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Comment by criddell | Hacker News Reader

What are the big differentiators between a circular saw and panel saw? I’m just getting into this stuff myself and have been using a circular saw and a Kreg track/guide system.

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I own Kreg's track saw and table. It's great if you're doing a lot of sheet cutting. But if you're just getting started I'd recommend a regular circular saw. You can always clamp a straight board or level to a sheet to simulate a track.

A couple of tips: You'll need a lot of clamps. Don't spend much money on tools until you know what you're going to build. It's really easy to get caught up in precision and having everything cut perfectly. This is important in finish work, but for everyday stuff you don't need to worry about it.

If using hand tools is of any interest to you, I highly recommend the Anarchist's Design Book, Anarchist's Tool Chest. All by Christopher Schwarz and available from his press Lost Art Press. I discovered them via a comment here a few years back. His basic philosophy is woodworking for regular people to make stuff that are going to last and usable. Lost Art Press' website has a lot of book samples and full books in PDF form. It's worth checking out.

Good luck!

I think a Kreg track saw is a better place to start than a circular saw. I think the cleaner, more precise cuts you get with the track saw will help encourage a new woodworker.

What I have is a circular saw (specifically a Skilsaw). There’s a sled that you clamp on for use on the Kreg tracks. When I have it set up like that, is it similar to what I could do with a panel saw?

More or less. A panel saw combined with the track it is intended for will have often have a "zero clearance" strip along the track to prevent a lot of the wood being torn up when cutting. So, nicer cuts.

For me, having the sled "built-in" on a true panel saw makes for a less awkward experience using the tool.

It would be one thing if I went back and forth between using the circular saw and the panel saw but I truly haven't touched my circular saw in maybe ten years now.

It's just a lot of money for someone starting out. If I had to do it over again I wouldn't have purchased it.

You may be right. But a Kreg is on the entry-level end (about $300) and with the price of lumber these days ... $300 is not a big ask.

What do you think about combination squares? They look super useful and the common advice seems to be get a Starrett or maybe a PEC. Less expensive options probably aren’t a better value.

I'm glad you chimed in. I misremembered the price by a wide margin.

A few thoughts:

* Circular saw: a basic hand-held circular saw that can cut through stuff.

* Track saw: the cousin of the circular saw; comes with (essentially) a big metal ruler which the hand-held saw part 'locks' into. This means it can be super-accurate (to a fraction of a mm) and also do very long straight cuts (limited only by the length of your track). Personally, highly-recommended, and can sometimes do work that almost nothing else can, especially if you're working on a larger scale. Can do everything a circular saw can, but a lot more besides, and can cut boards into larger pieces than a table saw can manage.

* Mitre saw: a circular saw on a tilting rotatable arm, that allows you to do precisely-angled repeatable shorter cuts. For example, great for cutting lumber down into lots of shorter lengths for a project, or creating angled cuts for the corner of a frame, or similar. Recommended.

* Table saw (I think this is what you mean by panel saw?): an upside down circular saw sticking up out of a wide flat table, with an adjustable 'fence'. Great for quick efficient repeatable cuts on boards; for example, if you're making a load of shelves, or drawers, and lots of the pieces have the same width, you set your fence once than then push the board through the saw multiple times. Can also do mitre cuts but not as conveniently as a mitre saw. Can also cut 'rabbets' (slots) in wood more easily than most other tools. Recommended.

* Panel Saw: Large rack that can hold an entire sheet of plywood (4x8 or EU size 5x5) Saw runs on a tube/sled that lets you cut up / down on the plywood sheet. To make horizontal cuts the saw is rotated 90 degrees. On some panel saws the entire tube and slide will slide from left to right on the saw. On less expensive panel saws there will be a series of rollers along the bottom that lets a panel roll with the fixed saw making the cut. Most panel saws are mounted to walls. I've seen smaller panel saws that can be rolled around (panel sits at a 30 degree angle)

In my shop I have a track that my circular saw, jig saw and router can use for long pieces. I can break full sheets of plywood down. I use foam board insulation. Either on the floor for breaking down a full sheet, or for smaller pieces I put foamboard on my 3x5' workbench.

I have a Mitre saw that I use for small 8" crosscuts. For bigger crosscuts back to the track.

All of my tools are Dewalt 20v tools so I don't need to wrangle cables. The only think I can't do easily is rip small widths of long pieces.

Ah, thanks for clarifying - I've only ever seen one of those in a hardware store, and never heard of anyone having one in a hobby workshop!

Out of interest, which system do you have which allows a jigsaw and router to use your track?

It's an aftermarket track. I bought it because the track comes in 50 inch pieces that can be connected together. I custom built the three sleds (Circular saw, Jig Saw and Router) to use the track as support. But there isn't anything from stopping you from using the track as a long straight edge and sliding the shoe of all the tools along it. It just takes a little finesse to keep the power tool tight to the slide and not let it wobble off.

The three sleds took about 45 mins to make the first one (fiddle-fiddle-fiddle-some-more-fiddle) and then the other two took about 15 mins each.

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