TABLE SAWS - DECISIONS DECISIONS HELP

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Gotwood

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26 Oct 2019
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Hi all,

First post here and relatively new to woodworking. I manage to run an 'on the side' small business that has made me enough money to expand slightly and set up an at home workshop. The business specialises in supplying rare and exotic wood to the craft industry and our most popular products are knife scales and turning blanks.

I am now after a decent table saw that will allow me to mill scales, bowl and spindle blanks etc. Doesnt need to be mm accurate but I do need something relatively on point.

I have limited space (larger garage)
And So far I have considered the usual offerings including charnwood w629 and w650 professional as well as the equivalent scheppach and axminster saws. Any advice here? I'm eaning towards charnwood offerings with the sliding table etc. Do I need the pro for irregular work?

I also question whether a more portable saw would suffice, however, I want something that will last and be up to the occasional bigger cuts.

Ofcourse, I have also considered second hand wadkin, sedgwicks etc but time is of the essence not sure I can wait for one to come up locally for collection.

Max budget if I absolutely have to would be £1000 but if a smaller saw for £3-400 will meet my needs and give longevity then ofcourse that would be best.

Thanks in advance for any help or advice. :D
 
Sliding table absolutely essential. Bigger the better. A table saw without one is a very primitive device
 
The wadkin will always be worth what you pay for it, the charnwood won't!
 
Table saws are not particularly suited for round stock, a bandsaw would be better I would have thought for bowl blanks, ad could do every task I believe your after. I’d look for a SCM S45, Startrite 14S5 or 14S1 or 352 secondhand. The pick for me would be a really good example of a 14S5 as blade change is a few minutes, dust extraction is brilliant and you can tension a 3/4” blade giving you the ability to go from cutting veneers to small stuff and bowl blanks.

If a table saw is what your after if you only need up to c100mm cutting depth the a BGS12 is a really nice saw. I’ve just about finished restoring one, and I can say from having taken every nut and bolt out of it that it is a very well engineered saw. The spindle is mounting / bearings for instance are significantly larger than you find on on AGS10......which also has a cutting capacity.

For a foot print a little larger than an AGS10 and a little smaller than the BGS12 you can get a secondhand Sedgwick LK. This has a cutting capacity of @ little over 125mm or 5”. You pick them up with a sliding table. The only thing it won’t do is can’t the blade to give angled cuts, but in your case I wouldn’t have thought it an issue. The saws are very well built, I used one for a couple of years and was delighted with how well it cut. The fence arrangement is actually far better IMO than on any of the early Wadkin AGS/BGS range of saws. The fence on the Wadkins is a bar with lamps at either end. It’s a very accurate and good system, the LK fence is solid cast iron throughout.

A Sedgwick TA315 is another option, it has a canting blade, a sliding table on most machines, a nice fence arrangement and is well built. They are however a lot more difficult to wok on if anything needs maintenance. You have to lift the table top off which is very very heavy as the saw mechanism is attached to it! The saw has a capacity of 100mm.

The only other option worth considering is the Startrite DS275. This has a sliding table, and a capacity of 100mm ripping at 90 degrees.

Examples of the saws can go from a few hundred (need of TLC) up to nearly £2K for pristine examples. All I will say
 
I would suggest a bandsaw would be more useful to you as well rather than a TS, especially once you are down to zipping of scale blanks etc. My recommendation would be to get the largest B/S you can afford. If it were me, then I would definately look at the Laguna 14/12 that can now be UK sourced. I had a good play with one at last years harrogate show and am now putting money aside to get one as soon as I can as it will handle all the big stuff I may do but can take a decent sized blade to allow me to re-saw for veneers too
 
Thanks alot for all the advice so far guys. Very helpful indeed and I appreciate the time spent replying.

Clear to me I need to go for something abit more specialised than the charnwood stuff. All blanks inc. Bowls will be square and because of some potential other uses inc. Going back to chopping boards at some point I have my heart set on a table as opposed to a band saw. I plan on reinvesting all profits and a B/S and thicknesser will be next on the shopping list.

Thanks again all and keep the advice coming :eek:
 
I'm a great fan of Wadkin table saws; I don't have room for a sliding table version but doubt if it would be that useful for your work.

But if I were setting up for your job, I would echo those who recommend a big bandsaw. You don't need the higher accuracy that a table saw would give. But it would allow you to do bowl blanks, which a table saw won't (buyers expect to see round blanks not square), and it would be much less wasteful of your expensive wood because of the much thinner kerf. You would save a lot of timber on operations like slicing up fingerboards, or making veneers, both common musical instrument operations, and indeed any resewing. And for turning-blanks for woodwinds, a bandsaw is superior. I'd rather do the short square-pyramidal blank for a woodwind bell on a bandsaw, for example; a short piece can be dangerous on a table saw. And a bandsaw (and lunchbox thicknesser and a belt sander) is perfectly OK for chopping boards.

Using minimum amounts of exotic woods is going to be a major business concern for you, as most of them are now covered by CITES regulations and will becomes scarcer.

I love my table saw but seriously suggest you think of getting this after, rather than before, the bandsaw.

Keith
 
I make a few of my own knives. Handles inc. I cut scales on my band saw.

I have a table saw with sliding table that is my spare and I will sell as I have used it only twice since I got it.

In your shoes I would get at least a 16" bandsaw.
 

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