Table saws employ an electric motor to efficiently cut material at a consistent speed. This helps ensure a clean uniform cut without jagged edges or burrs.
Table saws are ideal for long, straight, continuous cuts. Cuts that would require starting and stopping with smaller hand-held saws can be made with a single continuous cut using a table saw.
The most basic use for a table saw is to take large sheets of material, usually wood, and to safely cut it down into smaller pieces to be used for other projects. The table saw can quickly and safely cut one large sheet of lumber into several dozen smaller pieces of various shapes and sizes suitable for many projects.