Table saw

[Michael Bush]

>I am not a wood worker at all ..... notta... ziltch!

Well, I've been doing woodworking with my dad as long as I could remember, and then shop, and then I was a carpenter and of course now I build a lot of bee equipment.  I used a table saw a lot over the years, but never owned one until 10 years ago or so.  I once freeformed shaped an electric bass guitar with a skill saw... and made many top bar hives with nothing but a skill saw.  Not to be a wet blanket but if I were only learning woodworking to build a few nucs, I'd save my fingers and buy them... or if you insist, I'd buy the saw stop:
www.sawstop.com

At least that way it's unlikely you'll cut off your fingers, but you still could get hurt on a kickback...  I worked with an old carpenter who had been using power saws all his life (started doing carpentry professionally when he was 16) and he cut himself for the first time when he was in his sixties.  Working late.  Tired.  One second of losing his concentration.  Ran his thumb through a table saw.  He only kept his thumb because he always followed safety procedures and the blade only stuck up 1/8" above the wood... but an 1/8" by 1/8" channel cut out of your thumb makes it hurt the rest of your life every time it gets cold...

You can buy a cheap table saw and be very careful (which is what I have done, but I'm considering the SawStop).  You can just use a skill saw.  Of course you can cut a finger off with a skill saw too, but it's more difficult and kickback is less of a problem.  Especially if you buy a small skill saw that doesn't have so much power.  I don't like the ones with a brake in them because they jump too much when you shut them off.  I've used a worm driven 7 1/2" that would almost jump out of your hand when you let go of the trigger.  That is less of a problem with a direct drive as the torque is more forward and back instead of a twist.  If it was mine (it was not) I would have greased the brakes to get it to still stop but not quite so suddenly.  If I were buying one today I'd be looking for something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Rockwell-RK3441K-Compact-Circular-Saw/dp/B00GTEU0M4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1415799907&sr=8-3&keywords=trim+saw

You want it light.  You want it to be able to cut through a 2 by (1 1/2").  You want it light.  You want the blade on the left side (unless you are left handed) so you can see where you are cutting.  You want limited enough power that if it tries to kick back you don't lose it.  Better to have it stall than kick back...

To me the real advantage of being a woodworker is being able to build things that I can't buy.

As others have said, I have a table saw, but I would cut plywood with a skill saw unless I had someone to help me run the plywood through the table saw.



Sawstop link didn't open: Edited to make clickable,  Buzzbee