Thread: Would going from a Sherwood 10" Contractor to a Dewalt 10" Jobsite be a downgrade?

Its not going to solve your space problems but it is possible to reduce the height of those saws by shortening the legs. I'd just cut the necessary amount of and weld new feet onto the cut off legs. Just need to find a friendly welder,

I have a Canadian purchased DW 745 -- an even smaller saw than the DW7491.
The fence on my 745 is a great rack-and-pinon variety.
the huge advantage is that the saw itself weighs around 21 kg.
The big down side of the 745 is the lack of table area in front of the blade. The length is really too short for anything other than thin stock.

However, to get a bigger table, you could mount the DW7491 the way this guy has mounted his 745 My Table Saw Workstation - A Jobsite Saw Loaded With Extras - YouTube

Hi Hamish. One thing to compare would be motor size. I have a contractor style tablesaw with 3hp motor and a jobsite saw only has 2hp. Big difference when ripping solid timber. Contractor saw has cast iron top, jobsite has aluminium. I think you would be going backwards but depends on the work you need the saw to do.

Another thing to note is the noise difference. A induction motor is much quieter than an universal motor.

Thanks for the constructive comments. Everyone has a valid point.

As much as I love the Sherwood, I think I'm going to downsize. Cost wise is going to be the same but I think given the space I have to work in, and my current beginner status, it would be years before I will miss having something this big. So i'll probably look to selling it and going with a smaller Dewalt jobsite saw.

Thanks all

I would be happy to buy the Sherwood from you but I see you're in Melbourne! Good luck for the future in your woodworking journey and let us know how you go if you change to the Dewalt

Hi Hamish

I have the DW7491-XE and can say that it really depends on what you want to do. I mostly use it for smaller stock or ripping 19mm boards and it's been great for that. Part of me wishes I'd spent a little more and bought the saw you have! However I have similar space limitations and the jobsite saw is compact. It's easy to make foldaway outfeed & side supports to compensate for the lack of table area.

The factory riving knives (full blade guard and also basic riving knife) are designed for thin kerf blades - which gives you a clue about the motor power. If I'm ripping large pieces of timber I find that the motor struggles to keep up e.g. was ripping 90mm merbau posts and the blade flexed quite a bit causing uneven cuts - this could be more operator error though I think I was hitting the limits of the machine. Having said all that I find it great for ripping smaller stock and it's good for cross cuts provided you make a nice sled.

I love the rack and pinion fence - I find it to be very consistent quick and easy to set. The table is not perfectly flat but most of the time it hasn't caused me a problem. It does scratch easily since it's aluminium and if you want to use push blocks e.g. the GR-RIPPER, you'll need to give the table a good waxing because it's not very slippery to start with.

Also, make sure you calibrate the zero marker (mine was off by 0.5mm from the factory) and the needle for the angle (off by 0.5deg).

I'm yet to work out what I'm going to do for dust collection with this thing when my ClearVue arrives. The dust ports are tiny on this thing - one vac port on top and a 63mm on the bottom - I guess it allows less than a quarter of the required flow for good dust collection? Something else to keep in mind if you look seriously at dust collection.

Overall I find it a good saw for what I do but if I could make the space work better (wheels??) I would prefer your current saw.

Originally Posted by PFH

I'm yet to work out what I'm going to do for dust collection with this thing when my ClearVue arrives. The dust ports are tiny on this thing - one vac port on top and a 63mm on the bottom - I guess it allows less than a quarter of the required flow for good dust collection? .

At the same pressures, a 63mm duct will draw 1/4 of that of a 100 mm duct which is about a factor 2 below what is required for a TS.

Hamish, came across this thread while doing my own research into the dewalt DWE7941-XE. Just wondienf if you did end up getting it, and how do you feel about it?