Thread: SHERWOOD Sliding Compound Saw

Sherwood is Timbecon's machinery badge. They're not a manufacturer - they buy the machines from a manufacturer, probably in China, and have them 're-badged' with their colours and logo. So there is no Sherwood 'brand' as such because the machinery could come from any number of different manufacturers.

For example, the TSC10-HB table saw that a lot of forum members own is available from Carba-tec and Timbecon (Sherwood) amongst others - the only difference in the machines being the colour and the labelling - but is actually manufactured by Mao Shan in China.

I don't know the pedigree of the particular machine you're looking at. What I can tell you is that Timbecon tends to supply machinery at the lower to middle end of the market. Not cheap rubbish, but what I would call hobby quality. In this they are not much different to Carba-tec or Hare and Forbes. I have a number of machines from all three and I'm reasonably happy with them all, considering how much I paid for them.

My SCMS is a Makita which cost me $1,100 several years ago. I don't think I would replace it with a Sherwood or other Chinese clone. I would be buying Makita again. I consider an SCMS to be a power tool rather than a machine, and I prefer to buy name-brands.

Greg

I have owned a Sherwood sliding compound saw for five years which is a copy of the Makita 255mm saw. Dont be fooled into believing the Sherwood saw is as good as the rest because it clearly is not and generally most of the cheaper clones lack the quality that is evident in the better brand equipment. It cuts quite ok but has an absolute deafening roar to the point where ear protection must be worn at all times. It is accurate to one side only not both. It has not broken down in the five years and has done quite a bit of work. It cost half as much as the Makita at the time. I have used a Makita, and have used a Hitachi and my next saw will be a belt driven Hitachi, quite as a church mouse. Greg, I believe you only get what you pay for and it is very true of Sliding Mitre Saws. The time spent setting it up to cut an accurate cut for a particular job would have more than paid for the original extra cost.

Regards Mike

Dear Greg,

That particular Sherwood unit is sort of a copy of this particular Makita:

http://www.makita.com.au/product.asp?ContentID=ls0714

I say "sort of" because you can clearly see that the bases are different, and the Sherwood runs a 210mm blade compared to the Mak's 190mm, and picks up some extra depth of cut as a result. The principle of two sets of slide-bars works - that's for sure - because that particular Makita is one sweet little saw... (but it's not cheap!)

Best Wishes,
Batpig.

.....the other thing to bear in mind for East Coasties is the cost of frieghting a saw like this from Perth to Sydney is nasty - last time I looked it was about a third of the cost of the saw. Mainly because of the size and bulkiness of the box.

I still have a clone SCMS. It has been absolutely terrific but don't expect repeatable accuracy. Like the others I have a quality brand Hitachi for the workshop. When I set at 90 degress I get 90 deg. The older one would give 90 after you stuffed around, took a trial cut, set up again etc and finally got it correct, but once you changed settings, you're back to the beginning again.

I still use the older saw, great for crapentry but not for cabinetry. If you're happy with close enough or stuffing around for a few minutes, then the clones are great value.

Pretty much the same experience here. I bought the Carbatec branded 10" SCMS about 6 or 7 years ago and it served me well for some large jobs (big extensions, pergolas, shop work and about 300m2 worth of decking projects over the years. Being my first SCMS I thought it was pretty good. It finally gave up the ghost this year and I bought the big 12" Makita SCMS. The saws are chalk and cheese and I realise now that the old one was a clone in looks only.

If you are demanding accuracy, I'd go for a known quality brand. If you are after a near enough saw, this is probably good enough. The real cheap ones (under $100) are a real lottery.

Hi Greg

I have the Sherwood SBSC-210 Compound Sliding Mitre Saw which has the two sets of sliding rails giving a wider cut than saws with one set. Can easily cut boards to a little over 300mm wide. I think this is the one you're alluding to.

Not a bad saw, but noisy, and as someone else has said, it is accurate to one side, but a little bit out when swung to the other. Pretty close though, and certainly good enough for my purposes.

I'd like to have a nice quiet Hitachi or a Makita, but they were priced well beyond me at the time I was buying. For the princely sum of $299 for the Sherwood though, you won't get better value for the money.

I'm happy with it.

Originally Posted by Strungout

Hi,
Not sure if this is in the right place but has anybody had any experiance with Sherwood Brand .

I am looking at the Sliding compound Saw

They do seem to be really "Inexpensive"

Regards

Greg

my Dad has the Sherwood and I have the Makita
we both know which saw we prefer to use (and it's not the Sherwood)
whenever I'm building an important project, I take the Makita over to dad's place.
I'd sell you dad's but then he'd get upset because my saw was at his place, not mine.


ian

Thanks for the input.

I think I may save the money and maybe have a look at one of the "Name Brands"

Regards

Greg

Greg

don't be put off solely by my comments.

For what it costs, dad's Sherwood is an OK saw.
It's not as nice to use as the Makita.
If I'm cutting furniture components I'll always try to use the Makita, but for general day to day cutting the Sherwood is very noisy but fine


ian

As Ian said. I used mine for years and went through a couple of blades on it, replaced the switch a couple of times and eventually the fence broke and it was getting real loud and the brake wasn't kicking in...Otherwise, it served me well. I also bought it when money was much tighter and I hadn't yet committed to woodworking as a hobby.

I have that saw and have only had it about two months, so far I'm very happy with it. It's all I could afford. I use the digital angle guide before each set up, bit of a pain but it does the trick.
Time will tell I guess.
BW.