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Dewalt DW713: Reasonably Priced CMS
First off I should say I’m not affiliated with Dewalt and gain no benefits from this review, just a happy customer :)
I grabbed this Dewalt DW713 a few months back when I was starting out woodworking. I was looking for a mitre saw around $300-400 but that would give me satisfactory cuts and accuracy, and I think I found just that. I should note however that this is my first mitre saw and so do not have a lot to compare to.
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So it’s a 10” blade, non-sliding. Although sliding would be nice, it appeared as though you had to pay an extra few hundred for a decent sliding model. As far as 10” goes it’s capacity is quite large and superior to many other saws I checked out. You are able to cut 4” x 4” according to what I’ve read but I think it may be a smidgin under that. The max width of cut is 6”. It has a decent carry handle and weighs around 15kg, fine for moving about the workshop but I wouldn’t want to be lugging it around too far! It feels very solid in construction. It’s competitors are most likely the Makita LS1040 and the Bosch GCM 10, both similar in size and pricing.
I got mine for about $320 which I thought was a steal and I was happy to buy a Dewalt as I had heard they are a reasonably reputable brand. It came with a general purpose 40 tooth blade which cuts just fine. I was looking to upgrade to a higher tooth count blade that Dewalt offers specifically for their saws (the Series 40 woodworker 80 teeth) but have been unable to track down the blade. Perhaps this might give the saw a little something extra.
Out of the box the user manual says that the saw is tuned and ready to use from the factory, but the bevel angle wasn’t quite right and the blade was just out of square to the fence. Those were easy to fix though, even for someone who’s never had to tune a mitre saw before (me!). I have used this saw to cut to size a bunch of radiate pine for a bench and it had absolutely no troubles and always felt very smooth through the cut, moving up to hardwood it feels even more accurate and you get a nice smoothness to the face of the timber.
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Just recently I needed a simple picture frame made so thought I’d give the angles a go. First of all, the 45-degree angle locks are brilliant. When you are moving the table to 45 degrees it snaps into place both left and right on 45 degrees. I’m not sure if this is standard on other saws too but it is indeed very useful. Especially good if you are swinging back and forth between left and right mitres – you always know you are getting the same angle as before. I expected to have to clean these mitres up on a shooting board but look how they came up! The picture shows the joint unglued.
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Overall it seems like a solid saw which cuts smooth and accurate. The build quality feels good all for a very reasonable price...and it looks good to boot! Very happy with my purchase.
EDIT: Forgot to mention it came with a 3 year warranty and 1 year's free service which I found appealing.
Hope this is of some use :)
Cheers
