On Wed, 17 Nov 2004 07:10:56 -0000, "SB"
wrote:

I found this table saw for £40
http://www.machinemart.co.uk/product...9&r=2124&g=116 and
thought it looked quite good for the money.

Yes, it's a miracle of modern manufacturing that they can make such a
device, drag it halfway around the world, then sell it for a paltry
£40.

Would I use one ? Not if I valued my fingers.

This is A Saw of Last Resort. If I were about to drown on the Titanic,
and this saw was the only chance to build a raft and save myself, then
I _might_ think about using it. But I still wouldn't enjoy it.

I don't have to work wood. I don't make my living from it (Ha !). I
only do it because I _want_ to, and if I used a saw like this, I just
wouldn't want to any more.

You will hate this saw. You will hate it so much that you get
something better, then you will hide this saw away and never touch it
again. You may experience brief pangs of regret that you wasted 40
quid on it.

I don't trust this saw. I like my saws huge and terrifying, because
they're safer that way. I have a very nice saw which weighs more than
I do and took many years before I got it. It will slice my hand off
soon as look at it, but we have this nice understanding that if I
don't put my hand in The Stupid Place it won't do that. In exchange it
chops up anything I feed it, and it does so quickly, powerfully and
safely. This little saw though is not terrifying. It can't slice whole
logs in half with a glance. So any sawing operation with _this_ saw
will be a dangerous arm-wrestling match, as you hope that the motor is
powerful enough to cut the wood, not just to jam, burn or throw it
back at you in a half-hearted last gasp. Feeble saws do not make for
safe working.

Do not buy a powered table saw until you are already using three
different sorts of handsaw. You don't need it. You shouldn't _have_ it
yet. These are real power tools, not toys - they deserve some respect,
and you show that respect by learning to use some of the hand tools
before you dive in and go for the powered version.


If you really have to spend money on buying a powered saw, then look
at the Axminster AWSBS bandsaw (three times the money, I admit).
That'll do useful things for you now, and it'll have some use on the
future too. You'll get your money out of that in a way that I don't
think you'll get your money out of this one.

--
Smert' spamionam