Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by François on November 1, 2019 at 7:51am

I don't blame you for being scared of those saws.

My dad has one and every time he uses it I step out of the shop when I see how he works with that thing. I've seen him cut out tiny pieces with his thumb about an inch from the blade and I said to myself "I don't want to see if it goes wrong". It's literally a miracle that he still has all 10 fingers.

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Permalink Reply by Daniel Walter on November 2, 2019 at 8:07am

I do similar dumb stuff on the table saw. when pieces get small, ya have to focus. the headstock below was made from cutting small pieces, usually long then short, laminating, cutting agin, laminating, glue city. titebond III for hardwood. longer setting time and binds smooth wood together better. (after wiped with acetone and roughed up). Bit of time.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on November 1, 2019 at 7:53am

I saw someone cut the tips off all 4 fingers of his left hand using a Radial Saw. Truth is, all Power Tools can and will be dangerous if used improperly or not enough attention is used.

I have been using a hand circular saw, jig saw, router and drill to do all my work for the last 10 years. If you think about how to use a tool for a particular job, it can be done and the use of jigs is a big help. Whether or not a Radial Saw is safer than a Table saw is a matter of opinion, but I think it would be very hard to rip anything on a Radial Saw. ;)

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Permalink Reply by François on November 2, 2019 at 10:32am

Dad did rip some stock on the radial arm. You just rotate the head and lock it in place using the right width. But you're limited to the length of the arm so you can't cut a sheet of plywood in half.

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Permalink Reply by MadGomer on November 1, 2019 at 8:16am

A few decades ago, Black and Decker made pretty sturdy tools. They ended up being aquired by the same company that owned DeWalt, and their brand strategy was to have DeWalt as the tougher, contractor grade tools while the B&D brand became low dollar homeowner grade. They did cost reduce the B&D line tremendously and it showed up in quality and durability, basically ruining the brand reputation. In the last few years they seem to be making better stuff, but I'm pretty much done with them. Skil went through a similar cycle but not as bad as B&D did.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on November 1, 2019 at 8:30am

Yeah I started buying the Skil brand or Dewalt when B&D went downhill.

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Permalink Reply by François on November 2, 2019 at 10:35am

And I believe B&D keeps going downhill in a sense simply because they innovate with pointless technology. I'm particularly thinking of their Bluetooth enabled batteries that lock the tool when you aren't close to them with your phone... I took one look at them and I just went WTF were they thinking.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Craig on November 3, 2019 at 8:54am

Some innovations are great and some are worthless to me, but some peole just oh and ah over them.

Being able to turn things on/off or change settings with your phone can be convenient, but that isn't great when some jerk finds a way to hack in. I see that now you can lock/unlock doors and open windows with your phone - great idea for thieves with hacking skills.

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Permalink Reply by Daniel Walter on November 3, 2019 at 9:03am

Good point. As innovations occur, hacking innovations keep up with them or surpass them. Very dicey. The government knows everything and is not to be taken lightly. I believe in some conspiracy theorys. For example., did you know that Jimi Hendrix was murdered. Easy to cover up an overdose. If there any disbelievers, there is truth to beheld.

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Permalink Reply by François on November 3, 2019 at 11:21am

That's why I don't trust them. And if the batteries can only be registered with one phone and you loose or break that phone, that means you have perfectly good and unusable batteries gathering dust on the shelf.

I recently heard an expression that fits so well in so many places. The guy was calling it "money pit technology"...

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Permalink Reply by MadGomer on November 6, 2019 at 5:08am

Technology will enable us to do darn near anything these days - - that doesn't mean we should use it for that.

I am retired now but used to managed an organization that provided complex control systems for heavy equipment.  There were many occasions in which we had to pull the software engineers back and remind them that "just because you can, doesn't mean you should".  The marketing guys were actually worse than the engineers.

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Permalink Reply by Cause the Blue rat on November 1, 2019 at 5:49pm

My dad got a radio arm saw. I think he used it once. And to be honest of all the personal shops and home tools I've seen throughout the years his was the only radio arm saw I've ever seen in person. 

I got a Ryobi drill at an auction for $3.00. There's night and day differences between it and my Dewalt. And comparing my Botch scroll saw with my old Craftsman is like comparing a swimming pool to a five gallon bucket. Both the Ryobi and Craftsman are usable. But in no way are they as easy to use as the other two. 

All this talk about saws you'd think no one is building anything. ;)

Weather's turning warmer again. Be putting the final coat of paint on my latest build. And I'll be able to get the second build going strong. 

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