aren't many of them left). Bandsaws can often be moved if space is at a premium. Its failings are few but critical: it can't crosscut accurately enough to cut the shoulders on joints, and its construction limits the width of cut, at least to one side of the blade. Though you can buy special bi-metal blades these days, with long-lasting teeth, bandsaws aren't ideal for cutting man-made boards like MDF, chipboard and even ply because the resin bond tends to dull the edge so much more quickly than the tungsten-tipped teeth on a circular saw. You might argue, though, that the truly self-reliant woodworker uses such materials sparingly, making their own panels, instead, from solid wood. Avoiding sheet materials entirely is pretty much impossible, and elsewhere we'll be using at least ply in the making of jigs and workshop devices.

The simple truth is that no workshop can do without a bandsaw, in fact I'm not sure I've ever visited a workshop without one. The question is not so much whether as what, and notably which size to pick. Bandsaws a measured by the size of the motor, the depth of cut, the width of cut, and the minimum/maximum blade width. To be honest those features tend to be closely related, and bandsaws can be divided into small, medium and large, or up to xxin, xxin and xxin depth of cut. I tend to recommend woodworkers setting up their first workshop do so with a small bandsaw. With care you'll soon be able to cut tenons, rip boards up to 3in thick, and prepare blanks for turning if that happens to be your game. The smallest ones can be moved around and even when you migrate to much larger kit, there's usually a need for a saw to make intricate cuts. However, if you have limited space/funds and bold ambitions you may prefer to buy a medium-sized saw so that you can make bigger cuts to convert larger baulks of wood into components.

Quality (price) is an issue though. Setting up a bandsaw is critical for it to cut well, and though there are modifications to make that can improve some features, a bandsaw is usually only as good as its basic build and particularly the guides and their holders. Even if you get a blade cutting straight (and we'll show you how), the less you pay for the machine the quicker it will start wandering again, even if you take the sensible option of replacing the original blade immediately with one from a specialist supplier. At least that way you can't blame the blade! So if cost is a big issue you might well be better off buying one of the more expensive small bandsaws than a cheap larger version: sadly size is no guarantee of better quality, until perhaps you start looking at the really big bandsaws, which should all be ok.

One of  the frustrations of aiming to be self-reliant and work frugally is that you'll want to use any kit for as many operations as possible. The medium-sized bandsaw is about as versatile as you can get, and you'll probably make more demands of it than any other machine. You'll want to cut accurate tenons, rip 4in-thick boards down to size, cut dovetails possibly, and make shaped cuts with a thin blade. For many years the Inca bandsaw was the most versatile because it could take a 1/8in blade, could cut up to xxin deep; uniquely it was 'left-handed', which might suit some workshops.

A further bonus is that the bandsaw has the narrowest kerf of any power saw, and is therefore efficient. However the finish off a bandsaw isn't nearly as smooth as a tablesaw, and if it wanders only a little you can end up wasting wood. It also cuts more slowly than a tablesaw, which with a dedicated, sharp blade can produce an excellent finish, almost good enough for butt jointing tabletops and panels.

For many woodworkers, and particularly those with larger workshops, the tablesaw is the heart, the machine around which everything revolves. Because it can be used for ripping, crosscutting and sizing up panels, the all-purpose tablesaw, which some people refer to as a hybrid these days, needs lots of space. You need a fence to the left of the blade for cutting to length, room to the right for waste, and access fore and aft for ripping. Is that worth it, you might well ask, in a small workshop? The tablesaw can be a invaluable bit of kit, but resourceful woodworkers, particularly those without space to spare, shouldn't assume it's essential as there are alternatives. Notably there are other ways to cut joints, and though Norm Abram on the TV has made the tablesaw popular for cutting tenons and housings, it's not the only solution.

If you choose to buy a tablesaw you'll want to make sure you get good value from it. There are some key features that will help you bond.

1 Make sure it has an induction motor. Brush motors may be cheaper, but are horribly noisy, and in a small workshop in a built-up area that will limit the time you can spend machining. Brush motor driven tablesaws are not the sort of machine you start up in suburbia of a late evening or at Sunday lunchtime in the summer.

2 A cast iron table is not absolutely essential, but it does mean you can fix magnetic featherboards to it, and the experience is much more satisfying than aluminium. It's not frugal to buy a cheaper saw that you use less because the experience is undwrwhelming. Cast iron table feel more forgiving too, and are usually flatter and more stable. The channels in cast iron tables tend also to be more accurately machined for a quick-change crosscut fence.

3 Make sure the fences are easy to remove. If you buy a 'hybrid' you'll be moving between crosscutting and ripping frequently. So the rip fence must be able to lift off anywhere along its track. Some are fitted to a bar, and you have to slide them off the end. This limits where you can put the saw, particularly if you would like to place the right-hand side of the saw against a wall.  The fence on the best sliding carriages (which tend to be better than mitre fences that run in channels) are easy to remove and replace, and return square to the blade every time. Though it's important to be able to lift off the rip fence easily, it doesn't have to be the most accurate of parts, in fact it can be quite industrial. The fine adjuster that is fitted to some rip fences is a nice touch, but not absolutely essential. What is perhaps more important is that the rip fence has a low (and high) configuration so that you can tilt the blade over for angled cuts without hitting the fence.

The ability to make angled cuts is one of the critical features of the tablesaw, especially for rippping cuts. Obviously you can tilt the table on a bandsaw for angled ripping, but it's not nearly as effective as on a tablsaw. However, in angling the blade on a tablesaw you do significantly diminish its cutting depth. Most tablesaws have either an 8in, 10in or 12in blade. The 90degree cutting depth on an 8in saw is likely to be about xxin (xxmm) and xmm at 45degrees. There is of course a relationship between blade size and motor power, and what you buy is predicated by what you intend to cut. Ripping needs more power than crosscutting, so if the tablesaw is likely to be your main tool for 'milling' thick stock down to manageable size you may want to choose a larger saw with more oomph, though don't do that if it means compromising accuracy for crosscutting for joints. One alternative is to buy a sturdy, powerful tablesaw for ripping and a good quality sliding mitresaw for joint cutting.

Whatever you do, don't be persuaded by the size of the top or table. This is the least of your worries as the frugal woodworker should be able to build better ones from ply than you can buy. Certainly that's true of the pressed steel extension tables, which are usually pretty awful, with a gap where they join the table proper. Cast iron or even aluminium ones tend to have a better fixing, but really the resourceful solution is to build your own and spend the savings on something else.

Once upon a time radial arm saws were considered the business, and the likes of DeWalt and Eumenia did a great trade, offering the all-round capability of crosscutting and ripping, as well as dimensioning man-made panels up to about 2ft wide. The trouble was that they were only quite good at any of the tasks they performed, though die-hard aficionados survive. The compact sliding compound mitresaw (or chopsaw) and the lightweight site saw (like a tablesaw but portable) have replaced the radial arm.

Chopsaws aren't perfect. They tend to be quite noisy and very messy, with the dust notoriously difficult to manage. They also need a dedicated space, ideally with a table and fence to left and right. They suit long workshops, and can cramp anything smaller than a double garage. I think that they should be forever ready for action, on high alert, so as to speak, which means you can't use the tables for other operations or you'll be fighting through litter every time you need to make a quick cut. Don't forget that frugality of time is as important as what we spend in cash. Accuracy is also an issue with chopsaws, and though furniture businesses with lots of room use the for rough-cutting long boards to length, most of us will demand accuracy for jointing. For that you tend to need to pay more as these aren't the easiest of machines to improve or modify yourself.

You can make the extraction better by fabricating a chute to capture the dust, but chopsaws, especially those that also slide, rely on the engineering quality of various components and castings and stops, but such a machine is a pretty pointless waste of space if it doesn't cut accurately time after time.

An alternative solution to the use of a tablesaw or chopsaw for cutting accurately to length is the stationary disc sander. These can be set up to sand accurately to a line, but are no good for batch production as you have to mark up each piece individually, unless you make some fancy jig, which would be tricky.

When you visit small workshops you often find they're so full of machines that there's no space to move. I'm a great believer in workshop Feng Shui, and the need for space. I'd rather forego a tablesaw but have fold-away trestles so that you can cut up boards and sheets with a jigsaw or portable power saw. I'm fond of jigsaws, but only because I've owned tbe same one for 20 years, and it's an old friend now. Jigsaws don't cut a straight line well, but they're good for rough-cutting sheet material, though a portable circular saw, perhaps a cordless version, is even better, especially if you make yourself a cutting frame. Trestles are ok, but there's a problem with the waste falling away to one side and you really need the whole sheet supported. So you make up a frame from 2x2in softwood, with sacrificial battens whuch can be replaced when they wear out. Many carpenters favour the guide rail systems produced by the likes of Festool and Mafell, which are quick and accurate, but you need to be cutting up lots of sheet materials to justify the cost. Anyone who uses

Instead you can make your own straightedge, with built-in offset to accommodate the distance between the edge of your saw base and the blade.This helps you line up the guide repeatedly.

If you want to make carcases from veneered MDF or chipboard the tablesaw can't really be beaten.