First I have to state up front that I really DIDN'T intend to get a new saw ... wanted one sure, but times are tight.

Ok ... so I've completed the Toy Box and needed to get going on the crib ... gotta be done with that mid-March! So ... step 1 after having already purchased 100 board feet of prime rift-sawn 4/4 white oak is to dimension the lumber ... that is get it planed down to the appropriate thickness from it's rough "from the saw mill" state and get it cut to almost the final lengths/widths.

I spent a couple of hours cutting the 8ft boards from the saw mill down to 'near' the right lengths and then face jointing to smooth/flat one side of each board and one edge. The boards cut to length looked like this ... about 70bf more or less:

From The Crib

So ... having gotten that done the next step is to "rip" the boards lengthwise to get proper widths ... including some where multiple final width boards will be cut from a single wider boards as they currently sit.

I fired up my trusty Ryobi BT3100 table saw .. started the first rip and ... started feeling a serious bind of the motor and then smelling burning wood (due to the inability to feed the saw fast enough due to the motor slowing) and then the inevitable smell of burning motor ... THIS IS NOT A GOOD SIGN!! I swapped out the blade in the foolish hope that it was just a dull blade ... but when I fired the saw back up ... there were noises I don't generally hear ... and that ugly burning smell lingered ... C R A P !!!

I had worried if the small table saw I have enjoyed for several years would be up to the task of dealing with so much heavy hard wood ... I now had the answer ... "not so much!"

After seriously considering setting fire to the shop and claiming innocence ... I decided to start looking for a replacement ... I knew I needed something with more "heft" ...

I polled my internet woodworking buddies about a couple of ideas I had and one of them suggested I try to save some money by using the current "Live.com" offering that was going on ... save up to 30% of purchase price (limited to $200) ... now THAT was appealing since the saws I was looking at were beyond the budget I had in mind.

After much thought, deep serious (but fanatically fast due to the fact that the saw I wanted was only on ebay for a short remaining time and there was only one) ... I pulled the trigger on a "Cabinet Saw" (Grizzly G1023SL for those that care) and I saved (or will save after 60 days ... that's how the offer works) $200.

As for how the Live.com thing works ... and it IS worth learning about ... the following is a direct (lifted) quote from one of my woodworking fora ... give it a try it does work when they are running the promotion ...

You need to originate a search though Live.com that results in an Ebay hit that shows the "Live Search Cashback" symbol . The word "chisels" works for me just about every time. It doesn't matter what you search for initially, as long as it results in a hit that has that symbol that links you to Ebay.

Then enter Ebay thru the link from your Live.com search. You should see the "Microsoft" Cashback banner at the top of the page. Once you've got that banner, that session and the stated discount is valid for one hour....after an hour you can repeat the process to refresh it. Now you can search Ebay for any item you want, but it must be listed as a "Buy It Now" item, and they must accept PayPal as payment, and you must pay using PP. You'll see the Cashback banner at every step of the checkout process right up to confirming the purchase, so you'll know what your saving. Note that the discount is subject to change without notice....it has and will change but you won't know when until after. 30% is as high as I've seen it. You're allowed up to 6 cashback transactions per Ebay account...each transaction has a cap of $200.

Once you make the Buy It Now purchase, you'll receive an email from the MS Cashback folks stating that you've earned Cashback. It'll provide a link to set up a "Live ID" account with Microsoft. Your cashback will be available after 60 days, at which time you'll get another email with a link where you can request your payment. It typically goes straight to your PayPal account but I've read where others requested a check.