A table saw is a stationary power saw with a circular blade fixed in a flat table. You feed material into the blade using a rip fence or mitre gauge, rather than moving the tool through the workpiece the way you would with a circular or track saw. It's the tool of choice for straight rip cuts, cross cuts, and repeatable dimensioning in cabinetry, joinery and general workshop use.
Ripping sheet goods to width, cross-cutting timber to length, and dimensioning stock accurately enough that every piece in a batch comes out the same. With a sliding table or mitre fence it also handles angled cuts and panel cross-cuts.
Festool's range covers both ends of that job: the 254mm TKS 80 for stationary, high-capacity bench work with SawStop flesh-detection braking, and the 18V CSC SYS 50 for a fully portable Systainer saw that sets up on site in under a minute.
Table saws carry one of the highest injury rates of any stationary power tool, because the blade sits exposed above the table throughout the cut. SawStop changes that: if the blade contacts skin, an aluminium brake drops into it and stops it in under 5 milliseconds.
See how SawStop works →
A carpenter doing 15 rip cuts a day saves around $15,492 a year swapping a cobbled-together fence and circular saw for a proper table saw setup, with a cleaner, safer cut and far less time lost to setup and cleanup.
See the full cost breakdown →
A rip fence and mitre gauge only get you so far. The right jig, whether it's a push block, a cross-cut sled or a taper jig, turns a repeatable, precise cut from a skill into a setup.
Browse the jigs and sleds guide →
