Hello, this is my first post.
I am new to woodworking and am looking to buy a circular saw to cut plywood sheets to make furniture.
I have not found any new reviews here for circular saws. I can’t afford a Festool. Any other recommendations? Or, can you guide me to an article that compares circular saws?
Thanks.
Replies
I use a regular circular saw with an aluminum bar but check this saw out .
http://www.dewalt.com/us/tracksaw/
One of these days I will win the lottery and by one.
Good luck with your research
Bob
Dear Bob,
A Festool knock-off............... I like it!Best,John
I have a Porter Cable 743k and it works well. I got used to a Skill 77 and I think they are great saws. If all your going to cut is sheet goods the little Porter-Cable that Norm uses on his show looks nice.
Troy
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I have a Porter Cable 743k and it works well. I got used to a Skill 77 and I think they are great saws. If all your going to cut is sheet goods the little Porter-Cable that Norm uses on his show looks nice."
I have the same PC with a forrest 7 1/4" blade and a clampling strait edge works great. The festool is awsome but expensive. I've seen the vids on the new dewalt track saw and it looks good as well just not seen any pricing.
Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
I have a Skilsaw mag 77 that I use for carpentry work, it's indestructible and gets the job done. However I don't use it in the shop because it's heavy. I went and bought a cheap Milwaukee circular saw for the shop, works great. Craftsman has some newly designed power tools that look pretty good, definitely worth checking out.
gringo,
That Dewalt equipment looks very nice.
Festool is the high end of such sawing systems.
http://www.cpofestool.com/categories/saws.html
I like the Porter Cable 324 Mag. It is one of the few stand-alone circular saws that has a decent dust collection port. It's an excellent piece of equipment.
http://www.taunton.com/finehomebuilding/toolguide/product-finder/porter-cable-mag-circular-saw.aspx
This saw can be used with the EZ system in the same way as the Dewalt and the Festool.
http://www.core77.com/blog/featured_items/the_ez_smart_woodworking_system_10777.asp
http://eurekazone.org/index.html
There is also a Porter Cable 423 Mag. The 324 is a "blade right saw" - the blade is to the right of the handle. The 423 is an identical saw, except the blade is to the left of the handle. Some workers prefer one way, some prefer the other. Only the 324, blade right saw, can be used on the EZ System.
Rich
Edited 11/16/2008 10:31 pm ET by Rich14
Most 7 1/4" saws can be tuned to cut stright in the shop. Biggest problem is the dust.
I use a Makita 5057KB intended for cutting hardi planks. Its has great dust collection built in. The standard blade cuts across grain with little splintering. Almost as good as a 150 tooth plywood blade. I don't need to retrim after cutting.
Edited 11/16/2008 10:31 pm ET by USAnigel
I use the PC mag inside the shop in cold weather (only about 2 1/2-3 months in Atlanta as it had good dust collection. But... I use the much lighter weight Rigid Fuego outside as it's even easier to handle than the PC mag.
Sarge..
I will be doing most, if not all, of my cutting outside, and so dust collection is not a big issue. Thankfully here in Mexico it does not get too cold.
Other than cost, the one thing I am concerned about is tearout. Are there special blades that will reduce this.
The EZ system achieves cuts with tear out on a par (that is, none) with table saws that use zero clearance inserts surrounding the blade and high quality blades. But the EZ does this with ordinary 7-1/4" circular blades. They say it's the combination of their base and the plastic inserts which form a zero-clearance surround for the blade. You could get an EZ base (they fit any saw) and the plastic inserts. This will reduce the maximum depth of cut by the thickness of the base.Or you could attach a sheet of 1/4" material (MDF, plywood, masonite) to the underside of your saw's base and plunge cut the blade through that to achieve a zero clearance plate. I've found that works about as well.Rich
I use a clamp on guide as Norman mentioned.. a high tooth plywood blade and simply tape a piece of blue painters tape on the side of ply that will show on the cut line. Works like a charm for me.
Regards and welcome to the forum...
Sarge..
Edited 11/17/2008 10:48 am ET by SARGEgrinder47
Which model of Porter Cable does Norm use on his show?
Hopefully you will get a answer from someone that see's this post. I have been wood-working for 38 years now and have never seen Norm on TV. I did get to meet him a few months ago at the International WW Show in Atlanta where I was demonstrating machines for Steel City Toolworks.
Norm was there in conjunction with DeWalt.. at least he gave a seminar sponsored by DeWalt where they gave away a lot of machinery. I don't watch much TV so... sorry I can't answer that.
Regards...
Sarge..
You guys are talking about Norm. The answer to what tool he uses is alwas the same, no mater if we are talking Router or Saw or any other hand tool. What ever one he wants at any given time. He has pretty much all of them. (At least from the tool company that pays the bills). The man changes routers the way I change bits. Ok I admit it I think he has more routers then I have bits.
Doug M
The little panel saw he uses is the Porter Cable 314, a very nice little saw.
You can't have too many routers or bits unless your idea of a good time woodworking is doing setups and bit changes.
No one provides tools to me yet I find it useful to have 9 routers, hundreds of bits and some extra bases.
I think you will find that most pro shops that use routers will have more than one and Norm is a pro.
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Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.~ Denis Diderot
If the PC 314 is the small 4 1/2" one... I would love to have it just for ply but can't justify it. I came very close to purchasing the PC Saw Boss 6 1/2" cordless just for ply. But.. the Rigid Fuego 6 1/2" is geared to deliver the power of my PC mag at 15 A and is lighter.. great feel in my hand and can be used as a deck hand outside. It just doesn't have the saw-dust collection inside but between projects I'm working on that.
I do wish the Saw Boss cordless was available in Lithium.
Regards...
Sarge..
The 314 is the 4 1/2 worm drive. I can't justify it either but it is one beautiful tool. A few years ago they had an anniversary edition that had polished cases and no paint, it was all I could do to keep my wallet in my pocket. I could have had it at cost and had I known they were going to sell out to that unspeakable junk maker I would have bought it justification or not!
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Men will never be free until the last king is strangled with the entrails of the last priest.~ Denis Diderot
Definitely a nice saw.... I am not totally sure what to expect from PC in the future but am not getting my hopes up. I have a basically new PC biscuit cutter I started to sell on the forums the other day. Excellent biscuit cutter but.. I just prefer biscuits with a slab of ham and red-eye gravy on the side or a big pork chop hanging out the sides of the biscuit daring me to engage. ha.. ha... ha..ha..ha..
But.. I decided to hold on to it with the recent acquisition as I feel the used price might go up considerably in the future with only about an hour on the machine. Time will tell I suppose?
Regards...
Sarge..
Welcome to Knots! You'll find that these forums (1) contain as much information as a few good woodworking courses and (2) if you follow all the tool-buying advice here you'll soon go broke!
I have a small shop, and so use the Bosch CS 20 circular saw to roughly cut up sheet goods. I have the Bosch because it was well-reviewed and on sale, but any number of circular saws will do the job. Click on the Tool Guide tab above this page, and you'll see reviews of circular saws.
As for tearout, you can purchase a decent plywood blade at any home center pretty inexpensively. As I say, I rough cut sheet goods and then trim them to final size in the shop on my table saw, but as you are relying exclusively on a circular saw, make sure you make or buy a good, straight edge guide and clamp it firmly to your plywood. You can also clean up plywood edges with a bench plane or a block plane if the result is not perfect. Here's an article on working with a circular saw that you might find useful:
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ToolGuide/ToolGuidePDF.aspx?id=2659
And have fun!
Norman
You can check out some of the saws that Fine Homebuilding and Fine Woodworking have reviewed by clicking on the TOOL GUIDE tab, just below the FWW.com logo. There you'll get some details and price info for a number of saws. No matter what model you buy, be sure to put a good-quality blade on. For long, straight cuts, it helps to use an edge guide, whether store bought or shopmade.
I have a Porter-Cable Saw Boss. Nice lightweight little saw with the blade on the left, so as a right-hander I can see where it's going. Not the most powerful, and the plate is stamped metal instead of cast, but it's a nice size and would be great for sheet goods cutting.
Carlos
I have a very old 'sidewinder' that will cut anything with the proper blade in it and a so called junk Ryobi I got for about $100.00.
I use my so called junker on occasion to cut plywood sheets to size. I made a zero clearance plate to fit the base. A hunk of tempered hardboard with double-sided tape. I cut my sheets on a hunk of 2 inch thick foam insulation. 4x8.. And use a take apart aluminum guide. Cost about 15 bucks? I think..
Works for me! OK, so I cut a bit oversized and trim to final on the table saw.
Some advice I would pass on that I got a long time ago. You get what you pay for. In other words, don't get a cheap saw because you think you are going to save money. You won't in the long run, because you will find that some cheap saws are not capable of using all the accessories that a more expensive one will accommodate.
Hey Gringo, If you are on the East coast, buy a sidewinder, if you are a West coast boy, buy a wormdrive (like a Skill)
Really, it is up to you what you prefer. That being said, I have worked on both coasts and I prefer the wormdrive now. As far as the blade goes, use as expensive of a blade as you can justify. For framing, it doesn't matter that much but you don't want to fight the blade. As for "plywood" blades, don't bother. Buy the best carbide blade you can afford.
Good luck, but go back to college (I would, if I were you!)
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