Sell the table saw????!!!

[Bob Jones]

So, I sold my electric jointer a few months ago and I have not regretted it for a second. I have more space and I can do just as well by hand. Next candidate - the table saw. It takes up a ton of space in my small shop and it is the most dangerous tool in my shop.

I don't use it much. I do most ripping/resawing with my 18" bandsaw. I use a circular saw and a 2x4 table for cutting plywood and larger boards anyway. I am cutting joints with my bandsaw/handsaws. The biggest loss I can image is sawing dados/grooves/rabbets.

2 questions - Am i forgetting anything?
What are some good options for cutting grooves/dados?

Thanks!

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Router, router table and/or a straight edge for a guide and shop built jigs can be used for dados and rabbets.

[Tri Hoang]

So, I sold my electric jointer a few months ago and I have not regretted it for a second. I have more space and I can do just as well by hand. Next candidate - the table saw. It takes up a ton of space in my small shop and it is the most dangerous tool in my shop.

I don't use it much. I do most ripping/resawing with my 18" bandsaw. I use a circular saw and a 2x4 table for cutting plywood and larger boards anyway. I am cutting joints with my bandsaw/handsaws. The biggest loss I can image is sawing dados/grooves/rabbets.

2 questions - Am i forgetting anything?
What are some good options for cutting grooves/dados?

Thanks!

I did exactly what you are planing to do a while back. It was a liberating experience & I don't miss it at all. You'll get your space back plus the space for storing various jigs. Best of all, you won't be tempted by all the ads for the gazillion of jigs. I use a router on dados/rabbets/groves in plywood & hand tools for real wood. For sheet goods, I use a track saw.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Personally I wouldn't be without a table saw but I realize other folks have a right to their own methods.

[john davey]

Space is tight for me as well but I find I need to keep the table saw (I have gotten rid of some and always go back). I just keep an old Craftsman 8 incher (picking one up today to replace the one I moved to my brothers house). It really does not take a lot of space and it still is there when I need it. If I had the space a unisaw with 50" fenca and side and outfeed table would be there as I do think the table saw is key but in this forum that would most likely not be the norm

[tico vogt]

For the uses you've mentioned, an accurately set up table saw is without peer. What is the virtue in doing without something you already own, assuming it is in adequate condition? Legions of tremendous craftsmen skilled with hand tools also use the tablesaw. Even if it's only for the occasional operation, as, in my case, using my LN chisel plane, I'd keep it.

[Don C Peterson]

I agree with several others about the benefit of a table saw. I don't think I would go without one, I enjoy hand tools for finish work and joinery, but there are some tasks that power tools eliminate large amounts of what I consider drugery.

[David Weaver]

I would sell my TS tomorrow if someone came to the door offering a reasonable amount for it. Same goes with my jointer and thickness planer.

When I first started, I didn't think I'd be able to do without it - always considered people who said they'd throw out a TS before a BS to be crazy, but I'd have to be room temperature to let go of my BS now. It serves as my rough cutting machine and thicknesser when more than a little bit of thicknessing needs to be done. The TS makes a cut about once every two or three weeks when it's most convenient (jigs, etc), but I'd gladly get rid of it and do those cuts some other way.

Never did enjoy using it, either, but recognize that what it does, it does well, and it does it cheaply, too, after you pay for the initial cost.

[Prashun Patel]

Unplug it, remove the blade and guard, cover it with plywood, and convert it to a bench. Wait for a year and see if you ever need it. If not, sell it. Tsaws hold their value fairly well, so selling a used one now vs 1 year from now won't make much of a difference.

[Maurice Ungaro]

Unplug it, remove the blade and guard, cover it with plywood, and convert it to a bench. Wait for a year and see if you ever need it. If not, sell it. Tsaws hold their value fairly well, so selling a used one now vs 1 year from now won't make much of a difference.

Sounds like the best suggestion yet!

[steven c newman]

I've found for my TS: Those two grooves just happen to be square to the edges, layout aid. The fence acts as a third hand from time to time, as in glue-ups for small tables. That nice, hard cast iron top makes cinching over small nails a breeze, as in nailing web frames together. If I need some room on the bench, the TS serves as a "ready-rack" for tools I'm using. Use a tool, lay in down on the TS, pick up the next tool, and carry on. I can lay some paper down on the top, and use the top for clamps to sit on for glue-ups. When done, paper can go into the wood-burner. I can un-plug the power-switch from the motor, and then plug in another tool. The switch still works, just controls whatever motor is plugged into it. Ah, yes, Multi-tasking!

[David Weaver]

Unplug it, remove the blade and guard, cover it with plywood, and convert it to a bench. Wait for a year and see if you ever need it. If not, sell it. Tsaws hold their value fairly well, so selling a used one now vs 1 year from now won't make much of a difference.

That's generally what it's doing right now. It's a layout table, standby table for tools in use and most times, a place to use the miter box. I've cut some moulding plane wedges on a jig, and a piece of MDF, but that's it.

I could do the wedges any of a number of ways (that would be admittedly slower than the TS), and I could do without the MDF, I think.

The TS definitely speeds up production of things, especially if you're making cabinets out of ply or other such things. Dados are fast on it, too, but that kind of thing just isn't satisfying anymore. I'd rather do with less space and focus on the kind of woodworking things that I want to do.

I think my wife would rather see me use the TS more, though, and make the stuff she wants.

[Jim Koepke]

Let it be known that I do not have a table saw. I do have a circular saw that sees little use.

Prashun makes a good point. Of course I could get rich off of a lot of my tools that go a year or more between needing them. Then again, none of them take up room like a table saw.

Cutting dados by hand can take a little time, but so does setting up a table saw to get them right.

Cutting stopped dados may be easier by hand.

I know for some of the pieces I have done for shelves that are 6 feet tall, it is likely safer.

jim

[William M Johnson]

I say sell it or use it as a bench. I make a lot of cabinets and a track saw beats the table saw in every catagory. I have the EZ Smart System. It can also be used for dados.

I have a PM66 with an Excalibur slider. The slider is off sitting in a corner waiting for someone to buy it. I use the table saw for ripping boards and that is about all. I wind up jointing the boards by hand anyway so I don't know why a band saw could not be used.

Having said all of that the PM66 is still in the shop with a power feeder on it. When the Safari Helicopter kit shows up I will have to make some tough decisions.

Bill

[Chris Padilla]

So what are you going to use as a bench, finishing station, glue-up table, etc. if you sell your table saw?

Everyone is different and does things their own way...only YOU can decide if you need this tool. I think I'd be lost without mine...I'd need to build another bench to pile stuff on!