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[Shop-talk] OK, so which saw should I get for use in rehab...

Subject: [Shop-talk] OK, so which saw should I get for use in rehab...
From: bjshov8 at tx.rr.com (bjshov8 at tx.rr.com)
Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2012 11:01:45 -0500
A small miter saw will be very much better for molding and flooring.  A table 
saw was one of the first power tools that I ever bought and I have used it a 
lot, but for cutting long pieces it is not very good.  Plus it is not very 
portable.

When we had wood flooring installed in our kitchen the installers brought a 
small miter saw and used it right where they were installing the flooring.  
They could measure a piece, reach over to the saw and cut it, and install it 
without having to move very far or even having to get up off of the floor.  
When I put new base moldings in our den I took the opportunity to buy my own 
miter saw.  I put it outside but it was much better for cutting long pieces 
than a table saw, and I have tried this many times on my table saw.

There are things that you can do with a table saw that you can't do with a 
miter saw, such as ripping boards and cutting wide pieces, but for cutting long 
pieces it will be difficult just to make the cuts but very difficult to get 
precise cuts.

My contractor has the big DeWalt sliding miter saw and it will do a lot such as 
cutting fairly wide pieces, but it is also heavy and expensive.  I compromised 
and bought a lesser brand that doesn't slide.  Another thing is that a 10" saw 
would be fine for flooring and molding, but a 12" saw will cut slightly larger 
boards without much more expense.  I bought a 12" Hitachi at Lowes for about 
$200.  You can get cheap saws as low as $100, or the big DeWalt I mentioned 
that will cost about $600.

> > Back on the subject of the condo, I'm sorely lacking in power tools 
> > and for what needs to get done (rip up and replace some laminate 
> > flooring, redo a lot of the
> > base moulding, some other misc. work), and was trying to figure out 
> > what kind saw I should get - I've got all the usual suspects (hand 
> > saws, circular saw, several jigsaws, etc. but there seemed like there 
> > was enough work involved to justify getting something to do the 
> > mitering, cut laminate flooring, etc.  I was thinking either a small 
> > table saw or
> > one of those whizzy sliding compound miter saws

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