$5 Worth Of Saws

As promised yesterday, here are my 4 favorite powered saws. None of these are hand saws as they are a lot of work and that's not anything close to a favorite of mine. Also, I do need to point out that I only own 5 powered saws.

The first two do the brunt of my hacking and slashing work. They are the Delta Shopmaster TS200LS Bench Saw and the Ryobi TS260 Miter Saw (Chop Saw). The bench saw was a holiday gift from my mother-in-law (Thanks again Ma!!!) The miter saw was given to me by a co-worker and came in a box of parts. An ill-fated repair for him was an excuse to upgrade and for me it was 3 hours of work to put it back together, correctly.



Also of note, both are 10" saws so I only need to maintain one set of blades. It would be great to have a set of fine, crosscut and ripping blades for each, but I'd rather have some other tool and spent the extra few minutes swapping blades between the two machines.

Between the two of them, I get nearly all of my straight and angled cuts knocked out. Above I included a link to the Bench Saw which is available from Amazon.com in case you want to get one. It is a great and economical saw but is has a number of limitations. A few of my projects will be designed to make that saw overcome them.

I didn't for the Ryobi because they don't make them any more. They do, however offer repair parts and online schematics for repair, so keep that in mind and you go. It's garage sale season and many towns also have a large item pick-up day for trash collection. As a guy over 30, I don't care if someone calls me a trash picker!

So far, my total investment is time and two thank you's only.

The next saw does most of my bulk cutting and getting things like plywood cut down to a manageable size. It is the Skil 5550 Circular Saw. This was a birthday gift from my mother last year. (Thanks again other Ma!!!) It is a good weight, adjustable and I can add an edge guide to it if I need to. Also, it's extremely affordable.



This saw will be the center piece of our first project TODAY. A cutting jig that will make cutting plywood and large panels "Marine-proof."

Because this was also a present, my running tally is still $0, time and now three thank you's.

My last saw is all me!!! I found it myself and spent my very own money at a yard sale for $5. It's the Mastercraft 105112 Sabre/Jig Saw. This is an amazing tool even at full price! Picture this ... A Jig Saw that uses Sawzall blades. You could, conceivably, cut a car in half. This guy is well worn but completely serviceable. I use it for rough cutting, hacking up things with nails in it (remember - sawzall blades!) and disassembling hardwood pallets for the lumber.

The total investment for everything is $5, four thank you's and some time. That's a $350+ value for $5.

Next will be our first project, that cutting jig for the circular saw and on the back of it, we'll have a jig for perfect routing too!