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1. Select a blade size Saw blades are extremely high-priced - the less saw blades you buy, the better off you will be. If you are planning on getting a miter saw, a table saw, a radial arm saw, or some assemblage of these, select a blade size and stick with it. While there are several blade sizes available, the most popular and common blade sizes are 12" and 10". If you stick with the same blade size for all of your saws, you'll be able to use the same blades with all your saw. In the long run, this will save you a lot of money. 2. Corded or cordless Cordless tool battery technology has made significant advances during the course of the last several years. Tools that you would think could never be offered cordless, such as miter saws and circular saws, now are coming out with cordless models. If you are thinking about purchasing a cordless saw and you have, or may someday have, other cordless tools, consider staying with a single battery/brand system -- that way you can swap batteries amongst all of your tools. Additional batteries are often extremely expensive -- it is often cheaper to buy a brand new tool than to buy additional batteries. If you buy multiple tools from the same manufacturer using the same battery systems, you will have extra batteries available to finish your job, this can significantly increase the work you can get done. Before deciding to buy a cordless saw, don't forget that even though cordless technology is very advanced today, battery lifetime may limit the amount of work you can complete in a single stretch. If you're a hobbyist or you don't use your saw for extended periods of time, a cordless saw may be the perfect solution. But if you're a contractor who will be cutting wood all day long, you will probably want to skip cordless technology for tools that draw large amounts of power. Battery operated saws are also more expensive to purchase and to maintain. Your cordless saw may last for 10 or 20 years; but you'll be fortunate if the batteries last for two. On top of the steeper cost up-front of a battery operated saw, expect to be spending more money in the future, perhaps repeatedly, when the batteries need to be replaced. 3. Do your reading before you buy A saw is a large investment -- they cost a lot of money and they see a lot of use in the typical workshop. Getting the correct saw is a big deal and even more important is to avoid buying a saw that you will be unhappy with. Prior to buying any saw, always check the web for rankings, reviews, and opinions for the kind of saw you are considering. If you use a saw for a week or so, you will form a definite opinion about the saw. But it is almost impossible to get a real feel for a saw just by looking at the specifications. When you read the internet for saw rankings and reviews, you will get the opinion of people who have used the saw and who have an informed opinion. When people have problems with their expensive new purchases, they are more than happy to sound off on the subject and warn others away. Let their bad luck save you from getting stuck with the same bad saw. Before getting any type of large tool, take a close look at the user manual first. You can find out a lot about how easy or hard a saw is to use by looking through the manual. If it takes a whole bunch steps and an iterative process to ensure that your table and blade are square, you can be sure that this will lead to frustration in your future. If you are thinking about a saw where there are several cutting configurations, look at the user manual to find out what is involved in changing the cutting configuration. If the set up is long and not easy to understand, it could be more hassle than it is worth and you will just not use your saw this way. So even though the saw has some neat features, if they are too much effort to use, you will not use them. So why pay for them? You can run across a lot of these sorts of problems just buy reading the manual for the saw before you buy it.
Article Source: http://www.phalenes.org/articles
William has been doing finish carpentry for many years. You can find his saw rankings at www.saw-rankings.com where he is a contributing editor.
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