Hybrid Table Saws

Many serious woodworkers won’t even consider portable or bench top table saws due to their perceived performance and safety deficiencies. Time was when the only options available were the contractor table saw or the cabinet table saw. But times have changed and manufacturers now offer a new category of high performance table saws, the hybrid saw. Think of what you would get if you put a cabinet saw on a diet and that pretty much describes a hybrid saw. They all feature enclosed cabinets for better dust collection and cost significantly less than top of the line cabinet table saws, although when you get to higher end hybrid saws and lower end cabinet saws, the price advantage begins to fade away. They all have induction motors with belt drive systems and use cast iron in their construction, although their trunion design is not typically as solid as their cabinet saw cousins.

If you’ve spent time on the Internet woodworking discussion forums you’ve seen the debate over these saws. There are a lot of purists who simply can’t understand why anyone would not just get a lower end cabinet saw and be done with it.

There is one advantage hybrid saws have that may actually make them a better choice for some users: they run on 110-120 volt circuits. So if your situation is such that you can’t add a 220volt circuit, forget about it. Get the best hybrid saw you can afford. There are differences in both performance and safety features, so do your homework before buying. Let’s take a brief look at three models that pop up on most of the top 10 hybrid saw lists you’ll find on the Internet.

The Craftsman 22124 Hybrid Table Saw

This saw is very well reviewed and has a huge advantage over most other hybrid saws: you can walk into larger Sears retail outlets and play with it! For many of us, nothing replaces “touching and feeling” as the best way to check out a product. Another advantage of the Craftsman is the special sales Sears has on their products from time to time. The 22124 has cast iron extensions on both the left and the right and a solid pressed steel out feed table. It comes with a Biesemeyer fence and a 40 tooth carbide tipped blade. Although it gets high safety marks for its easily removable blade guard, it doesn’t come with a true riving knife. Catch this saw on a Sears holiday sale, and you can get it for well under a $1000.

The Steel City 35670 Hybrid Table Saw

This saw is similar to the Craftsman and also features an easily removable blade guard. For a true riving knife, Steel City has the model 35900G. Why are these safety features so important? If you ask most table saw operators what the number one cause of table saw accidents was they would probably say kickback, and they would be wrong. It’s the blade. As crazy as it sounds, some people manage to get their hands too close to that spinning blade, with disastrous consequences. You know there are operations for which you will need to remove the blade guard, but it needs to go back, and guards that are difficult to remove and reattach sometimes don’t find their way back where they belong. And splitters are attached to the blade guard assembly, so when the guard is off, you have no splitter. In contrast, a true riving knife is attached directly to the blade assembly and rises and lowers with the blade. Although a bit more expensive, the 35900G, which also features the newer granite top tables, is a safer choice.

The Grizzly G0478 Hybrid Table Saw

The Grizzly has won awards from both Popular Woodworking and Tools of the Trade Online for its performance features, but it is seriously lacking when it comes to saw safety. Not only is the blade guard difficult to remove, the power switch is not well positioned, and it doesn’t come with a riving knife. While it might be one of the cheapest hybrids out there, the safety issues with this saw are something to think about.