I’m trying to make my son a basic table/chairs form old pallets. I discovered yesterday that not cutting straight is a real issue.

WHat skills/saw would be best to help ?

A circular saw looks like it would be useful for quickly cutting down pallets. I was doing this by hand yesterday and it took ages!

A sliding mitre saw seems like it is the thing for straight/square cuts. I was doing this by hand yesterday and ended up with lots of non straight cuts!

Is there a compromise in between?

Do I need clamps or a work bench to make things easier?

Can i rig up some guides and just use a circular saw instead of buying a mitre?

Do i just need to improve my technique using some basic woodwork secrets?

I see a future of building tree houses, various pallet based stuff, shelves etc. I want to avoid big expenditure if possible.

Circular saw is a good all rounder. You can make fence for it of just clamp/screw a straight edge to run the saw along for nice straight cuts. I’d get a blade that is happy cutting metal occasionally as you will most likely hit a nail if you cut enough pallets. Just treat it with respect as they can and do bite.

Check your pallets are not fumigated, most will be heat treated which is safe to use. (Google it, the pallets should be marked)

As above, circular saw will probably be enough, I have a decent pile of tools but have yet found a good enough excuse to buy a Mitre Saw.

Got a reciprocating saw recently and that is much better than expected, if you are just cutting pallets rather than sheet material, that might be the first tool to buy. I got the cheapest one in screwfix.

PS you will struggle to make anything ‘smart’ from pallet wood, the timber is irregular sizes and thicknesses. If it’s rustic, you’ll be OK.

Use a normal saw, but let it do the work. Lots of light cuts rather than hacking away really hard

Circular saw (cordless one with the blade on the left if your budget will stretch to it) and a roofing square.

Roofing squares have a nice thick edge so you can run the saw along the edge for nice quick 90deg and 45deg cuts. The square is marked out as a protractor so that you can quickly and easily set other angles to. They’re usually aluminium but Stanley make a nice big chunky one in thick yellow plastic that works really well.

The advantage of the cordless saws is the have the blade on the left so you can see the line its cutting easier and work quickly, holding the square in place with your left hand and cutting with the right without having to stop and clamp each cut.

If you are based in Surrey Berkshire I have a circular saw that you can have for free.

Cheaper alterternative would be apply less pressure to the sae. Don’t force it and follow the line by hand rather than a forced saw wandering.

Took me a while to get the hang as I was always trying to rush the saw.

These days I find a non rushed saw is as quick for 5-10 cuts. More than that I get the mitre chop saw out.

Could always try a tenon saw as a stepping stone with has a rigid back so your also not fighting the saw flex.

Useful skill to have.

Don’t force it and follow the line by hand rather than a forced saw wandering.

For hand sawing using a japanese style pull saw can get you into better habits. They cut on the pull rather than the push. The benefit of that is the blade can be a lot thinner as its in tension as its cutting, but because they’re so thin you get better at being more gentle with the push and you get used to being much more gentle with your handling. They’re also a much easier handsaw to get your cut started accurately on your mark.

Plunge saws make it easy and will also function as a circular saw.

This is the one i have and it’s good – http://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb673csw-165mm-plunge-saw-230-240v/9257j

I did replace the blade for a 48T one, but the one it comes with is surprisingly ok. Also check that the base is flat – my one had a small warp on it – screwfix swapped it no questions asked.

That being said – I built my camper with a homemade track saw – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYcdHlwKsOg

Works fine, but I prefer the proper tool now I have it.

I don’t buy into this immediate rush to solve a lack of skill or ability with power tools. Try a mitre saw, or a tenon saw. Clamp a piece of waste wood to your workpiece as a straight edge to use as a quide. Spend more time marking up. Use a try square.

I’m trying to make my son a basic table/chairs form old pallets. I discovered yesterday that not cutting straight is a real issue.
WHat skills/saw would be best to help ?
A circular saw looks like it would be useful for quickly cutting down pallets. I was doing this by hand yesterday and it took ages!
A sliding mitre saw seems like it is the thing for straight/square cuts. I was doing this by hand yesterday and ended up with lots of non straight cuts!
Is there a compromise in between?
Do I need clamps or a work bench to make things easier?
Can i rig up some guides and just use a circular saw instead of buying a mitre?
Do i just need to improve my technique using some basic woodwork secrets?
I see a future of building tree houses, various pallet based stuff, shelves etc. I want to avoid big expenditure if possible.

I use pallet wood a lot. Pry bar and hammer to dismantle the pallets, table saw to square/joint the wood, compound mitre saw for cross cuts, then hand plane and/or random orbital sander for smoothing/thicknessing.

Of course you can do everything by hand and just practise your cutting. A decent saw helps a lot. I use Tooltique for my hand tools. If you have limited space/money/tools then this book is a really practical guide to working that way. But I’ll be honest – the power tools help me be more accurate and more productive in the limited time I have.

Also, have a look at Chris Gleeson’s book of pallet projects. Also follow him on Instagram – he’s really inspirational.

To answer you other questions, yes you need lots of clamps of different sizes for securing work on your bench, and also for holding glued work securely while it dries. They’re cheap on eBay/Amazon or in The Range and Home Bargains etc.

A work bench that doesn’t move when you’re trying to saw/plane/chisel is a godsend. You can make one out of cheap softwood from B&Q/local timber yard. There’s a plan for one in that Minimalist Woodworker book I linked to. Personally I’m in the middle of building one based on this one from Fine Woodworking magazine.

Oh and reusing pallet wood is a great way into woodworking, but beware mission creep. You’ll start off wanting to make a spice rack out of an old pallet, but before long you’ll be pricing up hardwood boards 😉

Use a normal saw, but let it do the work. Lots of light cuts rather than hacking away really hard

+1 and make sure the saw is SHARP.

Use the right one for the job. They all look the same in the cardboard sheath but have more or less teeth per inch for specific jobs. More teeth for ply and crosscuts and less for ripping down the grain. Spear and Jackson Predators are good, colour coded for ease of use.
A panel (hand) saw will be just as quick , if not quicker than a circular saw if you’re manouevreing heavy, bulky pallets around.

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2009/11/03/toolmanship-how-to-use-a-handsaw/

I’m trying to make my son a basic table/chairs form old pallets.

In the 1970s an italian designer Enzo Mari produced a book called ‘Autoprogettazione’ that has lots of designs for furniture that can be made with just a saw and a hammer without needing to cut tricky or accurate joints. The designs work with variable widths and thickness of timber so ideal for working with found/salvaged wood.

There was a bit of revival of interest in his work recently – the book I’ve got is a new re-issue – so a bit of googling can turn up nice nice modern interpretations of the designs

Freeing the timber from pallets is hard enough without trying to size and acuratly cut the same time.

Step 1. Use a cheap jigsaw to attack the pallet.

Step 2. Use a tri square and mark all around individual planks.

Step 3. Use a standard Tenon saw to cut to size. Use the bench hook you made earlier. And saw slowly while your skill for cutting straight edges slowly becomes second nature.

If you have a lot of wood to cut a basic mitre saw is godsend and easy to use. While they are essential for long cuts, personally I find hand held circuler saws a faff to use and you need a invest in a decent one.

Waderider – Member

I don’t buy into this immediate rush to solve a lack of skill or ability with power tools. Try a mitre saw, or a tenon saw. Clamp a piece of waste wood to your workpiece as a straight edge to use as a quide. Spend more time marking up. Use a try square.

This. Didn’t you learn any basic wood working at school? It’s not difficult and if you are only using pallet wood it’s not going to be expensive if you mess up whilst practising.

I use a rail saw and a home made jig to make perfect square cuts on 90x18mm planks, but as I make furniture for a living, this isn’t relevant to the OP.

He also asked for skills, not just tools.

Well, look how a snooker player approaches the table to get an accurate shot. Have your front foot in line with the saw, your back foot at right angles, allow your arm to run straight and keep your head over the cut.

That’s the theory anyway. But it doesn’t work for me, that’s why I invested in Festool.

Well, look how a snooker player approaches the table to get an accurate shot.

Via the bar? 🙂

Wrong sort of shot.