I have to use an extra long fence to get good cuts on long pieces. Its not so much the cost of the saw, as the length of the fence, that matters. My fence is made of laminated pine, with the grain orientation set up to create a straight and true surface. I use two C clamps to hold the fence on the table.

I think it's a matter of perspective. A cheap table saw seems worthless next to pro equipment, but beats the daylights out of no tablesaw at all. I'd play with the floor models, see whether the mechanisms to raise and lower the blade and to lock the rip fence seem any different, then I might pick one with a higher amperage motor, if there's a difference between them. My biggest frustration when I was recently stuck using a cheapie was having a sharp blade stall out when ripping a 2x4, and having to wait while it cooled off.

Try Grizzly for some lower priced but still half decent saws.

Look for a used saw first. Many Delta 10" contractor table saws can be found for $200 used.

A Ryobi BT3100 is a better saw at $300 than the ones you listed in your post. I have owned/used both the BT3000---the predecessor to the BT3100---and one of the $200 Craftsman 10" saws.

The Ryobi was better. Sears also sells the same model as the BT3100 under the Sears name.

You can buy and use a $89 Ryobi 10" table saw----if you want to only spend a little money. HD has those models.

Fact is, the more the saw costs, the better it works.

Woodworking can become addicitive and there is a very good chance that you will want to do more complex projects later on.

I would suggest that you get a 10" saw with a cast iron table and one that is belt driven.

Check out Harbor Freight. (www.harborfreight.com)

Wait for a sale at sears and get a 10" with the most features. Make sure you get legs and a large table extension. I use it for rough cutting. Thats all I do. It just needs to spin and support.

Look inthe most recent copy of Fine Woodworking. Sears has a cabinet saw available for under $1000 that tested out pretty well.
I generally dislike sears power tools (crafstman or not) but this one looked decent. Zero blade runout (after the table was aligned) and a non-BS motor rating.

If it's for a one-off project, I'd get a decent circular saw, make some guides, get a good blade, and have at it. There are (well, not as many as there used to be); carpenters who build everything from houses to cabinets with a circular saw; as a matter of fact, the latest Fine Woodworking specifically recommends that method, and the Journal of Light Construction has an article on making cabinets with a circular saw. But then again, that's me, and I'm kind of cheap......

Reading your note indicates you want the saw for the occasional long piece of wood. Jason has pretty much the right idea - get a circular saw with a good blade. For the same abount of money you'll be getting a higher quality tool that can be much more useful for the odd jobs than a table saw. Also, the circ saw takes up less room and lacks the setup pains that can be associated with a table saw. I've sawn 8' lengths of plywood with a circ saw using another piece of plywood for the guide. The biggest hassel was setting up all the saw horses for the cut. And if that
s the biggest hasssel you are in luck.

Thanks all, (I'm cheap too Jason ;o). I was planning to get a circular saw too eventually. My most immediate project is to just trim off about 3/16th of an inch from a door to make it close easily so that may be too fine of a cut for a cir saw? Anyways, I'll mull it over a bit. Any advice on a shortcut (ha) to trim the door edge 3/16ths in a straight line? This is a bartender type of swing door (2 actually) that's 4' long. Need to trim them both 3/16" so that they'll swing freely past each other with clapping. vgkg

Power hand planer is designed for jobs like that. But a circ. saw will be less expensive.

Hand plane will also do the job with a bit of elbow grease and sharpening---the irons are seldom as sharp as needed when new.

Buy the circ. saw---practice on scrap, draw a line on the doors and cut. You will need to sand afterwards----a random orbit sander is best/cheapest for that.

Ug. I once built a house that had 11' ceilings, yet framed the doors just a 'little' too short. So I had to cut off 3/4" off of all 39 doors. Here's what I did.

First, I figured out (and most professional circular saws have this), how far away from the blade the plated of the saw was. On almost all pro saws, it's 1.5 inches, so you can, without a guide or line, easily split construction lumber. I measured up from the bottom 3/4", clamped on a straightedge, and heavily scored both sides with a utility knife. Then, I moved it up the other 1.5 inches (for the saw baseplate), and clamped on the straightedge. I put a piece of masking tape on both sides, and used a plywood blade (inexpensive, but with lots of teeth-in general, the more teeth, the smoother the cut, but the slower the work). Then, I just ran it (the saw), along the line; the straightedge against the baseplate kept the saw perfectly on my line, and the scoring and tape minimized any tearout.

I started out with a $99 cheapo Ohio Forge brand from Home Depot.
Now their in house brand is Rigid, but they are the same thing.
I bought it back in 1986. I still have that saw and still use it.
It is great when I need to take the saw to where I am working.
You could get one of these little saws now, and later get a better saw.

Pooh Bear

13 year old thread.

That is a spammer, handymac.