Table Saw vs Band Saw Help

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acmaclaren

acmaclaren

Angi the Maker
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
Messages
266
Location
Seattle WA
I need some advice. I'd like to purchase a saw that will help cut wood (1" max-soft & hard) to make pen blanks and small boxes. I'd like to be able to cut acrylic/plastic too if possible. I live in an apartment so it needs to be small and hopefully somewhat quiet while in use. Thanks in advance for the help.
 
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I do have a Miter Box and saw. It's what I've been using, but all the hand sawing is aggravating an old back injury.

I'll definitely look into a band saw.
 
Table saws are quite loud, but my opinion are more versatile for general woodworking. For what you have listed, however, I'd recommend a 10 inch bandsaw.
 
For the boxes a small table saw would work best but they are not even close to quiet. Set up properly you can get good glue ready edges. For pen blanks either would work. You don't need clean edges as you are going to turn them off anyway. For building boxes the band saw will leave blade marks on the edges which you will have to clean up with a hand plane or sanding.
In your position I would likely go with the bandsaw, throw away the blade that comes with it and get some good blades. I get my blades from these guys in Canada https://www.tufftooth.com/bandsaw-blades.php
They charge by the inch of blade length. I imagine there are plenty of places in the States that are the same.
 
I'll take a look at a bandsaw. As long as I don't spend hours using it, the noise shouldn't be too much of a problem.
 
You might look at the micro-mart saw. Micromart.com

It and the brynes saw are optimal for sma!l work (1 inch max) and high precision. Noise is managable. Micromart saw is currently marked down to $250ish and brynes is about three times that. Perfect for minatures.

Byrnes saw is heavier duty and probably a bit more precise if you are heading to fine detail segmentation.
 
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A well tuned bandsaw will do everything you need and more. Just get a variety of blades to suit your needs.

As for noise, I usually wear hearing protection when I'm sanding on the lathe and using dust collection. Even a shop vac is uncomfortably loud for me. But running the bandsaw, unless I'm doing a lot of resawing and running the DC with it, I don't bother with ear muffs, it's too quiet.

EDIT: One of the mini table saws mentioned above will also do fine for your needs now, but if you evolve into a bigger shop sometime, already having a bandsaw might be a plus. I can't speak pro or con about the mini table saws, aside from that I want one, but it's pretty far down the wish list.
 
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Thank you all for your input. After doing more research, I've decided on getting a MicroMark table saw. It has all the features I need.
 
I just purchased a Rikon 10-305 I made a table slide for it and it works great for my smaller stuff. I have not tried to segment on it yet but it is very quiet and seems pretty smooth for a small saw. I have the Rikon professional 14" as my main bandsaw but it is in storage waiting for me to move. This one is to let me make pens again!
 
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