mywebaccts (at) PLUGcomcast.net wrote:

Okay, a friend of mine has been admonishing me not to buy a 1 1/2 HP
tablesaw. He says that a minimum of 3 HP is warranted for any decent
tablesaw.

Now, I'm not planning on going into the woodworking business. I just
want to outfit my workshop with good equipment so that I can't blame the
equipment on the lousy workmanship that comes out of it!

The reviews for various 1 1/2 HP tablesaws seem very good. Whether it's
Grizzly, Delta, or another good brand, people seem genuinely happy and
satisfied with the abilities of those tablesaws.

So ....

Can anyone tell me why the extra horsepower would be needed? I doubt
that I'll ever be cutting through anything thicker than 1 1/2". Heck,
I'm not even sure how often I'd be doing that much!

Thx!

Jack

I had a Sears Contractors saw. I could almost stop it with my hand.
I'm exaggerating, but seriously, I had a hell of time cutting 1-1/2"
fir, much less anything harder. My 3 HP Unisaw never slows down at all,
even when cutting to it's max height. You might try a thin kerf blade
on the under powered saw to alleviate some of the bogging down (less
wood to remove).

Dave