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A Circular saw, or a Miter/Chop Saw or a ?

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A Circular saw, or a Miter/Chop Saw or a ?

#1

A Circular saw, or a Miter/Chop Saw or a ?

Phil Winn

>My wife wants to buy me a circular saw-Festool TS55 or TS75; or a Compound/Multi-Bevel/Sliding/ETC/ETC Miter Saw; or a Fein Mult-Tool; or a __________ ? (A combination birthday and holiday 2005 & 2006 gift!)

In the past, I didn�t buy a chop/miter and/or a circular saw because I already own a SawStop table-saw with Jessem Slider, Jessem Miter Gauge, etc., and really try to make exact cuts- and didn�t think that the chop/miter saw and/or a circular saw would be �accurate� enough for me. But this weekend, I started building eight chairs which Powermatic and were thinking about a SawStop), so I was cutting some of the stock, and they said-�well a chop saw would make life a lot easier��. I also have been using more veneer and therefore more sheets of plywood-which is difficult for a single person to cut on my table-saw. (Let me add that I do predominantly make furniture, but occasionally do some home repairs such as installing skylights, replacing cedar siding, installing wood flooring---just to confuse this post�). Then, my wife and I saw a television ad for the Fein Multi-tool, and was �wowed� by it, but - it is more expensive than I thought it was going to be-and the blades etc are very expensive. I already own some Festool-vac, sander, drill, router-what about the TS55/TS75 - which size? - I worry about the cutting guide bending when lengthening/combining them; the approximately 8 foot length guide is so expensive. The PC Mag 324 with a guide? What about the miter saws�which sized blade? Compound? Sliding? etc-which options? Which Makes and Models?

Any thoughts, suggestions, a different tool perhaps? Do I need all of them, or in which order? Thanks so much,

Phil

Re: A Circular saw, or a Miter/Chop Saw or a ?

#2

Whoa...slow down there Phil.....

SanMan

>....I gotta headache just trying to figure out what your wanting to know in all that...!!! ...???

Me personally...I'd get the saw thingy that rides on the track...is this it...circular saw-Festool TS55 or TS75?

and if she's buying, I'd get the Sawstop, 3 hp dust gorilla, a 12" minmax jointer and minimax 20" BS too.

yup...that oughta do.

SM

Re: A Circular saw, or a Miter/Chop Saw or a ?

#3

Re: A Circular saw, or a Miter/Chop Saw or a ?

Neal in San Jose

>I also have the saw stop, and do most of my stock sizing on that. I have a chop saw that gathers dust under the bench. I have the Fein Multi-tool, which I love, but only use once every two months or so. It just depends on what I'm working on. In the last couple of weeks, my most used tools were a band saw and a spokeshave - I'm making some cabriole legs for a table.

See where I'm going? The tools you are considering are not an either/or choice. You will (eventually) find uses for them all. What I'd recommend is to figure out what your most immediate need is, and address that. HTH Neal

Re: A Circular saw, or a Miter/Chop Saw or a ?

#4

Re: A Circular saw, or a Miter/Chop Saw or a ?

Clint Searl, at the base of Haycock Mtn

>I love my Makita LS1011 SCMS, but I'm gonna upgrade it with a Hitachi C12LSH SCMS. Built in laser and micro adjustable miter and bevel. It will complement my Delta Contractor and Radial Arm, Bosch Sidewinder, and the Makita.

Clint

Re: A Circular saw, or a Miter/Chop Saw or a ?

#5

Depends on what you're doing...

John in New Mexico

>Hi Phil,

I can't speak to the fein product, having never used it, but I can talk about the others.

You don't mention sheet goods. Do you cut up sheet goods? If so, the festool is really handy. Not quite as quick as a panel saw, but takes up so much less space, and I'd say more accurate. If you don't work much with sheet stock, I think you'll find it's utility limited by the blade size.

I like sliding miter saws, but mostly for rough cutting. This has a lot to do with not having a stop set up on mine I think, and also with having a more easily repeatable angle set up on my TS miter gauge. Thats not to say they're not quite capable of accurate and repeatable cutting, just mine isn't set up that way. The big advantage of these things is being able to crosscut 12" with out a radial arm saw. Mine is an 8 1/2", which is fine as long as you don't need to cut anything thicker than 3" or so. The 10" models cost a lot more, and IMHO just get you a bit more working thickness.

Did I leave anything out?

John

I've got an old unisaw with a good miter gauge, an 8 1/2" sliding miter saw, and a festool circular saw. I use the TS/miter gauge for precision cutting of short pieces and for cutting tenon shoulders. I use the miter saw for cutting longer pieces to length and for rough cutting stock. It is as accurate as the TS setup, but requires more set up to cut square (detents on mine just aren't as good as the miter gauge). The festool is for sheet goods, on rare occassion I use it on boards, but not often. These three suit my needs quite well.

Re: A Circular saw, or a Miter/Chop Saw or a ?

#6

A Festool Domino

Hoa Dinh in Alameda

>That's #1 on my wishlist, which my SWMBO pretends doesn't exist :-(

-- Hoa

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