Being an admirere of European automobiles, I appreciate well-engineered machines like the new Hammer K3 Winner tablesaw (I tested the 31×48-in. model). The right-tilting saw is a smooth operator with a 3-kilowatt motor (a bit more than 4 hp) that delivers serious cutting power, an adjustable riving knife for enhanced safety, an electronic motor brake for safety and convenience, and a European-style rip fence that can be used in a high or low profile, all for less than most other sliding saws on the market.

Micro-adjust rip fence. The Euro-style fence lets you dial in the cut with precision.

Of course, the sliding table is the big selling point. Seldom seen on American saws, it provides super-accurate cuts with support close to the blade, replacing your shopmade crosscut sled and making miter cuts, trimming doors to fit, and a host of other fussy operations easy and safe, not to mention how excellent a sliding table is with sheet goods. This slider is silky-smooth in operation and has a locking pin that secures the table for ripcuts. The long crosscut fence is accurate and easily adjusted for miter cuts, and it features a stout flip-up stop for repeat crosscuts.

The 12-in. blade has a unique double 9mm pin arbor mount with a central 30mm bore. It’s available from Hammer, and dado blades are available from forrestblades.com (item No. DK06244; $337, with custom bore).

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Grizzly G0495X Industrial Helical Cutterhead 8-in. Jointer

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.

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Ridgid R4331 Planer

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.

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Shop Fox W1826

The thick, felted bag on this Shop Fox is a plus and a minus. On one hand, it makes the unit much less expensive than collectors with canister filters, and also lighter and easier to hang on the wall. Without a separate plastic bag to catch chips, however, they stay in the felt bag, and the shortish zipper on the bottom makes it tough to shake them out. Otherwise, the W1826 is an excellent value.

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