Miter Saw vs. Table Saw

[Bombarde16]

A miter saw can only make through cuts.  A table saw sled can also cut joinery.

[Chestnut]

8 minutes ago, Bombarde16 said:

A miter saw can only make through cuts.  A table saw sled can also cut joinery.

This isn't entirely true with saws like the Kapex and Bosch glide but in general yes.

[Tpt life]

To Rob’s point and in response to Nut...while most have stops for partial cuts, those stops are often finicky leaving rough cuts. 

[Chestnut]

42 minutes ago, Tpt life said:

To Rob’s point and in response to Nut...while most have stops for partial cuts, those stops are often finicky leaving rough cuts. 

I never said it was preferable, just said it could be done. Also when does joinery ALWAYS have to be glass smooth and is there a woodworking project that doesn't have at least 1 finicky process?  Must be careful with definite statements.

[Immortan D]

The Bosch Glide does a decent job at cutting half laps. The stop is solid.

[Tpt life]

The OP asked why one or the other. This gets a bit tiring offering ease of use and better first cut results just to have someone offer what they “can” do. In that vein I want to stick with just easier and better first pass. Dado...enough said. Tenon by jig or over dado...enough said. I will never get rid of my miter saw. I love it for trim and stick framing. For a lot of other things I get a better first approach on the TS. 

[wtnhighlander]

8 hours ago, Immortan D said:

Wrong answer. You can rip with a miter saw if you take the time to convert it to a radial arm saw. It only takes a few nails here and there and a few scraps of pallet wood. Remember, safety first.

Also requires twine.

[Immortan D]

3 hours ago, Tpt life said:

I will never get rid of my miter saw. I love it for trim and stick framing. For a lot of other things I get a better first approach on the TS. 

What are those other things? Sorry but since we've never seen a single pic of your work, I need some context.

[Tpt life]

1 minute ago, Immortan D said:

What are those other things? Sorry but since we've never seen a single pic of your work, I need some context.

Read above post...very clearly delineated. 

[Coop]

While we all have opinions, not are all alike. Yep, both machines are great for what they were designed for and I have both like most. And OP hasn’t been around since he stirred up this S#*t. Weathers about to get bitchin here in the next few days. Happy Fathers Day to all.

[Chestnut]

8 hours ago, K Cooper said:

Weathers about to get bitchin here in the next few days.

So way too danged hot and humid? We have high 80s forcasted .... i'm gonna melt.

Happy fathers day coop.

[Leaseman]

Thanks Chestnut, thats sort of what I was thinking. If you take cost out of the decision, a manufactured miter gauge like the Inca might be considered the better choice since you get the dead on accuracy as well as the angled cuts you wouldn't get out of a basic sled. Agree?

[Chestnut]

2 hours ago, Leaseman said:

Thanks Chestnut, thats sort of what I was thinking. If you take cost out of the decision, a manufactured miter gauge like the Inca might be considered the better choice since you get the dead on accuracy as well as the angled cuts you wouldn't get out of a basic sled. Agree?

Well yes ... and no. It's not entirely an apples to oranges comparison. The sled is going to support the work so as you move it through the blade (keeping your fingers a safe distance away obviously ) you're not sliding on the table saw the piece is stationary. Why does this matter? Small parts tend to give me a lot more issues with a miter gauge than larger parts. The other thing that is nice with a sled that is WAY harder with a gauge is very wide parts. With a cross cut sled i made i could cut and trim 28" wide cabinet doors with a miter gauge anything over 10" wide starts to present issues. So a miter gauge is a great starting place and as soon as you find yourself in the situations i described you either find another tool (Mitersaw track saw ect.) or you make a cross cut sled. Also sleds have some more flexibility with clamping and fitting stop blocks.

[Leaseman]

1 hour ago, Chestnut said:

i could cut and trim 28" wide cabinet doors

I'm assuming you mean 28" tall;  28"  up from the fence of the sled? The miter gauges I'm looking at can handle a width of 22" (Kreg) and 31" (Incra). So width is not much of an issue.  If you are referring to the height (or "tallness") of the piece can you point me to a picture or video of how a cross cut sled could handle this sort of dimension? It doesn't seem like it would work because you would have to pull the fence of the sled away 28" from the end of the blade to make the cut and the sleds I've seen would come off the slots way before. Not questioning your expertise just trying to understand. Thanks for your input by the way.

[Chestnut]

10 minutes ago, Leaseman said:

I'm assuming you mean 28" tall;  28"  up from the fence of the sled? The miter gauges I'm looking at can handle a width of 22" (Kreg) and 31" (Incra). So width is not much of an issue.  If you are referring to the height (or "tallness") of the piece can you point me to a picture or video of how a cross cut sled could handle this sort of dimension? It doesn't seem like it would work because you would have to pull the fence of the sled away 28" from the end of the blade to make the cut and the sleds I've seen would come off the slots way before. Not questioning your expertise just trying to understand. Thanks for your input by the way.

I guess it was 26" sorry. So the best i can describe this is a 26" long cut. So imagine you have a cabinet door that is 26" wide and you need to shorten it by an inch. I made the space between the rails on my sled 26" and extended the 2 tracks further than the sled. Basically you hold the sled off the table saw and then feed it in. I used it this way to trim cabinet doors.

[Leaseman]

Ah! that makes sense. And your saying a miter gauge wouldn't handle this sort of cut properly? Couldn't you also just run this cut using the fence that comes on the table saw (assuming it would extend far enough). 

[Chestnut]

31 minutes ago, Leaseman said:

Ah! that makes sense. And your saying a miter gauge wouldn't handle this sort of cut properly? Couldn't you also just run this cut using the fence that comes on the table saw (assuming it would extend far enough). 

Maybe you can get more than 10". This dimension is going to be dependent on the table saw as much as the miter gauge. The PM1000 i have has 10" of table in front of the blade. The PCS sawstop is the same the PM2000 has 11.5". Hanging the miter gauge off the front of the table will effect accuracy a lot more than a sled with 2 runners. You could make a sled as wide as you wanted as long as you had the space and strength to use it.

[Leaseman]

Makes sense. Thanks for your input on this. It sounds like they could both have their place

[Ron Swanson Jr.]

@Leaseman, I'm a little late to the party, butt I'll weigh in here.

You say that miter saw is more efficient for cross cutting and it totally is. The reason why we tend to use the table saw, as others have said, is because woodworking demands accuracy over efficiency. Reading this has inspired me to sell my miter saw station. I have the Kregg rail/stile system and it takes up a ton of valuable floor space in my shop. 

It's going up for sale soon. Thanks for the inspiration!