Mini saws

[Tricky Dicky]

MG a circular table saw is really your only choice if straight cuts are important. The golden rule when ripping wood down its length is not to move your hands beyond the front edge of the table, to push the wood through from this point you use a push stick. A push stick is simply a length of wood ideally only thick enough to pass between the blade and fence and has a “bird mouth” cut out at the business end and whose length allows you to keep hands at the correct distance. To keep the wood pressed against the fence there are devices that attach to the table and do that but for repeated cuts can be a faff to continually adjust, so in most cases a second push stick is used to apply enough pressure just before the wood meets the blade. On a circular saw safety course the usual first thing you do is make a push stick or two.

Small circular saws designed for hobby work tend to be disproportionately expensive compared to others, for example the one I linked to in my first post in this thread is £350+.

Richard

[Mountain Goat]

Thanks for the replies. I have seen tile cutting mini table saws for very cheap prices, but as soon as it says "Hobby" on it it is just a tad too small and very expensive. Yet a proper table saw is far too big. We have a largeone here and to be honest, I rarely use it. My brother cuts firewood with it. He is careful with it. It is old but good. But foe small cuts... The thickness of the cut is about the size I want left remaining if that makes sense. It is overkill!
So I need a type of mini bench saw but not a micro one which has a blade too small to cut the wood I want to cut. If the blade is able to cut a 2x1 then I will be pleased. I don't want the blade to e too much bigger.

[Steve M]

MG as has been said a table saw is the tool for the job. It will cut narrow strips, provided you use a suitable fence or guide. But you will only get a rough surface so you may need to sand or even use a planer/thicknesser.
My recommendation would be to buy ready cut strips of basswood or similar. You should keep all your fingers that way.

[Mountain Goat]

Sanding is not an issue. I can sand or plane. Have mini planes though the sander I have is quicker.

[Tricky Dicky]

When specifying a table saw the depth of cut is determined by the diam. of the blade, typically a common 10” (250mm) blade will give an approx depth of cut of 1/3 of the blade diam. As the diam. of the blade is reduced that proportion of the blade depth reduces even more. Some of the hobby table saws are very limited regards what they will cut, myself I would not consider anything less than 200mm diam. of blade. There are plenty of table saws with that spec. that can be mounted on a suitable folding stand or even mounted on a bench.

Richard

[RAF96]

Having finished cutting 40 x 4” diameter lightening holes in 18 mm birch ply My old B&D trusty heavy duty drill is tired now and my hole saw blade is worn out, not surprising as it is essentially a bent but wide hacksaw blade.

The MacAllister drill with the knackered chuck is going back under warranty but the drill itself is very powerful, just a bit uncontrollable due to the poor design of both the main body handle angle and the aux handle location.

I had access to a standard circular saw for the long straight cuts but in the past I have found them less controllable due to size and weight, hence using the new mini saw, which proved OK using the TCT blade but less capable with the fine cut flat blade.

For proper effortless woodworking you need a large table saw, a band saw and several other Norm Abraham bits of kit, which all cost a bomb and take up lots of floor space, hence a decent workshop.

[Mountain Goat]

I found a lovely type of bench saw which looked the ideal size. However on looking closer it is another one of those tile cutters! They come so close to what I want and they are resonably priced. However, the blades are not for wood. Grrr! Why is it, if it is a tile cutter it is cheap, but if it is to cut wood it is not cheap?

[Chris]

Having finished cutting 40 x 4” diameter lightening holes in 18 mm birch ply My old B&D trusty heavy duty drill is tired now and my hole saw blade is worn out, not surprising as it is essentially a bent but wide hacksaw blade.

The MacAllister drill with the knackered chuck is going back under warranty but the drill itself is very powerful, just a bit uncontrollable due to the poor design of both the main body handle angle and the aux handle location.

I had access to a standard circular saw for the long straight cuts but in the past I have found them less controllable due to size and weight, hence using the new mini saw, which proved OK using the TCT blade but less capable with the fine cut flat blade.

For proper effortless woodworking you need a large table saw, a band saw and several other Norm Abraham bits of kit, which all cost a bomb and take up lots of floor space, hence a decent workshop.

A really good option for straight cuts is a track saw, basically a long tack that a circular saw runs on, this gives it the control that a normal circular saw lacks, without the size requirement of the table saw.
Most table saws aren't well set up for cutting thin strips as you need to push the piece that is between the fence and the blade not the other side, this means that once it is below 10mm or so it can be hard to do even with the thinnest of push sticks.

[Tricky Dicky]

MG is this more along the lines you are looking for?

https://www.axminster.co.uk/proxxon-ks-230-saw-300095

It is still dearer than a tile saw and has one serious drawback that the cutting depth is only 8mm.

One of the reasons why tile saws will be cheaper than wood cutting types is that generally tile saws do not have any adjustment for depth, whilst because of the need to cut rebates wood saws need the blade height to be adjustable. Then of course there is angled cuts again a rudimentary arrangement on tile saws, I had one where you could make angled cuts at 45 deg this was achieved by propping up a section of the table unlike on a wood saw where blade spindle would be tilted to whatever angle. The reason for tile saws having fixed spindles is because the blade has to run through a water trough under the table for cooling purposes.

Richard

Correction: The catalogue listing say depth of cut is 8mm but user manual says it is 12mm, I would check that before purchase.

[yelrow]

Speaking as an effortless woodworker, with a large workshop, and most of Norms machines, i use a Startrite Table Saw for all this type of small strip work. The words you need to remember with table saws, are Sacrificial Strips. Any Norm, devotees. like me watched him week in , week out, cut tiny pieces, using these. All my layout boards etc, were cut on table saw. For craft work, i use a bandsaw, or scrollsaw, but i fully accept the blades wander. I also, accept that many only do these operations once, and dont want the cost or have not the space. My solution would be the Exact saw, used with an aluminium stay put clamp, or a cordless 12 volt circular saw. Unfortunately, as some on here have found out in the past, cheap table saws, are a total waste of money. Blades dull very quickly, and the supplied fence, is a joke. If one is looking for a make, to buy, i would look at Kity, or scheppach. Used both in the past, and been quite content.