Thread: Table Saw or Router?

Hi Capt. C. I am wondering if you need any more input but I will jump in anyway . I think a tablesaw would be the most versatile investment. With jigs (particularly a cross cut sled) you can acheive most woodworking tasks. I used a jigsaw for many years for cutting curves and my tablesaw blade can cut almost 90mm above the table. Flip the board end to end and I can resaw a 170mm board, which is the resaw capacity of my bandsaw anyway. Also while you may have some projects in mind now, things will change as your interests and abilities develop. The more specific the purpose of a tool is , the less it can grow with you.

Derek, I am always amazed at the number of machines that seem to be normal in Nth American workshops, DIY and professional.

Originally Posted by Mountain Ash

Hi Capt. C. I am wondering if you need any more input but I will jump in anyway . I think a tablesaw would be the most versatile investment. With jigs (particularly a cross cut sled) you can acheive most woodworking tasks. I used a jigsaw for many years for cutting curves and my tablesaw blade can cut almost 90mm above the table. Flip the board end to end and I can resaw a 170mm board, which is the resaw capacity of my bandsaw anyway. Also while you may have some projects in mind now, things will change as your interests and abilities develop. The more specific the purpose of a tool is , the less it can grow with you.

Derek, I am always amazed at the number of machines that seem to be normal in Nth American workshops, DIY and professional.

MA, your post was excellent.

Vintage machines in the USA seem so cheap compared to Australia. Bigger population, and it seems that there are more available than one could ever imagine.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by CaptainCaveman

. If anyone knows of a track that can be used on a makita HS700SP circular saw I'd love to hear about it!

This system will work with ANY circular saw and also routers. It's very versatile.
Bora edge Search Results

As I've been working in the shop the last few days, I have been thinking about the bandsaw vs tablesaw issue. The truth is I wouldn't want to be without either one! However, for the way that I work, I would still give up the table-saw before the band-saw if I could only keep one. I find myself often re-sawing boards from thicker rough stock into thinner boards and also cutting tenon cheeks and even ripping longer or thicker pieces on the bandsaw in preference to the table saw.

I think the advantages of a high-quality band-saw are - less space claim which may be significant in a small shop, allows you re-saw thicker boards (I personally wouldn't even feel comfortable re-sawing a longer piece with 90mm of 3.2mm table saw blade) which I find I do a lot for every project and prefer to buy larger pieces of rough-sawn timber, allows you to cut tenons easily and accurately, creates far less dust when paired with even a lower-end dust collector, allows you to cut curves, allows for easy parting of a box/lid if you are into box making and also resawing small / thin pieces like internal dividers etc. It's also safer than a table saw.

The down-sides are that you will have to finish with a hand-plane as the bandsaw will leave some marks etc (but so does a table saw a lot of the time - just not as bad) and that the table saw makes breaking down flat stock much quicker and easier than using a track-saw or similar.

Not an easy decision though and one I'd definitely prefer not to have to make.

Cheers,

Dom

given the constraint of space, I say go with a quality bandsaw, and a jointer/planer combo.

tablesaw? I had one for 2 years, and upgraded to a sliding panel saw. its useful but when you constraint with space, no table saw is fine.

When I upgraded to a panel saw I also sold my compound mitre saw.

I didnt have a router until 7-8 years into woodworking, and I had a spindle moulder before owning a router.

The limited work space is the primary killer of any workshop.

Originally Posted by RossM

This system will work with ANY circular saw and also routers. It's very versatile.
Bora edge Search Results

Thanks! =D

Originally Posted by CaptainCaveman

Thanks! =D

My pleasure - it seems that the "NGX" rails are the new & improved ones. The router attachment works on both rail systems.

BTW, they also have a jigsaw attachment, but I've never really understood why you would want to make a straight cut with a jigsaw if you can use a circular saw! maybe someone can enlighten us!!

Originally Posted by DomAU

I personally wouldn't even feel comfortable re-sawing a longer piece with 90mm of 3.2mm table saw blade

I wholeheartedly agree. I HATE re-sawing using a tablesaw. I've got a good tablesaw (Sawstop PCS) so the power is no issue, but it always feels sketchy and like a bad idea. Since I got my bandsaw (second hand lowest common denominator type), about 90% of its use is re-sawing. And although the finish is far from good it just feels so much safer. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong with the tablesaw, but have no desire to going back to re-sawing on it.

Originally Posted by LanceC

I wholeheartedly agree. I HATE re-sawing using a tablesaw. I've got a good tablesaw (Sawstop PCS) so the power is no issue, but it always feels sketchy and like a bad idea. Since I got my bandsaw (second hand lowest common denominator type), about 90% of its use is re-sawing. And although the finish is far from good it just feels so much safer. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong with the tablesaw, but have no desire to going back to re-sawing on it.

Lance, that you can re-saw on the tablesaw is not a recommendation to do so. There are many tools which are like Swiss Army Knives, but no one would recommend them because of this.

The bandsaw excels at re-sawing. Or curves. It is not recommended for dimensioning, whether ripping or crosscutting ... unless you are also prepared to do further finishing work, such as planing or sanding. Even the best re-saw blade I have leaves mill marks.

The major tool of choice for the OP - and many here keep ignoring this point - needs to dimension boards for boxes. A bandsaw is not the best choice here. A tablesaw is. The tablesaw can leave dimensioned pieces that do not need any further finishing, other than minor polishing (sanding or hand planing).

Leave re-sawing to a bandsaw. I made a lot of solid wood pieces for a few decades with a tablesaw, and only purchased a bandsaw when I was ready to re-saw. Jointing and thicknessing was done with hand planes up until that time. the alternative to the latter is a combo jointer-thicknesser. If proficient with hand planes, I'd get a jointer (it becomes easier to thickness when one side is flat). If not, then get a thicknesser, and use it with a sled to joint as well.

But the bandsaw is way down the list for me if I was the OP.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Originally Posted by CaptainCaveman

I plan to make small boxes for the most part, but I would like to be able to make as many things as possible up to small furniture such as night stands or tables. I currently have a lot of hand tools, an old dewalt cordless drill, and a makita circular saw.

OK - given what you have and what you plan to do AND space constraints - I think this would be a good plan:

1. A band saw. You can re-saw timber for your boxes, small table parts and night stands etc. You can cut to length, rip to width, you can cut joinery such as tenons and you can cut curves if you want to get adventurous with things like cabriole legs. For all these projects, you are going to want to finish these with other tools anyway. While a table saw will allow you to cut parallel (using the fence) and square (using a sled) you can achieve these outcomes in other ways. If you buy the Bora track system (or make one) you can accurately & safely break down sheet goods if that is needed. You can square up small parts easily using a hand plane (you say you have hand tools) and a shooting board. This will readily accommodate box making and many other parts needed in furniture making. You can mill flat & to thickness using a thickness planer (see point 2) or learn to do this using hand planes. Thickness planer would be the best bet here IMHO.

2. As others have said, this should be considered very high on your list, unless you want to develop hand tool skills & joint & thickness with planes. However, even many dedicated hand tool enthusiasts forgo the grunt work of dimensioning by hand & use a thicknesser. You can also use the thicknesser to joint edges & you can mill a board parallel if you use the appropriate jig. See my post here for some jigs that you can use: Carbatec 8 inch bench top jointer

3. A router is very versatile. If you get that Bora track system, you can use it to accurately cut dados & grooves for furniture. In a table (which is easy to make - there are MANY online plans & instructions) you can safely cut rabbets for your box making & furniture projects, along with many other tasks.


If you DO decide you want a tablesaw & space really is an issue, a good quality job-site saw that comes with an integrated fold up stand might be the best answer.

The SawStop is very well built & has the added benefit of its safety features. It folds up & takes minimal space when not in use
See: SawStop Jobsite Saw Pro JSS Pro 2019 Model | Carbatec




The Bosch GTX 10SC & can come bundled with a stand. It gets good reviews from people who own it, and has the advantage of having a sliding table built in
Se: 255mm (10″) Table Saw GTS10XC + Stand GTA60W (0615990HA6) by Bosch – Beyond Tools

Originally Posted by derekcohen

Lance, that you can re-saw on the tablesaw is not a recommendation to do so.

Thanks for clarifying. I read it as an endorsement of the method.

Originally Posted by derekcohen

The major tool of choice for the OP - and many here keep ignoring this point - needs to dimension boards for boxes. A bandsaw is not the best choice here. A tablesaw is. The tablesaw can leave dimensioned pieces that do not need any further finishing, other than minor polishing (sanding or hand planing).

I guess we're interpreting "making boxes" with lenses specific to our experience, of which I acknowledge you have significantly more! Rather than cause any further confusion, I will talk about my experience, and the process I went through as a beginner.

When I hear boxes, I think of something generally no larger than a shoe box, and shall we say "dainty". This discounts under bed toy boxes etc.
I see two main dimensioning jobs for boxes, stock thickness and parallel long edges. The short edges are easy enough to manage with a square, hand saw and shooting board, so won't address them here.

The first is getting the correct thickness. I dislike making boxes with 18mm thick sides, as I think it has an overly chunky look, and thinner stock isn't readily available (though I admit to never putting much effort into searching it out). This is especially true with special timbers for lids where thick stock is a waste of expensive timber. As such pretty much every box I have made ends up with stock being re-sawn. I used to do that on the table saw . When I finally got a bandsaw it was much better (well that's not entirely true as it took me a while to work out how to get it tuned properly). For this, a bandsaw works exceptionally well, as you noted. Mine is cheep and nasty, and requires several passes over the face with a plane to remove machine marks, but it is safe and quick.

The second is ripping the parallel walls of the box sides, lid and base. Once I managed to get my bandsaw set up well enough to re-saw consistently, I find that I can also rip against a fence without any drift from parallel. The edge surface finish isn't fantastic, but a couple of passes with a plane and they're as good as any finished surface from the tablesaw.

So thinking back, had I not wanted the ability to re-saw stock, a table saw would have been the right choice. For what I was doing however I would have been better served with a tuned bandsaw and hand plane. I do acknowledge however that success with this setup is predicated on being able to tune the bandsaw, and learn how to use and sharpen a hand plane. To some that would sound like an exciting learning opportunity, whist to others an impediment to just making boxes.

I hope that helps explain my rationale. There may well be good arguments that point out the error of my ways, of which I'm always happy to hear and learn from.

Lance, the one thing that this thread demonstrates so clearly to me is that there is no single way to approach building boxes or furniture. Everyone has their own idea about how to do things, and which machines or tools they prefer to use in the process.

And that's the way it should be. Of course life would be simpler if everyone just agreed with me, but that is asking a tad too much. Or so my wife and the dog tell me every day

Actually, I think that this has been a really interesting thread in this respect. No one is right or wrong. That's how we learn from each other.

Do you think that we have driven the poor OP to drink?

Regards from Perth

Derek

This seems similar to the accurip of Kregs. I wonder if this could be a cheaper reliable slightly/closer to accurate way replacement for a plunger if you're strapped for cash?
Novice woodworker (hopefully) here guys. Take it easy on me.

- - - Updated - - -

In regards to the Bora tools comment above...

This seems similar to the accurip of Kregs. I wonder if this could be a cheaper reliable slightly/closer to accurate way replacement for a plunger if you're strapped for cash?
Novice woodworker (hopefully) here guys. Take it easy on me.