New saw!

Ten years ago I started a new hobby, woodworking. I had $500 to start building a new shop to do it with, and $425 of that went to a new table saw from Grizzly. The table saw was going to be the heart of my woodshop so I spent some money and got a good one. Cast iron top, belt drive, 1 1/2 horse motor, nice features. It wasn't a Jet or a Powermatic but it didn't cost $1500 or more either.

I worked that saw like a slave for ten years. Here it is as of two days ago:

It has never complained. I won't go into details but I've not treated it kindly. Only in the last few months has it developed any issues at all, picking up a vibration that I can't get rid of without spending more money than I want. I've wanted to upgrade the fence for a while but a good fence setup is $250 or more.

So yesterday I sold it. It was like saying goodbye to an old friend to be honest. I've made mountains of sawdust with that saw, on top all of the acrylic shavings for projects I made here on TBCS. The good news is it went to a good friend of mine who will take care of it, and with the proceeds and some overtime I was able to buy a new saw:

My first Ridgid tool and all I can say is wow. It took several hours for assembly and adjustment (mainly adjustment, as I'm picky) but it's done and it is an awesome piece of hardware. The fence is smooth as butter with T-slots all over it, the rails are a lot longer than my Grizzly, the extension wings are thicker, it's got an enclosed cabinet so it's quieter and cleaner, it has a built-in mobile base feature to move it (which actually works well) and it runs like a dream. Passed the penny test with flying colors. Not too bad considering it was only $75 more than my Grizzly was ten years ago.

I can't speak for longevitiy obviously, but I really hope it works as well for me as my old Grizzly did. So far, I can recommend it with no reservations at all.