Quote Originally Posted by CoventryCat86 View Post
Here's my table saw:



Powermatic 1792010K. 5hp, 10" with the 50" Accu-Fence system.

As far as a miter saw, I would highly recommend you spend the extra money on a SLIDING COMPOUND miter saw. You can do so much more with those than a cheapie chop saw. Here's mine:



I'd suggest this one, it's a little nicer and newer. It's 12" whereas mine is only 10"



Oh, another fantastic tool is an ORBITAL "sawzall" (reciprocating saw). I have an older Milwaukee regular Sawzall and I borrowed a friend's Porter Cable orbital reciprocating saw and WOW, what a difference! Here's the one you need. model 6536-21:

I'm a huge fan of Milwaukee brand power tools, it's pretty much the only brand I buy. My 3/8" drill, my 1/2" D-handle drill, my palm sander, rotary hammer drill, Sawzall are all Milwaukee brand tools. I will admit though that I have a Porter Cable power planer (door hanging kit), a Porter Cable 3/8" right angle drill, a Freud biscuit jointer, a Skil worm drive circular saw (model 77 I think?) and a Ryobi palm sander (which is a piece of $hit) and a couple of Craftsman sanders (which also suck). My cheapie router is a Porter Cable, it's "okay" it does the job.

My experience at this point amounts to a simple workbench and reading material, so excuse my ignorance in advance.

I must say, that is a sweet table saw! That baby probably cost's more by itself than my entire collection of cheapie tools! With a nice table saw like that, I assume you make furniture as well as utility woodwork?

As far as the sliding compound saw goes, I'm not sure what it could do. Couldn't you do anything it does with a table saw like that and a few jigs or sleds? I've only seen people use a miter saw to chop 2x4 or 4x4 stock. I'm guessing a 10 inch saw could chop up to 2x8 inch stock? Maybe the slide saw is easier to work with than a table saw for smaller stock? As much as I'd like a nice saw, I'm probably going to get a cheap ten inch miter. They are on sale for $69, so I don't mind if it doesn't last longer than this years projects. It will handle the 2x4 and 4x4 stock I'll be using, and I can always upgrade later if I get serious and garage sale the cheapie.

I've seen the orbital sawzall on DIY. Definitely a more aggressive tool! I believe they gauged it to cut approximately twice as fast.