Modern Woodshop

In Episode 4 (A Contrarian’s Guide to Setting Up Shop) I made the case for making the bandsaw your first stationary power tool instead of the table saw. So, I was pretty amused earlier this week when someone started a thread on Woodnet asking this very question: “I have no tools… do I really need a tablesaw?” There were a few folks early on in the thread that suggested a bandsaw instead, but they were quickly shut down by the majority of the responders who supported the table saw. What surprised me was the reason that most folks were insisting that a table saw be the first tool: quality of cut for rips. The argument was that rips on a bandsaw will be rough while table saw rips will be smooth. To me, there is a flaw in this logic which can best be described with an analogy.

Here in Chicago, we get a lot of snow. To combat this hated substance, I have two tools at my disposal: my gigantic snowblower (which I have nicknamed “The Beast”) and my snow shovel (which I have nicknamed “Old Blue” since it’s blade is made from some blue-colored metal). When I want to clean my driveway, the first thing I do is fire up The Beast. It does all the heavy lifting for me and clears away 99% of the snow. The Beast always leaves a really thin layer of snow on the pavement when I’m done, however. If I left that layer, it would quickly freeze and become a hazard. So, when I’m done with The Beast, I take out Old Blue and stroll back and forth across the driveway, scraping up that last little layer of snow. Following this formula always gives me a beautiful clean surface on my driveway.

The moral of the story: the machine does the bulk of the work, but the hand tool gives me my final surface.

Many woodworkers today expect their lunchbox planers, power jointers, and table saws to yield a surface that is ready for finish. These machines were not designed to do that. Woodworking machinery was invented to do the heavy lifting… the exhausting part of the job. Hand tools, however, are still needed to provide a good surface. When you cut a tenon on the table saw, you need to tweak it with a plane. When you mill a board in your planer, it still needs to be sanded or planed prior to finishing. When you rip a board on a machine-any machine-one or two swipes with a jack plane will give you a beautiful edge. You may think that your table saw is giving you a “glass smooth” cut, but I guarantee you that taking one pass over that edge with a hand plane will change your mind.

So, you see, the argument that a table saw is a necessity due to the “perfect” edge it gives you when ripping is flawed. It doesn’t matter what machine you do your ripping on: you’ll still need to clean up that edge if it is exposed. So, I still recommend the bandsaw as the first machine in the workshop.