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+-- Thread: What kind of table saw do you have (/showthread.php?tid=7378624)
RE: What kind of table saw do you have - Mr Eddie - 06-08-2025
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I have a Ridgid TS2424 that I bought from Home Depot probably close to 20 years ago. One side has a router table with Milwaukee router and a Woodpecker lift. The other side of the saw has a Jess-Em slider. I also have a Wixey readout gauge on it. I am very happy with the setup. My only ding would be that it is under powered - fine for a hobby guy like me but not for a high volume user. If I was younger I would upgrade to a saw with better dust collection and more power probably a Saw Stop. If anyone is wondering about the Wixey it is great! It's nice to be able to replicate a piece exactly.
Lonnie
RE: What kind of table saw do you have - fredhargis - 06-08-2025
(06-07-2025, 09:59 PM)BrentDH Wrote: I bought that saw at 7 Corners Ace Hardware which was a pretty famous store at one time.
7 Corners is a fond memory, I bought quite a bit of stuff from them as well.
RE: What kind of table saw do you have - R Clark - 06-08-2025
I began woodworking seriously in 1999. I started using the wood hobby shop at the base I was stationed at, so I had full use of very nice equipment. A couple of Powermatic 66 saws equipped that shop. I got reassigned to a base with a very poor wood hobby shop, and so I began assembling my own shop.
I started with a 15 year old Delta 34-444 Contractor Saw that I bought in 2001 for $300 from the newspaper classified ads. It had the old Delta Jet Lock fence, which I thought was OK, but eventually I hated it.
I had to upgrade the electrics in the garage to support my growing hobby, so in 2012 I decided to upgrade the saw to a cabinet saw. I sold the old Delta for $325 and bought a SawStop PCS 3 HP with the 36" T-Glide fence. I liked the safety feature, but I loved the quality. I built a lot of stuff with that saw. It was a tight fit in a shop that was 1/2 of a two car garage.
A couple of years after I got my SS, a coworker bought a new SS based on his discussions with me, but he bought the ICS 5 HP with the 54" fence.
Eventually we moved to the acreage where I have a dedicated shop building with electrical service to support.
A couple of years ago, the coworker who bought the ICS began to liquidate his shop. That SS ICS 5 HP with 54" fence landed in my shop two months ago.
I wasn't planning, or even dreaming of upgrading my 3HP PCS. I'm on record here as saying it was going to be the last saw I ever bought. And it would have been. However, my coworker is also a very good friend; he's 10 years older than me. As he approached his mid-70s, he decided to begin downsizing his shop and stopped doing woodworking altogether. I bought his Delta jointer, Powermatic planer, and SuperMax drum sander outright a couple of years ago. He asked for help selling the rest of his equipment, including the SawStop. I sell stuff on FaceBook Marketplace, but my friend had absolutely no experience in that business. After a LOT of consideration and prayers about how to help my friend, we settled on a deal in which I bought out his big stuff and then transported it here to my shop where I would integrate it into my shop or sell it for whatever I could get for it.
I had the old SS 3HP sold before I could even get it advertised on FB Marketplace.
I also upgraded dust collection with my friend's Powermatic 3HP DC. It replaced my Harbor Freight hybrid system. I sold the old DC setup to a young guy just starting his shop not far from here. My old DC was exactly what he was looking for. He got a deal, and that's fine.
I didn't understand the structural differences between the PCS and ICS saws. The ICS is engineered much heavier than the PCS; there's very little similarity under the table. The dust collection scheme in the ICS, while not perfect, is much more effective than the PCS. I like having the 54" fence. My existing combo outfeed table/large work surface mated right up to the ICS with no modifications necessary. All my sleds and jigs transferred over to the ICS with no issues. An hour's worth of work had the ICS mated up with my dust collection plumbing. I had to rearrange my shop layout some to accommodate the new aircraft carrier, but truth be told, I needed to do that anyway. I'm still not "there" with the shop layout.
Anyway...that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
RE: What kind of table saw do you have - tablesawtom - 06-08-2025
From what I am reading so far is the most popular saw being purchased today is the Saw Stop PCS and it usually is an upgrade, Myself included. The most popular reason is the blade safety feature and it comes as the woodworkers get on in age. Again myself included. I do not believe I have read anything negative about the saw. I know there is a lot of negativity about the legal aspect, but it seems a lot of people have gotten around that.
It is the last saw I will buy. I wanted a 52 inch fence but it was during the covid pandemic and I couldn't get one so I settled for a 36. And personally it is good enough for me again at 79.
After using it for nearly 4 years now I can't say one bad word about it.
My previous saw was a General 350 saw that was made in Canada. I know that the UNI saw is probably the most owned saw. I looked at the underside of a new Uni and the under side of a General at the Woodsmith store and paid $300 for for the General. In all fairness to the Uni I believe the production had shifted oversees. And the size of the trunnions were shrinking a little bit.
The UNI saw has been made forever and the vast majority of them are still in operation today and it is by far the most popular saw in the home shops today. I believe the UNI is no longer being made under the Delta name. Could be wrong.
I have really enjoyed what everyone has written about their journey in the woodworking field And thanks for sharing their saws. And please keep them coming.
Tom
RE: What kind of table saw do you have - jteneyck - 06-08-2025
I bet Sears sold a million of those CI contractor saws to folks like me just starting out. I bought one in about 1982 after we bought our house and I started my remodeling/woodworking journey. I used that saw for at least 20 years, still use it, actually, until I came by an old Unisaw for free. It was born in 1954, same as me, and is still running strong, something I no longer do since the knee replacement last year. When the Sears was my only saw, I had made a giant crosscut sled for it when I built a new kitchen. I didn't want to part with the sled, and I wanted a really large table for handling sheet goods, so I took the lousy sheet metal wings off the Sears saw, made a new and needed base for the Unisaw, and bolted them together. I added a router table to the right side of the Sears saw and then put a 52" Vega Pro fence across all of it.
![[Image: AP1GczPne1nIlFVhdF9bgj_wkoRQtPhvEESOW1su...authuser=1]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczPne1nIlFVhdF9bgj_wkoRQtPhvEESOW1suIvio4iUoRhHbzEz1qnSyUbS_vmqsylCt1NsbnD1cZtDo1bfEI4nXsVE_6Uae1IwQ_F3h5Il6X0xSYw9aK3BFcF344boNeFN_h-nHLrcv-CiD7geOHf-6TQ=w1443-h811-s-no?authuser=1)
This setup fits my needs really well. I know it's green, but there's a Unisaw underneath that paint. FWIW, I love the Vega fence. It's very robust and stays in alignment really well. I think I've adjusted it once or twice in 20 years. The stock fence on the Unisaw was not very good and a pain to remove because you had to slide it off the tube. The fence on the Sears was terrible; I can't believe I lived with it for so many years.
One other comment. I almost never use my TS's for crosscutting besides using the sled. For crosscut work I use one of my RAS's. I have a Dewalt GWI and 925 along one wall and at the same height. I have a long fence and stop system on the GWI, which makes cutting one or one hundred parts fast and repeatable.
![[Image: AP1GczOEjXfF0VsMEEgYiWNVLwW0-uD5FxKzCMD8...authuser=1]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczOEjXfF0VsMEEgYiWNVLwW0-uD5FxKzCMD8D1U5QJyifuO5Az9XSKB569BEgAOF8T1jj2dULidDLhaByyrq15qM3-yuebqIx5-460YEY8n-011tftsdN_pyHSN7cj968F7NzGw7OzsguVS8DPSB2XvALg=w1443-h811-s-no?authuser=1)
Earlier this year I found a medium arm Dewalt GA and added it to the workforce. My logic was to replace the sled on the TS because it's heavy. It's yet to be proven that the GA will be as accurate, but it's likely going to stay regardless. With its 3 hp motor, it cuts through most anything of any thickness needed w/o hesitation.
![[Image: AP1GczOa1lHwkd2lQNzXmPv__kENBRnznV0OdQah...authuser=1]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczOa1lHwkd2lQNzXmPv__kENBRnznV0OdQahMOtDTYLWC9Pzw4Ihcewbrw2_TzY3gq9dahl7Gt1NSHOdIE7OZwejV2NQXJswPKpug_pm8_On1Xrn9i1hoiLxej31YYav5dXKZTL5b7PD3ZxlxzFfpGVpZg=w1443-h811-s-no?authuser=1)
Of those 3 RAS's, the little 925 is actually my favorite. It's super accurate and a pleasure to use on 4/4 and thinner stock.
If I could do it all over again and had the space and enough coin, I'd get a slider. One saw that does pretty much everything.
John
RE: What kind of table saw do you have - Philip1231 - 06-08-2025
First One: Ryobi BT3000
Second One: UNISAW
Third, current, and likely last: SawStop
RE: What kind of table saw do you have - GaryMc - 06-08-2025
Will jump in here with a story beginning as a kid in the '50s at the farm when Dad got an old '40s Craftsman 8" saw at an auction without motor or mount, so he rigged up a motor (another auction find) on a hinged board. Terrible fence and only steel blades which he would sharpen, but I learned the basics of "woodwhacking" on it. Fast forward after college, a stint in Los Angeles and then Maryland to 1975 in Louisiana when I bought a Craftsman Emerson saw. That saw followed me to Ohio, Washington State, Virginia, and then to here in Pennsylvania. Made a lot of stuff with that old saw.
Around 1998 I got a deal on a slightly used Grizzly 1023SL with both short and long rails from a guy switching to a Sawstop. I married the Craftsman to the right side similar to what John showed, creating a "Frankensaw" that took up a goodly portion of my small shop. Loved that setup but when my woodworking wound down somewhat a few years ago I sold the Craftsman, sadly.
BTW, I have no use for the Griz long rails so if anyone will come after them (SE PA) they are yours.
RE: What kind of table saw do you have - ajkoontz - 06-08-2025
Cabinet saw
Current saw is a Delta Unisaw, because Norm had one. Bought it used about 20 years ago from a fellow Woodnetter. Probably my favorite WW tool.
RE: What kind of table saw do you have - wing nut - 06-08-2025
(06-08-2025, 02:15 PM)ajkoontz Wrote: Cabinet saw
Current saw is a Delta Unisaw, because Norm had one. Bought it used about 20 years ago from a fellow Woodnetter. Probably my favorite WW tool.
started with a 60s sears contractor saw, in 95 someone hit my car took the settlement and bought a unisaw 1300.- seven corners hardware, been using that ever since, the pm 66 was about 300.- more at the time couldn't swing that.
RE: What kind of table saw do you have - Pirate - 06-08-2025
1946 Unisaw. Smoooooth. If you can stand a dime on edge, you can start, run, and shut down saw, and dime will be standing. This is with same belts that were on it 25+ years ago, when I bought it.
With a Jet Exacta fence, (Biesmeyer clone) it's sweet.