The internet told us to try the Evolution table saw. We weren’t disappointed.
· Clean, accurate performance with minimal fuss once dialed in
· Jobsite-ready design with smart storage and solid mobility
· Cuts wood, plastic, and light metal with a single multi-material blade
Every so often a product comes to us at Popular Mechanics through the oddest possible way. Maybe we found some viral tool online or stumbled on something in conversation with a friend or co-worker that we didn’t know existed—like Senior Reviews Editor John Gilpatrick’s piece on Grampa’s Stand-Up Weed Puller (which was inspired by Reviews Editor Sarah Connor’s roundup of Best Gardening Tools on Amazon). Or Runner’s World powerhouse Reviews Editor Amanda Furrer’s desperate search for Step Stools for Short People, which referenced a now daily battle of wills between us (I haven’t conjured up this level of disappointment in a woman since I was married).
The Evolution Table Saw came to us a result of one word: Snark.
After updating our buying guide on the Best Table Saws last month, I saw the article in my Facebook feed, with an indication of 21 comments—mostly snarky. My curiosity piqued, the rabbit hole dropped me at the feet of a singular common denominator among them:
“These guys need to check out the Evolution Table Saw.” If you read that in a low, tough-guy, kind of ginned up Batman voice, then we are simpatico.
A week later, the saw arrived in our shop for testing.
Evolution Table Saw
The Set-Up
The saw lifts right out of the box. The rolling platform? Not so much. It’s a mad jumble of parts and bolts that reminds me of erector sets I got as a kid for Christmas. Eager to embrace the challenge, I cleaned my glasses, switched on my DeWalt 360-degree light, and got to work.
45 minutes later, the saw was mounted and fully mobile. Maybe not as sturdy as some of the other job site saws I’ve tested, but totally serviceable, nonetheless. Props to the company for adding leveling legs on the non-wheel side of the rolling buck. Beats shimming on uneven ground any day.
Evolution Table Saw
The saw components come together quickly and easily. The rack-and-pinion fence stores conveniently below the table, as though one were locking it in upside down. And mounting the blade was simple and straightforward. Never one to fully trust the measurement guides on table saws, I tend to measure from the blade to the fence before I make my cuts.
Raising the blade up to do this, the measurements checked out square. But sticking a magnetic digital angle gauge to the side of the fully-extended blade showed that it was 1/10th of a degree off from 90. This discrepancy matters for people doing fine finish work—and it is possible to tweak the blade to right angle perfection by loosening the mounts below—but for my purposes I let it slide.
On Board Storage and Operation
Like most job site saws, there’s a convenient storage for all of the accessories—miter fence, push stick, blade wrenches, and outfeed supports (an especially nice touch). But as far as the anti-kickback pawls, blade guard, and riving knife go, those are meant to stay on the saw itself. Some saws incorporate a place to park those, should you need to make non-through cuts. This one doesn’t—and I wasn’t bothered in the least by that.
The saw fires up nicely, with the blade coming up to speed quickly and at an acceptable noise level. Both bevel and fence lock engage and disengage with a satisfying feel, so you know things are safe and good to cut. That said, I felt the bevel lock was at an odd angle and I struggled a bit to lock it down it as I returned the blade from 45-degrees to 90. Maybe just something to get used to.
A person using a table saw with a blade guard.
I ran multiple passes of 1x oak and pine through the saw at different levels of width. Everything tracked through beautifully, with zero burnishing across the edges. A few blade marks were visible, especially on the pine, but I just attributed that to the multi-material blade itself, a feature that Evolution prides itself on. Ripping plywood was clean and splinter-free. Less so on crosscuts, which I expected from this general use blade. Absolutely nothing to complain about with this saw.
Dust control was fairly standard and fully acceptable when connected to a standalone shop vac. Some saws tend to throw a ton of dust and debris into the undercarriage itself, vacuum port notwithstanding. But not this one. The work area around me remained clean and safe.
The Multi-Material Blade
Evolution started out as a manufacturer of metal-cutting tools. Dry-cut metal saws. Chop saws for steel fabrication. And steel specific blades. The brand’s success is based on the concept of cutting steel with carbide-toothed blades as opposed to abrasive blades. On branching into the market of wood saws, Evolution basically adapted the ability to cut wood to its already established metal blade line, as opposed to creating a wood blade that also cuts metal.
That approach worked. This saw effectively cuts wood, plastics and laminates, and metals—light steel, angle iron, conduit, and aluminum—which it does via chipping the metal as opposed to grinding it, so it throws few sparks. I tested it on a light piece of angle iron I had left over from an old scaffold rod, and I was impressed by how clean it cut through.
Yes, you have to go slowly with the material (and gear up with eye and ear protection)—but it works well. The 10-inch blade itself is a 28-tooth general purpose variety, so if you want to use the saw for finish work, you’ll need to level up to a 40- or 60-tooth blade. Just don’t cut metal with either of those.
Evolution Table Saw
Final Verdict
The Evolution table saw isn’t popular due to polished marketing or box store, end-cap display—it shows up in social media feeds because real-world users keep talking about it. After putting it through its paces, that word-of-mouth hustle starts to register. It’s not perfect, and only time will tell if it holds up to the rigors of job site use and day-to-day transit. But once it’s up and running, it delivers clean, reliable cuts in a variety of materials—and eliminates all of those down moments that happen after cutting a board with an embedded nail in it.
