Where to buy power tools in Seattle?

December 26, 2019 12:34 PM

I’m a beginning woodworker and want to buy my first table saw. I want to buy at a brick and motor store where I will receive excellent advice about selecting and setting up my new toy.

What I don’t care much about: getting the very lowest price; extreme accuracy; lasting forever; portability. What I DO care about: ease of use, simple setup, reasonable performance, customer service. Ideally I would buy this somewhere where they’d take it out of the box and check all the whatsits and give me a short lesson in the basic functions. I know this is more common when buying high-end tools but I don’t need Festool, just a basic saw for under $400. Where should I go?

posted by carterk to Shopping (13 answers total)

Do you have an Ace Hardware near you? I find that they're much more helpful than big box stores, in terms of actually finding a knowledgeable person to give advice.
posted by hydra77 at 12:52 PM on December 26, 2019 [3 favorites]

There's a Rockler in Seattle. The people that work there all seem to be serious woodworkers. But the stuff they sell there is definitely geared towards some of the things you don't care about and are probably priced accordingly.
posted by jonathanhughes at 1:31 PM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]

Not exactly an answer to your question, but something that may be of interest: The West Seattle Tool Library is a fantastic resource. It would be a good way to try out a variety of table saws to figure out what you like, and their volunteers are very knowledgeable. They also have a wood shop that you can use, and I think they have classes too? There are also tool libraries in NE and SE Seattle, but I haven't used them personally.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 1:39 PM on December 26, 2019 [11 favorites]

I am finding it very hard to buy amateur shop tools in Seattle nowadays - its the big boxes or mail order or a trip way out of town. Port Angeles works for me for a lot of things; maybe someone can recommend stores in Renton or Edmonds? The small-business parts of Bellevue?
posted by clew at 1:45 PM on December 26, 2019

If you like indie hardware stores, McClendon's in White Center has been there forever and has very knowledgeable staff. You might have trouble finding a person to talk to, though, but be persistent and patient.
posted by matildaben at 1:47 PM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: McLendon’s was bought out by an out of state conglomerate a couple years ago and their customer service has taken a big hit :-( Yes, I’m happy to travel to Kent or Edmonds to shop at the right store (south is better).
posted by carterk at 1:53 PM on December 26, 2019

While I haven't bought power tools from them, here is where I would go if I were you:
-Stoneway Hardware (amazing customer service, knowledgeable and kind guys)
-Hardwick & Sons (even the crotchety old guy was nice to femme me when I was buying a little saw to deal with some overly long bolts, sold me a file to deal with the sharp edges left behind and gave me advice on how to do it)

Or I'd ask Limback & Sons for their advice--they're a really great lumber supplier and might know where you should go or have advice on brands etc.

At Stoneway, I took in some pruners that had lost a screw. Found fasteners that were a solution, and the guy wouldn't even let me pay for them because it was such a small dollar amount. I'll definitely be buying a wheelbarrow from them and other stuff in the future.
posted by purple_bird at 2:26 PM on December 26, 2019 [2 favorites]

Woodcraft is a franchise, but the customer service at my local Woodcraft is excellent. Also, they sell Sawstop, which is what you should get. I know multiple people that have nipped off fingers with a table saw, and all of them would have paid many multiples of the cost of the sawstop to get their fingers back.
posted by rockindata at 2:28 PM on December 26, 2019 [11 favorites]

Rockindata and I must be on a similar wavelength: just wanted to add, please always use a push stick if you don't get a Sawstop. I know accomplished woodworkers who have had accidents. It's not worth it.
posted by purple_bird at 2:32 PM on December 26, 2019 [4 favorites]

You're not asking for specific machine recommendations so maybe this is off-topic, but what kind of work do you want to do? $400 won't buy much of a new table saw; you'll be looking at the lightweight, low-power, portable, jobsite-saw end of the market, rather than something suitable for furniture work. But you said you don't care about 'extreme accuracy' so maybe that's ok.

If you need instruction in the basic functions of the machine, then I think it's premature to be buying a table saw at all. Take some lessons somewhere, and get a feel for what this machine is supposed to do.

If the budget is flexible to allow one of the SawStop models mentioned above, they really are good machines and the safety mechanism is head, shoulders and torso above the simple guards on any conventional saw.
posted by jon1270 at 3:15 PM on December 26, 2019 [3 favorites]

I don't have a recommendation (unless you want to comeup to Vancouver in which case talk to the guys at KMS). However I'll note that an accurate, well made saw is easier to use than one that isn't. Also the SawStop is a great tool but they don't sell one anywhere near your budget.

Table saws don't require much in the way of setup. If you don't have a dedicated space any of the 400 dollarish job site saws will work well for you; the differences in the details which you've rightly identified as something you should determine in person.

For a first saw even though you aren't price conscious you might want to consider a used saw. Saws basically don't deprecate after the first hit from new; you can sell them for what you bought them for so you could try out a saw for six months if you aren't sure and then sell it for what you bought it for if you don't like it.

If you have dedicated space you should definitely consider used even if you shop around at a retail store. You might be able to find a good deal on a used cabinet saw (cabinet refers to a particular build style rather than what it is used for) under your budget and it'll be vastly better than any new saw you can get for $400.

You also don't want to move a non-jobsite saw fully assembled if you can avoid it (at a minimum remove the motor) so if you are buying a contractor or cabinet saw you'll want to assemble it at home. Some tool places will offer delivery and set up.

(Ha, I was going to recommend this Rigid hybrid saw figuring it would be in your budget considering the Canadian price (my sister has the granite top version of this saw) but it is actually more expensive in US$ in the US than it is in C$ in Canada)
posted by Mitheral at 6:21 PM on December 26, 2019 [2 favorites]

I can't answer the Seattle aspect of your question, but I'm in my third year of woodworking and I can share my experience with a very simple table saw.

I ended up getting a Dewalt jobsite saw (DW745), and that saw served me well. Ultimately, table saws are relatively simple devices. The things that make a saw better are safety features (Sawstop is outside your price range, but any basic jobsite saw should have a riving knife and anti-kickback prongs), a quality fence and/or miter gauge (Dewalt's fence is good enough once I calibrated the ruler, and I built a crosscut sled that is miles beyond the included miter gauge), and then fancy elements like quality of bevel adjustments, ability to take a dado stack, etc.).

If I could go back, I would have gone up one step in the saw to get the version with the stand, because I'm always struggling with getting the saw to a comfortable height in my shop. Now that I'm more advanced, I'm looking at an upgraded version that can handle dado stacks. But, once you learn how to use the saw safely and master how to set up repeated cuts, you can get pretty good results out of even a basic saw.
posted by philosophygeek at 6:51 PM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]

I’d recommend trawling craigslist and estate sales. Particularly in Lynnwood, Kent and other neighborhoods lots of Boeing engineers moved into. You won’t get new, but you can find high quality shops being parted out.
posted by unknown knowns at 9:26 PM on December 26, 2019 [1 favorite]