Power Saws Reviews

It is a professional tool, without doubt. It is a workout to weild this saw for even a brief period, though. If you are an exercise buff and are in great shape, you may not have any problems. It is quality made. Engine starts/runs fine. If you have to use this frequently, you might be able to cancel your membership to Gold's Gym !

Ok, so I've been spoiled rotten. I used this saw in the shop at the university where I taught for several years, and when I moved, I had to buy one for myself. For a serious furniture maker like me, it's a great saw-- powerful, precise, heavy, and it turns out, easy to set up, if you have help. My husband and I put it together over the course of a day and a half, with very little disagreement or confusion. I suppose you could assemble it alone, but an extra pair of hands makes wrestling the hefty thing into place, alignments, and leveling a lot easier. There are five different instruction booklets and as many boxes and bags of hardware, but the directions, along with the pictures, are quite clear, and every nut and bolt is accounted for. This is the first time I've ever set up my own saw, and I really expected assembly to be far more difficult than it was.

The Rout-R-Lift is a worthwhile, space-saving addition, with clever, well-made hardware. The March/April 2002 issue of Fine Woodworking has a review of this router-table mechanism, along with some others, and they are quite complimentary about it as well.

I have only a few reservations about the whole package, all fairly minor. The first is that this tablesaw requires you to jam a piece of wood into the blade in order to loosen the arbor nut. It would be so much better if there was some other mechanism that didn't endanger the blade, your fingers, and the arbor nut. I hope Powermatic (now owned by Jet) will address this in subsequent models. I'm also not crazy about the splitter and blade guard, which seem clunky and distracting. I plan to replace them with a Biesemeier removable splitter, but I haven't decided what to do about the guard. Seems as if being able to keep an eye on the blade and your fingers' relationship to it might be the best kind of safety device, although I know there are others who would disagree. My second reservation is that the legs on the cabinet, while easily assembled and adjustable, are made of plastic, and only plastic! I think I might eventually replace them with something a little more substantial. They are set up rather strangely in the picture above, by the way. All the legs go on the cabinet, not right up against the tablesaw. If you want to put the entire thing on a mobile base, or set up the cabinet and router lift separate from the tablesaw, they have instructions for doing that as well. One other helpful thing about set-up that is mentioned in Ian Kirby's tablesaw book is that you should be sure to clean off the thick gunky grease that is slathered on the movable parts for shipping and storage (mineral spirits will take care of this) and replace it with some light machine oil, or the sawdust will collect in it and eventually bog the mechanism down.

I am thrilled to have this machine. It is expensive, but I expect to still be using it when I am an old lady, many years from now.

This is an update-- I've now had the chance to use this machine for several months. I still love it, but some of the things I thought were problems are not, and a couple others are that I hadn't really noticed before. Here goes... Plastic legs-- not a problem, I don't even notice them anymore. Blade changing? Also not a problem-- I got one of those plastic things you fit over it to protect the blade and it works fine. The router mechanism is great, very easy to set up, change bits, etc. The only problem I've had with it is that I don't yet have my dust collection system in place, and ALL the dust from the router ends up IN THE CABINET! Yuck. I think this will improve once I connect the dust collection, but in the meantime, the cabinet is virtually useless. The other problem is that on the Powermatic, anyway, you apparently cannot use a Biesemeyer splitter with a Forrest blade-- they bump into one another. NOT GOOD. Powermatic and these other 2 companies need to get together and relocate their connectors, and they would be a great team. The splitter was great, while it was on my machine with another blade, but I like the Forrest blade even better than the splitter. So guess which one is in use?

I am very happy with this saw so far. It is a great upgrade from the 10" benchtop saw that I have used for the past 10 years. I ordered it from a local supplier. When the saw arrived they loaded the main box into the back of my pick-up truck with a fork lift. I bought the saw with the 30" table, router-lift and mobile base. I loaded the rest of the boxes and drove home. After unloading everything except the main box, I unloaded it by opening the box and taking everything out part by part and my son and I unloaded the saw.

The instructions are good. One interesting tidbit is that there is a hint at the beginning of the instructions that says not to remove the protective wax coating until the saw is assembled. Then immediately after this list of hints, before step one in the instructions, it says to remove the protective coating from the saw table. I removed it first so that I wouldn't be sticking my fingers in it during assembly. WD-40 works great to remove the wax coating. Spray it on, wait a couple of minutes and scrap it off lightly with a scraper and wipe with a paper towel. I used a plastic scraper just to be sure that I didn't scratch the table top.

One review mentioned that there was no information in the instructions on aligning the blade with the T-slots. There is information in my instructions about this. Mine came pretty well aligned, however, I think they need some fine tuning. I ordered an alignment tool and am waiting for that to arrive before I delve into making that adjustment. If I had had the alignment tool I would have done this when I first opened the box. Stand the saw up on its back or side, put a blade on the arbor and adjust it while you have easy access to the bottom and top of the table. If this process proves difficult I will check into the after market devices that you can put on the trunnion bolts to make small adjustments.

Others have mentioned the difficulty mounting the pulley cover on the motor. The pulley cover assembly sandwiches between the motor and the motor mount. When mine rubbed the belt, I loosened the motor mounting bolts and adjusted the postion of the pulley cover assembly and it works fine.

I attached the cast iron table extensions. On one side I had to use a couple of sheets of paper as a shim to flatten the extension with the main table surface.

I also bought the table extension with the Router-Lift insert. The extension is OK but could be of higher quality. I attached it by laying the tubular steel from the front T-Square rail across the back of the table and clamping it down and then clamping the extension table to it. I did the same with a piece of wood on the front of the table. I would drill and attach the rear of the table, then move the tubular steel to the front of the table and do the same. The extension table did not come with hardware for mounting it to the rails. I have no idea why this hardware is not included. That required a trip to the hardware store.

The T-Square rip fence is great with the exception of the plastic faces. There was a slight bulge in the fence just past the center screw. The fence face bulged out on both sides of the fence. I tried fixing it by adjusting the the screws and checking the steel behind the plastic face. It was flat. Since I didn't really like the plastic faces anyway, I replaced them. I went down to the home store and bought a half inch thick 36" x 6" high pressure laminate shelf with finished edges. I cut a 2" strip off each edge (using the T-Square without the plastic faces), drilled the holes and mounted it on the steel T-Square. It works great. It is flat and takes a pencil line much better than the plastic.

The product is a great product. All Safety Speed Cut equipment is high quality. I wanted to share the great experience I had ordering this through Amazon. The H4 saw was crated and wrapped. It arrived a few days after ordering without a scratch. The delivery person helped me unload the heavy saw and put in my garage. This was much more convenient then purchasing locally. I wouldn't hesitate ordering heavy woodworking equipment from Amazon again. Great service.

This will do exactly what it said it will do, cross cut counter tops. I am sizing a lot of pre-formed counter tops. I just need to cross cut them.

The salesperson, Emily was helpful in explaining what it would and wouldn't do. I had priced some radial arm saws and they were about $8K, using hard to find 20" saw blades and required 3 phase power. This thing is so simple. Assembly was minimal taking about an hour. (If I bought a second one, it would take about half the time for assembly.) I bought the dust collector and a 100 tooth saw Blade. I made about 600 to 700 cuts before I needed to sharpen the optional 100 tooth blade. I live the way the dust collector sucks up the saw dust on the table top. I haven't needed to sweep the dust from the table top yet.

The cons were the dust collector I bought. It took about an hour and a half to put together but did the job collection the dust from the table and saw. I would also buy two of the 100 tooth saw blades so I have one in the machine when the other one is getting sharpened.

All in all, an outstanding investment. Beats the heck out of my Dad's antique radial arm saw.

This is the 3rd one I have purchased (literally wore out one) and they are simply the finest pruning saws I have ever used. Cuts fast, clean and requires less energy and power when you learn to cut on the pull stroke rather than push.

I didn't even know this saw existed, until recently. Now, its my favorite circular saw. I seldom pull out my trusty old model 77 (the 7 1/4" model). Still kinda heavy, but 2 1/2 pounds lighter is enough difference that you can definitely feel it. Same great torque, and same great fit and finish. Can still cut a 2x4 at 45 degree bevel.

Blades are a little hard to find. Like the professional review said, make sure you get diamond arbor blades. I've been using the Freud Diablo D0624X 6-1/2" x 24-Tooth, with great results. Gotta order them online, 'tho, no one local here carries them.

As a builder for 40 years I've used all of the saws out there: 16 inch beam saws, worm drives, sidewinders even chain saws. The 6 1/2 inch Skil is quicker and more comfortable to use for the proper work load. I've used it for interior finish work, paneling and exterior finish work, siding, fascia. The smaller Skil is more responsive and easier to handle. If you have to raise and lower a saw one hundred plus times a day you soon appreciate this saw.

I have been using mostly to keep my miter slots and table saw fence well lubricated. It does an excellent job.

It looks like a denser version of petroleum jelly and a little goes a long way. This one pint will last me most of the year.

You should be able to use it in most any application that requires lubrication. Its also touted as a rust protectant, but I've been using the Boeshield Rust Prevention product for that.

A little dab will do ya. Go ahead and try it.

This product work great on my new mable floor, I needed it for to clean up the grout haze that the lousy tile installer did not clean up good after he grout the floor, since its mable there is not much other product that will clean haze up without damage the surface of the mable. This coating stripper was easy to use just follow the instruction, now my mable looks great!!!

From prior gas chain saw experience in Austria, I knew a chain saw did not need more than 3 horsepower so I went for this less expensive Remington electric model. Electric chainsaws are great. This Remington model was a mistake.

To tighten for the normal new chain's expansion is difficult enough for the manufacturer to append the manual with a special instructional page. Tightening is a multi step process requiring tools. Additionally, the tightening mechanism is of poor quality and difficult to service. I replaced the guide bar nuts with wing nuts.

The oil feed is both gravity and pump fed. Accordingly, if the chainsaw is set down, expect the ground underneath to get oil droppings. Additionally, one must empty the unused oil after each use. Of course there is the additional difficulty of keeping normal debris out of the returning oil.

Removing the sprocket cover to clean and service the unit is too easy. Not recognizing a poorly indicated cover notch and the hidden tighening tab when refitting the cover readily allows misalignment and damaging the above poor tightening mechanism.

Finally, the chain length is odd and not indicated in the manual. It is difficult to get replacement chain. (Found out it is 59 links).

A chain saw that is too cheap.

Amend: Pictured above is a replacment model.

I never would have thought an electric chainsaw would work that well. I spent last night cutting 13" trees with no problem. You just squeeze the trigger and go. The best part? I didn't walk in the house reeking of gas! As long as you are near an outlet this electric chainsaw is the way to go!