About Table Saw

A table saw or sawbench is a versatile woodworking tool consisting of a circular saw blade, mounted on an arbor, that is driven by an electric motor (either directly, by belt, or by gears). The blade protrudes through the surface of a table, which provides support for the material, usually wood, being cut.

History

The 1885 catalog of the W.F. & John Barnes Co., Rockford, Il. clearly shows a classic table saw and it is labeled as a "Hand Circular Rip Saw".

"Woodworking Machinery, It's Rise, Progress and Construction 1800-1880" claims that the first recorded patent for the circular saw was in 1777 to an English man, Samuel Miller. However Miller refers to a circular saw that was created in Holland in the 16th or 17th centuries.

It is doubtful that the name of the inventor of the table saw will ever be known.