GigaNews wrote:

I am just getting into this hobby, so please bear with me if I ask stupid
questions.

After getting married and buying a house, I find that I have a desire to do
some of my own woodworking in addition to the myriad home improvement
projects I have going. I'd like to be able to make some furniture (baby's
room, maybe), maybe some cabinets, etc. Trouble is, the house isn't huge and
I have some severe space limitations.

I'd like to have a table saw, but no matter how hard I try I can't find a
place where I could put a good woodworker's table saw or even a contractor's
saw permanently. I really need to be able to fold the saw up and put it
away, which is a severe limitation.
...

Hi Gig,

I think there's some advice that's at least
food for thought already but thought I'd add
my nickel's worth since we're in similar
circumstances. Think I might have a little
more room than you do but if I want to slip
a plywood sheet thru the saw I either have
to precut it down to size or open the door
to the car area: My shop's a garage bay but
it's pretty narrow. ANYway, in my opinion
and experience:

-- Don't think you'll find a foldup type of
TS. That would be more along the lines of a
circular saw, which is OK if it'd do what
you needed. If you want to do any accurate
work though you'll want the table saw. One
thing I can say is the $99 Craftsman isn't
what you want unless you only want to "test"
yourself to see if your interest in
legitimate and you only plan to make things
like birdhouses, etc. For furniture though,
you'll want a better saw, I sure agree there.
In the affordable price range for normal
guys like me, and I think you, the saws are
pretty much all the same with only a few
differences. How YOU feel about the saw's
features and specs is probalby more
important than anything else. Will you be
ripping plywood sheets? Then you probably
want the fence to be able to support over 24
inches (half of 4'). Mine's got a 29" max
cut with the rip fence. Not gonna do that?
OK, most standard saws go 22 or 24 inches
on one side of the blade.

As for space, I mounted my TS on casters.
You can either buy the saw with casters,
or put your own on, but it's easier to buy
them with the saw by a long shot.
That lets you swing it around when you
have to and slide it against the wall out of
the way. For sawdust control, I just
fastened my shop vac to the TS with a couple
of bungee cords.
I put a piece of wood on the end of one
extension, and holders, for the fences,
push-sticks, and a scrap-holder. Dado,
shapers, extra blades, etc. store on the
bottom shelf of the saw stand.

Then, the TS doubles as a spare workbench
too. I added extensions to it, made of
wood, so I have have 24" and 29" to the left
& right of the blade if I want it. So, an
old blanket over the TS and it becomes a
makeshift bench. When I made my workbench,
I made sure it was the same height as the TS
so they could be slid together and make a
bigger surface to work with.

No matter how big a shop is, you'll never
have enough room ;-). With a bandsaw, drill
press, wood lathe, battery charger, etc., it
got small in there in a hurry! Oh, and if
you have the ceiling height, I put in 8'
flourescent lighting, too. Got ten foot
ceilings in my garage, plus it's insulated.
Nice and bright, even lighting with those
flourescents, and a couple incandescents for
accent, makes visibility a pleasure.
Benchtops, etc. are all painted white, and
the garage door became a huge peg board for
hanging up pipe clamps, other tools, etc.
Then I discovered, too late, that cheap
panelling and a drill makes cheaper and
easier to manage pegboard, so anything
available became places for peg hooks,
nails, etc. to hang stuff on. I kept as
much as possible in the open, long's dust &
dirt woujldn't bother it. Hung a fan and
accent lights from the old living room stuff
up on the garage door tracks; moves around
from one end to the other real easy that way.

Dunno if any of this is helpful, but that's
about my take on it.

Regards,

Pop