What’s a good basic table saw? I look at them online and can’t really tell much a difference. I’m tempted to just get a harbor freight one but know the fence will probably be loose and other annoyances…
Anyone have a specific recommendation for someone who is only occasionally playing around with simple carpentry?
Bingo. My first table saw was a heavily used Ryobi direct drive. It was noisy at hell and hard to use with precision, but it only cost $25 and helped me figure out if I wanted to get into woodworking or not.
Seriously, if you’re just getting into this, you don’t need to drop $1000+ on a SawStop. If you have the money, fuck yeah, get one. If not, just use proper technique, tools, and PPE. Be extremely careful as even the cheapest, most underpowered saw will take multiple fingers off in less than a second. If you’re not scared, get scared. I’ve been doing this for over a decade and my table saw still makes me wary. That’s a good thing.