“Maximize your tools!” must be pinned up on the shop walls of thousands of DIYers around the world.

It’s a good and noble goal… BUT… one thing I learned from finding answers for a recent ToolCrib.com question is that efficiency must NEVER come at the expense of SAFETY.

Here’s the question that started my most recent visit to my favorite woodworking forums:

Does anyone make a table to mount and hold a circular saw inverted so it could be used as a temporary table saw?

This is a perfectly reasonable question. The guy wants to maximize the usage of his circular saw.

Here are the responses this question got in Family Woodworking.

Here’s what some of the Woodnetters had to say

For the adventurous and well-insured here’s a link to DIY plans for building a table that converts your circular saw into a table saw.

There are manufactured tables available but it seems like they’re only available outside of the US. The bottom line is that a rigged-out circular saw is seldom going to be your best choice for cutting wood. If you need the portability it might be a good solution. Otherwise, STAY CLEAR!

And DEFINITELY go and read the circular saw as table saw discussions in FamilyWoodworking.org and WoodNet.net. There’s great discussions going on there and some funny commentary

Tags: circular saw converted into table saw, power tool conversions