Woodworking
I have been into woodworking since I could pick up a plane. I have always enjoyed trying to recreate the hand tooled furniture from the past. Now I am not the Woodwright’s shop with Roy Underhill, I do use power tools. Don’t know what I would do without my table saw or miter saw.
One of the largest reasons I started creating and building furniture is I hated spending a lot on a new table and find out it is 90% MDF. A product says solid wood they are not lying, pressed sawdust counts as solid wood. After running into this several times I gave up on store bought wood furniture.
Tools
I have built my tool collection over many years. Started with basic set of hand tools and borrowed power saws. As I needed a specialty tool or put away enough I go out and but that special tool. Now I do have to say when it comes to larger purchases I spend a long time researching specs and reviews. Filtering through the reviews trying to see if it was just a bad production batch, or a previous version that had that issue. I do have to say it is well worth the effort. Haven’t purchased a lemon yet.
All the ripping and cross cuts can be accomplished with a circular saw and a straight edge. A table saw is the most import saw in my shop. I find that I can make all the cut I need with it. The sliding compound miter saw is next in my shop. I use this to cut longer boards and to rough cut boards to manageable size. Of course the circular saw is always good to have on hand. I find that I use this in woodworking for when I need to cross cut full sheet goods. Or when I am too lazy to pick up the sheet and run it through the table saw.
Table Saw
The table saw is by far the heart of the shop. With an assortment of jigs you can accomplish just about any cut. It is also unique, most saws you move the blade through the cut but on a table saw you move the piece through the blade.
I prefer a cast iron table and the motor to be belt driven. Direct drive motors are too loud and vibrate the blade too much. With the belt driven motor you have a quieter operation, smoother start and stop of the blade. The cast iron top give me a truly flat and solid top. Cast iron does require maintenance regular applications of Glide Coat help seal the top and prevent rust. If rust does form on the top you can use a 0000 steel wool and clean it. I also use a breathable tool cover to help protect the cast iron.
Using jigs will really expand the usability of the table saw. We can make a cross cut sled/panel cutter. This will allow us to cut large panels and repeatable cross cuts. A tapering jig is great to make table legs. The tenoning jig allows us to make quick tenons for mortise and tenon joints. Also you can create a box joint jig to make perfect quick box joints, another name for this joint is a finger joint. The possibility with jigs are endless. These are just the common ones I use.
Miter Box
The second most used saw in my shop is the sliding compound miter saw. I have a table and cutting bench setup to support long boards. This is a great tool to make quick cuts, repeatable cuts, and to rough cut boards to length. But the best use for this saw is as the name suggests, to make perfect compound miters. A compound miter is two intersecting angles.
The miter box is the best tool for longer and/or thicker boards. A table saw cannot make a compound miter on a 4″ x 4″ but the miter box can. Miter box is a great asset for woodworking.