Purchased your first table saw or planning to buy one? Wonder what’s the right way to use it or what are its cutting capabilities?
You’ve knocked on the right door.
We’ve designed this guide in a step-by-step fashion, from the cutting choice up to the switching off of the saw after completing a cut.
We hope that you’ll find all the information you need to learn what table saws allow us to do and how to use them safely and effectively.
What Cuts Can Table Saws Make?
- Get Familiar With Your Table Saw
- Check the Calibration of Your Table Saw
- Installation/Set up and Safety:
- Better Be Careful: More Safety Tips
- Cutting
Keep reading to find out how to use a table saw or click any section above.
What Cuts Can Table Saws Make?
Most cuts that a table saw makes can be made with other tools such as a band saw or a circular saw. The only difference is you’ll make them faster, easier, and with more precision, accuracy, and repeatability with a table saw.
With a table saw, you’ll be able to make the following cuts:
- Rip cut: a cut that goes along the length of a board in the same direction as the grain.
- Crosscut: a cut made perpendicular (90°) to the wood grain. This is the type of cut you perform when making long boards of lumber shorter.
- Miter cut: a crosscut made with an angle other than 90°.
- Bevel cut: an angled cut that shapes the face of the material to an angle other than 90°.
- Compound cut: a cut that combines a miter angle and a bevel angle.
How to use a table saw
Get Familiar With Your Table Saw
Long before you start thinking about powering it up, you should take enough time to get to know your brand-new table saw. Read the instruction manual and learn how to use it before trying it out. That way, you’ll learn about its different parts and how it works within a few minutes.
By the way, that’s what we all should do each time we use a new power tool, especially those with a sharp blade spinning fast!
Two features that are worth mentioning here:
- The blade can be raised and lowered with a crank on a table saw. This allows you to cut materials of different thicknesses.
- Table saws have a mechanism for tilting the blade to make bevel cuts.
Check the Calibration of Your Table Saw
To make accurate cuts, you need a table saw that is well-calibrated. So, it would be a good idea to make sure everything is well set up before you start using it.
Unplug
First off, for obvious safety reasons, make sure your table saw is de-energized.
- Unplug it from the outlet or remove the battery if it’s a cordless model. (yes, they do exist!)
Check the Blade
Whenever you check your table saw, quickly inspect the aspect of the blade.
- Look for any irregularities, warps, or bends. Most of the time, you’ll only need to do a little cleaning
Make Sure the Blade is 90° to the Table
It is important to make sure that your blade locks in accurately at 90° to the table. That’s the angle you’ll use the most.
- You can check that by placing a square between the table and the blade, with the blade set at 90°.
Check the Bevel Angle
The bevel gauge on a table saw is supposed to be accurate. But if you want to check that, use one of the following two methods:
- With a digital bevel finder (inclinometer): Tilt the blade to any angle. Then put the magnetic bevel finder on the blade and confirm the accuracy of the angle.
- With a square: Tilt the blade to 45° and put a square on the table with the hypotenuse (45°) facing the blade. The square should fit perfectly between the table and the blade.
Installation/Set up and Safety:
- When you install the blade, make sure it will be spinning with the teeth facing towards you, and don’t overtighten the nut.
- A table saw comes with a riving knife. The riving knife is the most important safety feature on a table saw as it prevents kickback. Mount it, and never cut through the material without it in place.
- Once you’ve installed the blade and the riving knife, you’ll need to mount the insert plate that encloses them flush with the top of the table. This narrows the gap, prevents cut-offs from dropping down into the housing, and helps to make cleaner and safer cuts. Never operate a table saw without it installed.
- Your saw also comes with a blade guard. It’s designed to prevent the material from dropping on the blade and to protect your hands. You may have noticed that many experienced table saw users have it removed. But please, as a beginner, don’t take any risk. So long as you’ve not become extremely familiar with a table saw, use it.
- Most saws come with a dust port in the back. You may hook up a shop vacuum into it or use any other fitting dust collection system to protect your lungs.
- Support the material when you’re cutting. Two supporting accessories come with a table saw:
- On the table, there is a groove on each side of the blade. Those are called miter slots. They’re there to fit in a miter gauge. A miter gauge supports the material and drives it across the table when making crosscuts. You can also rotate it for making miter cuts.
- The second support accessory is a rip fence. It is used to make rip cuts and has a clamping mechanism that allows you to adjust the cutting width. On most saws, a ruler will help you set the distance between the rip fence and the blade.
- Use either the miter gauge or the rip fence when you’re cutting. Never use both at the same time. Also, never make cuts without any support.
Better Be Careful: More Safety Tips
- Any time you use a table saw or any power tool, please always wear eye and hearing protection. Also, secure any clothing, jewelry, or long hair.
- Depending on the material you’re cutting, you’ll also want to wear work gloves or a dust mask.
- Keep your hands at least 6 in. away from the blade. Keep your arms straight, don’t cross your arms when cutting.
- Raise the blade higher than the material being cut by 1/4 in. This not only enables smooth cutting but also lessens the risk of kickback and limits the potential for injuries.
- Get used to power up/off:
- Plug your table saw into an outlet.
- Make sure there’s nothing on the table that is obstructing the blade.
- Flip the switch on.
- Power off the saw. Most table saws come with a switch that allows for turning the saw off with the knee when you need to.
Cutting
Ready? Now it’s time to make your first cut with a table saw.
Rip Cut
- Remove the miter gauge and set it aside.
- Install the rip fence and set it to the length you want for your workpiece using the table saw ruler or measuring tape. Then lock the fence in place.
- When using the rip fence, you want to have your workpiece against the fence and the cut-off part to be on the other side of the blade. This gives you more control over the piece you’re working on throughout the entire cut.
- Making a rip cut requires either push sticks or a push block. The material needs to be fully supported to go all the way through the blade. Don’t ever try to complete the cutting procedure using only your hands if there isn’t a 6 in. space between your fingers and the blade!
- Grab the board or the piece of material you want to cut.
- Draw a line on the board to where you want to cut it.
- Place the board against the rip fence.
- Turn on your vac or dust extraction system.
- Turn on the saw.
From here, there are several possible situations:
- You’re using a push block:
- Grip the board with the push block and make sure nothing is going to touch the blade during the cut.
- Keep your hands away from the blade.
- Apply some downward pressure and push the board forward, neither too fast nor too slow, to complete the cut
- You’re using push sticks:
- Guide the board with your hands. Push forward with the hand that is on the side of the fence and use the other hand to press the board toward the fence. Always keep your hands at least 6 in. away from the blade (front and side).
- Once you’ve reached the limit (6 in.), grab your push sticks and place them as if they were your hands.
- Get back to pushing forward but add some downward pressure too.
- Continue pushing, neither too fast nor too slow, and complete the cut using only the forward pushing stick.
- The workpiece is large enough for your hands to be 6 in. away from the blade:
- Drive the board through the blade using both hands. Keep them close to the fence.
- Apply some downward pressure and push the board forward, neither too fast nor too slow, to complete the cut.
In all cases, continue with the following steps once you’ve finished cutting:
- Shut off the table saw.
- Let the blade come to a complete stop before retrieving the pieces.
Final tip: Once you’re confident enough to safely make rip cuts, try to keep your eyes focused on the fence when making cuts, not on the blade. This will ensure that the workpiece and the fence are in constant contact with each other and thus improve the accuracy of your cuts.
Crosscut
- Remove the rip fence and set it aside.
- Install your miter gauge in the left miter slot.
- Make sure it slides easily and that there’s no play side to side. Adjust it if it’s a little bit loose.
- Grab the board or the piece of material you want to cut.
- Draw a line on the board to where you want to cut it.
- Place the board against the miter gauge with your mark aligned with the blade. Make sure it’s in contact with all or most of the miter gauge’s length for better stability.
- Pull back the board and miter gauge together away from the blade.
- Turn on your vac or dust extraction system.
- Turn on the saw.
- Hold the board firmly against the miter gauge.
- Keep your body away from the blade and in line with the miter gauge. Never make a crosscut in line with the blade. By doing so, there’ll always be a reasonable distance between you and the blade. And, although it is very unlikely to occur with your riving knife in place, you’ll be out of the way of any cut-off piece that would kick back at you.
- Anticipate your moves, be mindful, and never approach the blade with any part of your body.
- Push the miter gauge forward and through the blade, neither too fast nor too slow.
- After the cut is made, pull the board away from the miter gauge with your left hand.
- Pull the miter gauge back.
- Shut off the table saw.
- Let the blade come to a complete stop before retrieving the cut-off piece.
Miter Cut
- Keep your miter gauge in the left slot.
- Set and lock your miter gauge to the angle you want.
- Follow the crosscut procedure.
Bevel Rip Cut
- Tilt the blade to the angle you want using the bevel gauge.
- Follow the rip cut procedure.
Bevel Crosscut
- Tilt the blade to the angle you want using the bevel gauge.
- Follow the crosscut procedure.
Compound Cut
- Tilt the blade to the angle you want using the bevel gauge.
- Follow the miter cut procedure.
Learn More About Power Saws
Check out our articles on how to use a circular saw and how to use a miter saw.
