10" vs 12" tablesaw

[David Mueller]

I am about to pull the ol' checkbook and spring for a cabinet saw. I am going round between PM, General or Grizzly. While the price is somewhat secondary, I see that for about the same $$$ I can see a 12" grizzly as a 10" other. Does this seem overkill but then I do have an 18" bandsaw. I just always want to err on the side of too big so as to not limit my possibilities.

[Keith Weber]

Hi David,

Personally, I don't think that I'd ever use the extra one inch of capacity that a 12 inch saw would provide. It's rarely (if ever) that I have the blade on my Grizzly G1023SL all the way up. It kind of scares me with that much blade exposed. Since you already have the large capacity bandsaw, I would personally rather use that to cut very thick pieces of wood. The only area that I can think of right now that the bandsaw wouldn't make up the difference between the 10 and 12 inch tablesaws is in the cutting of very large coves. I've never tried that before. My Grizzly is a very nice saw. I have the 3 hp version. I wouldn't hesitate recommending it to anyone. Good luck with your choice.

Keith

[Bruce Page]

I agree with Keith completely. I’ve only used the total blade height on my Unisaw once and it was a little scary. While I agree with the logic of “bigger is better” I don’t think it applies to 99% of table saw work.

[Mark Singer]

I have a 10" PM 66 and it is a very capable saw. I rarely use the full height of blade. Ther is a 5hp version....but the 3 hp is enough. On bandsaws...there are advantages on bigger...resaw capacity...vibration...features..

[Chris Giles]

David,
As always, it depends on the type of work you are going to be doing on it. I have a 10" cabinet saw and a 12" slider, and I'm surprised how often I have to use every inch of the 12" capacity, whereas I almost never crank the ten inch all the way up. The 12" machine tends to be much beefier construction, and the entire blade is inside of the plexi guard, so using the full 4 1/2" height is no big deal. If I didn't have it, I'd do the cut some other way, but I am glad it is there. The throat limitation on the bandsaw can be a problem when crosscutting. If you can afford it, I'd go 12" without hesitation.

[lou sansone]

I have owned 10" 12" 14" and 16" table saws. They all have good and bad points to them. What I look at in the saw is not the blade diameter but what is turning the blade and the assembly as a whole. I can't stress this enough, find a saw with a true riving knife. I don't care what size blade it is, the riving knife is a real must IMHO. There are a variety of saws that have them. I think without exception all the modern format type sliders have them. I am pretty sure that most of the older iron saws had them ( oliver, tannewitz, northfield ect ). I have been told the new powermatic has it.

The size of the blade sort of depends on what you are planning on cutting. my Rockwell RT-40 can take blades from 12 to 16 inch. I run a 12 and it is fine. My oliver 260 uses twin 16" blades and it also runs fine. I have owned the unisaw size saw and it was a great machine as well. It all depends on what you want to do, how much money you have, how heavy a machine you can move around ( the oliver is 2500 lbs ) and single phase or 3 phase

best wishes
lou

[tod evans]

i second lous opinion. go for a well built saw with plenty of power. if you don`t plan on doing lots of sheetgood work you may be better served by one of the older saws. if price is secondary to quality you owe it to yourself to check out the northfield saws. http://www.northfieldwoodworking.com/ .02 tod

[Kent Cori]

I too have never had a need for anything larger than my 10" Griz 1023SL. I suspect the need to make a precision cut of somthing more than 3" thick will be rare and I am perfectly happy with my 10-incher.

[David Mueller]

i second lous opinion. go for a well built saw with plenty of power. if you don`t plan on doing lots of sheetgood work you may be better served by one of the older saws. if price is secondary to quality you owe it to yourself to check out the northfield saws. http://www.northfieldwoodworking.com/ .02 tod

Tod, price may be secondary but in looking at the Northfield's , price is everything. Beautiful saws though. Looks like a little overkill for my situation.

I had forgotten about the riving knife, always liked the idea. Originally was going to get a Laguna slider and bandsaw, but just got the LT-18 and swapped the TSS for a Oneway 1640. Maybe will have to revisit Laguna but after looking one over I started leaning toward the others.

Has anyone retrofited a riving knife? I thought I heard of kits out there. I'll have to investigate. Chris, I enjoyed your comment. If I only need the full 12" height 1% of the time, I'd be glad it's there also. Well, as i suspect, the research if fun, the decision is difficult but when the chosen is here, the work is peaceful.

[tod evans]

david, i couldn`t afford the northfield either! if you are looking at sliders be sure to check out mini max and felder. or once again for big bucks altendorf,scmi, etc........after owning a slider i wouldn`t want to go with out it nor would i want it as my only saw. you`ve got lotsa research to do, enjoy, and please keep us posted. tod

[Jim Becker]

Has anyone retrofited a riving knife? I thought I heard of kits out there.

It is unlikely this can be done as the whole blade mounting/raising/lowering system would need to be able to accomodate a riving knife. If the saw wasn't designed for it...it aint' gonna happen. That said, there are growing choices in saws with riving knives. The SawStop has it and the new PM appears to have one, but from the pictures I'm not sure how adjustable it is. The big old Delta RT series also has the ability to support a riving knife. And, of course...there are the Euro saws.

As to the 10" vs 12" question...I've really not found a need for bigger than 10", especially since I can rip very, very thick stock on the bandsaw which is "somewhat" safer, too. If you are looking at a traditional "American design" saw, the extra money for 12" capacity might be better spent on other things, such as quality cutters, safety gear, etc. IMHO, of course. The Euro saws often do have 12" capacity, but some can also use a regular 5/8" bore 10" blade...Mini Max for example. 10" blades are less expensive than 12" blades, remarkably so when you get into the high-quality cutters.

[Ed Bamba]

i second lous opinion. go for a well built saw with plenty of power. if you don`t plan on doing lots of sheetgood work you may be better served by one of the older saws. if price is secondary to quality you owe it to yourself to check out the northfield saws. http://www.northfieldwoodworking.com/ .02 tod

I have used one these saws. It didn't have a blade brake and it took forever for the blade to stop. Almost lost a thumb after trying to remove a small piece of wood from the front of the blade. The saw was off for about 30 seconds and I didn't notice that the blade was still coasting to a stop. A very dumb move on my part. Now I never remove cutoffs until I've made certain that the blade has come to a complete stop, and almost always use the push stick if it is within a few inches of the blade.

Didn't mean to hijack your post--just piggy backing on it just in case the OP went with your reccomendation. Not sure if a blade brake is standard or optional, didn't see it listed on the their web site, but I mave have missed it.
Ed

[tod evans]

ed, the blade break is standard on the northfields. tod

[Ed Bamba]

Tod, thanks for the clarification. So the blade on the saw I used shouldn't have taken so long to stop? If so, something may not have been right with the one I used.
Ed

[Mike Hollingsworth]

I've had both 10" and 12" inch saws. 12" blades have more runout than 10" and I keep a 10" on my 12" saw unless I need the depth. Quieter too!