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Tradesman Table Saws

Imagine you are a brand new homeowner and you’re about to enter the wonderful world of home improvement projects and you need a table saw.  Your next door neighbor has a Tradesman Model #8030 he’s pretty happy with and it was pretty cheap so you go off to try to find one.  You may very well drive yourself crazy trying to track this saw down.  Apparently they were sold at Lowe’s home improvement centers as well as at Sears and made by a company named Rexon Tools out of Taiwan.

You’ll be able to find a few reviews of this saw if you search the Internet.  The Tradesman 8030 was a low end saw aimed for the “occasional use” market.  Some reviewers point out it is similar to some Craftsman low end models, also made by Rexon in Taiwan.  The saws were also sold at Lowe’s under the “Task Force” label.  But to further confuse you, “house” label saws like Tradesman or Task Force or Work Force are often made by several different manufacturers.

So assuming you can find a Tradesman 8030 somewhere, should you buy it?  While the saw is very light -- which those for whom portability is a big concern love -- it is totally unsuitable for anything other than infrequent ripping of wood.  The rip fence is not self-aligning and requires frequent re-adjustment.  In addition, some reviewers have had difficulty with keeping the table surface flat during operation.  This is probably due to excess vibration and makes cross-cutting difficult, if not impossible if the bending and bowing in the surface is severe enough.

Finally, there are the safety concerns with this saw, which get only a passing mention from reviewers.  Table saw safety should be a paramount consideration in the purchase decision, but all too often it isn’t.  Table saw accidents are all too frequent and the majority of them happen to novice users, exactly the buyer who would be most attracted to this saw.  Reviewers have found issues with the way the blade guard/splitter assembly is mounted to the saw.  Blade guards and splitters are two of the most important safety features of any table saw.   If you are going to buy this saw, be prepared to check and re-tighten the blade guard’s single mounting bolt frequently.

In summary, if you are in the market for a table saw under $150 there are better choices out there.  You can get a basic Ryobi from your local Home Depot for around $100.  While not exactly a powerhouse saw, these models get better reviews overall.

There are many other manufacturers of low priced table saws as well.  A great place to begin your search is Amazon.com.  You can filter models by price and most have extensive reviews from actual customers.   You might also check out the many Internet woodworking discussion forums but be aware that many expert users on these forums take a pretty dim view of low end saws.  Even though you can do a good job researching a potential table saw online, it is better to buy these saws from a “brick and mortar” retail outlet where you can inspect the saw for yourself to assess its overall quality.  Make a list of some of the issues you’ve read about in the online reviews for the saw model you’re considering and check them out for yourself.  While few home improvement centers while let you actually run the saw, you can still learn a lot from visually inspecting the saw.  If a saw feels so light you could easily tip it over, imagine what will happen when using it to cut large pieces of lumber!