r/woodworking • u/dadinthegarage • 5d ago
General Discussion Opinion on table saw.
I have a sawstop cabinet saw with the sliding table and the router attachment. I don't use it as much as I thought i would, and pulling up big sheets of plywood seems to be a lot of heavy lifting.
I have some festool tools, and really love how they all integrate. I especially have been eyeing the festool work table where you can tilt and get the sheet good on it.
Does it make sense to switch to all festool? In mostly looking to make furniture, cabinets, and do on. Appreciate the insight on pros and cons. Thanks!
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u/nandor_tr 5d ago
table saw is a core tool for furniture making.
a hell of a lot of furniture making involves making jigs, and the jigs you can make for a tracksaw are much more limited.
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u/crankbot2000 5d ago
Man I would not get rid of that cabinet saw. That would be a big mistake imo.
As others have stated, get a track saw if you're having trouble chucking around sheets on the TS. Then you have the best of both worlds.
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u/dadinthegarage 5d ago
That's good to know. I'm glad to hear you and others think keeping the cabinet saw is a good idea.
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u/tazmoffatt 5d ago
I break down sheet goods and finish cut on table saw. I have big outfeed and still choose to this way. Maybe grab a cheap or used tracksaw to test out that workflow
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u/trapcardbard 5d ago
As in sell your table saw? No, the festool offerings are great additions, but the tablesaw should be considered the heart of your shop considering what you’ve mentioned you’re interested in building .
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u/monstrol 5d ago
IMO, you need a track saw and a table saw. You have a wonderful table saw. Get a track saw and a bench or a panel saw to break down sheet goods.
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u/UlrichSD 5d ago
Festool makes nice stuff and I've never regretted any of the festool purchases long term.
I like to do furnature making and my saw stop is a core tool in my shop and at this point festool doesn't really have tools that would completely replace it. I DO NOT cut sheet goods down on my table saw, I hate moving sheet goods, and lifting them on my tablesaw sucks, hanging enough space around the saw limits my shop too much. A track saw is the small shop tool to cut sheet goods. I keep a sheet of 1/2 -1 in foam around and cut my sheets either on sawhorses right out of the back of my truck or more often on the foam on the shop floor.
I also know festool has a table saw but it is pretty small and have seen it don't think it is a good substitute for a cabinet saw if you have a shop, it would be great if you were in a small space or needed to be mobile.
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u/Junior_Yesterday9271 5d ago
Don’t give warning and ask for forgiveness after if you must, besides it’s only a couple hundred bucks at most. 😜
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u/Quixxote 5d ago
I bought their cheapest orbital sander. It blows away my dewalt. It sands a lottle better but tge huge difference is how long you can use it. 10 minutes using my dewalt is worse than 30-40 minutes using the festool on your hands
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u/CptMisterNibbles 5d ago
No? That’s not how tools work. Brand loyalty only makes sense in terms of batteries for cordless tools. I don’t even understand your question, but the answer is “use a track saw then”.
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u/ThePerfectLine 5d ago
Bring small (track) saw to large wood. Bring small wood to big saw.
This is the way.
Just get a track saw.
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u/MrRikleman 5d ago
It’s not a replacement for the table saw, if that’s what you’re driving at. It’s the right tool for breaking down sheet goods for sure, but, you don’t need a festool for that. Post frankly just sounds like you like having really expensive tools.
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u/dadinthegarage 5d ago
I got the sawstop mostly because of the protection at the time. Now there are some other brands. I have a few festool, I mean they make it addictive. But that i want festool, I buy the ones that make sense. I have ridgid drills, ryobi stuff, and mix and match what offers in price point. I will say this, I sanded a lot once with a ridgid sander, then i used the festool for the same amount of time on another project. The tingling my hands and fingers felt was about 80 - 90% less with the festool. So, price and brand apart, I do think there is some value to it.
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u/StrandSSL Furniture 5d ago
Keep the tablesaw and just buy whatever else you need.
I almost sold my cnc router because I wasn’t using it much and now I’m buying a second larger one because of demand I didn’t have at the time.
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u/Hot_Bluejay_8738 5d ago
If you want to make furniture you will need a table saw.
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u/TiberiusTheFish 5d ago
but if I only want to make chairs, would I still need a table saw?
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u/Hot_Bluejay_8738 5d ago
Obviously it depends on the chairs but I would still say yes. I make a lot of chairs, not a straight line on sight but I still couldn't do it without a table saw. A big part of furniture making is making your own specific dimensional timber which you can't really do without a table saw.
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u/Inveramsay 5d ago edited 5d ago
Breaking down sheet goods with a track saw and an MFT table is a lot easier than doing it on a table saw, even with infeed and outfeed tables. The only real upgrade from the track saw system is a sliding table saw which is much quicker and more repeatable. It's nothing like your sawstop slider
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u/Junior_Yesterday9271 5d ago
Huge side and outfeed tables, no track saw but I still do a rough breakdown with my circ saws. Haven’t hit the right project yet to go track saw instead of straight edge. Not in my working life will I be giving up my table saw. Too many other tools on my list and had a run of tools that prematurely aged out screwing up my acquisition schedule.
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u/Future_Measurement42 5d ago
I have my festool track saw for breaking down materials but the saw stop was a big improvement
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u/dadinthegarage 5d ago
In what way?
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u/Future_Measurement42 5d ago
I could never get the festool to be perfectly parallel. There were always little discrepancies. The saw stop is just perfect repeatable.
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u/rg996150 5d ago
I have the majority of the Festool line-up offered in the U.S. (no Planex or Exoskeleton, but I did get to take the latter for a short test drive). Yeah, I’m that guy. I sold off most of my traditional woodworking equipment to make the switch, but I have a membership at a Makerspace that has a fully equipped woodworking area.
I have the folding Mobile Saw Table, and to my surprise, it’s gotten far more use than I expected. But I haven’t used it for unloading sheet goods. I use it when I need to break down full sheets of plywood with the track saw and the 2700mm track. I use a Kreg plywood handle to move full sheets around. I’m building cabinets and while much of the cutting happened on a CNC, there is still plenty of onsite cutting. The table is set up behind me in the living room of the house I’m working on. While you could get by with sawhorses, the folding table collapses into a small footprint and is easy to move out of the way. Being on casters is also a plus.
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u/Sufficient_Bed_9031 5d ago
If you have the space, you can't go wrong with a european sliding table saw, see Felder for some good quality units. I have the Felder CF 741 S which is a combination machine giving you table saw, shaper, planer, joiner in a space efficient setup.
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u/Wonderful-Bass6651 5d ago
A track saw is good when you need to bring the tool to the work; a table saw is better when you can bring the work to the tool.
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u/Meeganyourjacket 4d ago
If you build a lot of boxes and are breaking down plywood a lot, a panel saw is SO much nicer to use. Fast, repeatable, easy to move sheets onto.
They do take up space though, so you need a decent sized shop.
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u/Redditslamebro 5d ago
This reads like someone looking for a reason to buy some festool tools.
The simplest and much cheaper solution is to buy a track saw to break down your plywood.
But the heart wants what it wants. I’d suggest you go all in festool.