The author looked at 13 popular 3-hp, 220v 10-in. cabinet saws. In addition to evaluating the saws for power and safety, he also tested for tabletop flatness, for runout at the arbor shaft and arbor flange, and for parallelism of the blade to the miter slot. He found that all the saws offered plenty of power, solid rip fences, smooth controls, and flat tabletops. The Delta 36-L31X was the only saw that came up short on the arbor-flange and arbor-shaft runout. In fact, its arbor runout was the highest in the group. It has a tiny arbor nut that’s fussy to handle, and the switch is easy to shut off accidentally. An extension table and legs are included.
Regardless of the board’s grain, this jointer produced excellent results. Its fence was totally flat, worked smoothly, and locked well, staying in place even after jointing multiple edges. Getting the fence to 90° was very easy, but the 90° stop was a little tricky to set and the fence did not go back to square when using it. For those who would use it, there is also a digital depth-of-cut scale.
Priced nearly $300 less than the DeWalt 735X, the Ridgid R4331 is an excellent value. Its three-knife cutterhead left wonderfully clean surfaces on plainsawn white oak and white pine. It did not perform nearly as well on curly maple as the 735X.
With its graceful curves, cabriole legs, and ornamental back splat, a Queen Anne side chair is a bucket list build for many woodworkers. Dan Faia had a very specific Queen…
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Jun 01, 2006
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