sawstop vs other tool upgrades...

[Rick Gifford]

I bought the SawStop after going back and forth over cost and looking at other machines.

The money is spent and the sting is over. The saw is really solid and I enjoy using it. I checked the alignments and everything was dead on out of the crate. First time I didnt have to spend time tuning a tool like that.

I suspect the saw will last many many years.

Whatever you buy just make sure its one you drool over. We love our tools and hate working with junk!

Best of luck,

[Prashun Patel]

Man, I'd kill to have a wife that WANTED me to drop $3k on a tool!

I urge you to keep it in perspective. The Sawstop is great, but it's not the only safe way to use a tablesaw. For a fraction of the price, you can get a well powered saw with a riving knife, and then purchase an aftermarket guard - with dust collection and still have a a bunch of $$ leftover for holddowns/pushblocks/grrrripper blocks/featherboards/crosscutting sleds/mitergauges.

I'm just saying there are other ways to be safe

[alex grams]

The irony of replacing my ridgid TS is that my wife made the comment that i should have just gotten the SS in the first place.

I could only imagine my wife's reaction if (before she was fully aware of my woodworking affliction and that I could make her nice things) if I had told her I wanted to spend $4500 on a saw. She probably would still be laughing today...

[Andy Pratt]

I would get the SS, you'll probably have many opportunities in the future to convince here of $1K purchases, but many fewer to get her to buy off on $4500 purchases.

[Mike Henderson]

If you ever have a table saw accident, it'll cost you a lot more than a SawStop.

Get the SawStop and don't look back.

Mike

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

For about the same $$ you can get a slider.
The way one uses a slider prevents exposure to the blade cause you do things like clamp the work and instead of holding it and use the slider for 90% of your rips.

[Hank Knight]

If you don't get the SS now, you never will. I have a nice Unisaw I bought 7 or 8 years ago, before the SS came out. I'd love to have the SS, but I can't bring myself to get rid of my perfectly good Uni to make way for a SS. My bet is that if you buy a decent "interim" saw with the idea of replacing it with a SS later, you'll be using the interim saw 15 years from now - assuming you don't cut all your fingers off in the menatime.

[steve reeves]

Setting aside all the "metaphors", if you use safe work practices your chances of being injured with a TS is about nil.

There is risk in everything you do everyday. obviously some risks are higher than others.

If you're the kind of woodworker who lets his mind wander while you're using a power tool then the saw stop is perfect for you. And that's not a knock on anyone.. some folks have difficulty staying focused on the small task at hand all the time, especially when they become so routine.

In my opinion there are ample ways of safely doing whatever you need doing on a table saw if you stay focused on the task at hand.

If the wife's 'permission" only extends to spending that amount of money on a "Sawstop" and you don't have issues with spending that large a sum of money OR you fit in the catagory of someone who from time to time allows their mind to wander then by all means buy it.

$4,500 will buy a better (not safer from a technical veiw) saw and most all the accessories you'd ever want...

The Sawstop is an excellent product from a safety standpoint. I think they're well overpriced.... and they have been known to "trip" with no apparent reason... that is a very expensive repair that puts your saw out of service for some time. For a hobby guy maybe that's no big deal.

For most purposes the saw you already have (unless it has issues that I'm not aware of) should be perfectly serviceable for years to come.

[John Sanford]

The irony of replacing my ridgid TS is that my wife made the comment that i should have just gotten the SS in the first place.

Hmmm.... let's see here. Your wife is telling you to get the Sawstop now. She's telling you should have gotten it in the first place. And yet, some folks here are saying "get something else"!

I just can't imagine for the life of me why some women think that men don't listen to them...

Used correctly, a circular saw velcroed to the bottom of a sagging sheet of plywood will be as safe as a FelderSS (not that such a beast exists, but if it did...). The point (from a safety perspective) to having a slider or a SS is for when we inadvertently (or deliberately) don't use the saw correctly, whether due to imperfect knowledge of the internal structure of the wood, temporary distraction, earthquake, etc. Some tools have a much wider range of "used incorrectly" (the aformentioned Velcro Sidewinder likely falls into this category), but ALL tools have such a range. The key here is your wife is keenly aware of the ability of the SS to minimize the risks SHE is recognizes, and those are the one's SHE wants minimized. You can fit a sliding table mechanism to a SawStop, but as of now you CANNOT fit a sawstop module to any of the sliding tablesaws.

If you DON'T get the saw that she's greenlighted, then you'll have more of a struggle getting her on board for major purchases in the future, and if you do somehow manage to injure yourself with ANY of the tools that you purchase with the "purloined" SawStop funds, you'll be in deep doo-doo. When she looks into the shop and sees you working on the SS, she'll know that you respected her opinions and concerns, and that will be a very good thing. Conversely, when she sees you feeding wood into the sander purchased with SS money, she'll be reminded that you DON'T RESPECT HER CONCERNS, and that will be a very bad thing.

In all probability, you'll be able to get the DC and sander down the road, and the DC (since it is a safety/cleanliness thing) isn't all that far down the road. But right now, you're at a fork in the road, and the important thing isn't which saw you choose, but who's opinions and concerns top your agenda. Its unlikely that whether you get a SawStop or a slider will make a significant difference in the final results of your projects.

Get the SawStop.

[Glen Blanchard]

and they have been known to "trip" with no apparent reason... that is a very expensive repair that puts your saw out of service for some time.

I have never heard of a substantiated claim that a SS tripped for no reason. If a SS brake trips because the blade was tilted and just barely nicked an aluminum miter gauge fence, although to some may not be apparent, is not a trip for no reason.

As for a trip putting the saw out of service for some time??? I guess I don't get this. I have a back-up brake and back-up blade ready in the event of a trip. It might take 10 minutes to change out. Why would it put the saw out of service for some time?

[Jason Whelehon]

If the brake trips it is pretty expensive since you have to replace the $60 brake cartrage and the $100 blade. It's NOT a lengthy process to replace the brake/blade tho.

My opinion is, if you have more money than you know what to do with go for it. If you're buying it because you think you'll be safer you've got no business using a table saw.

I understand using it at a school but not for average woodworkers.

[Glen Blanchard]

If the brake trips it is pretty expensive since you have to replace the $60 brake cartrage and the $100 blade. It's NOT a lengthy process to replace the brake/blade tho.

There are too many other threads here asking the question, "So $160 is expensive? How much would it cost if it was your finger that caused the trip and you did not have the SS?".......so I won't beat that horse again.

If you're buying it because you think you'll be safer you've got no business using a table saw.

Huh ????????

[Jason Whelehon]

I simply don't believe that the sawstop is "safer" than normal table saws. As a woodworker, you should NOT rely on these mechanisms to keep you safe. Paying attention, supporting work and proper alignment is much more important. I think that people who buy this saw have to make sure they're not relying on that feature and become complacent.

The most dangerous thing in a workshop is the operator.

[Glen Blanchard]

I think that people who buy this saw have to make sure they're not relying on that feature and become complacent.

I agree with that 100% Jason, but you don't really think that happens do you? I mean, do you drive your car differently now that you have an airbag? The purpose of these kinds of things is not to allow us to act with wreckless abandon, but rather to minimize injury in the event of a "worse case" scenario. Dontcha think???

[alex grams]

I agree with all of the comments on the safety factors of the saw. I've seen injuries and have members of my family with scars and missing fingers from years in cabinet shops. Safety features are there to help protect the operator when they do something wrong. They aren't there to make operation a mindless act.

Sawstop always seems to be a can of worms when it gets mentioned around here, but all of the input is appreciated.