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

[bjshov8 at tx.rr.com]

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