And we'll take that - as long as those great minds are thinking at all - huh?
And that's where perspective and observation meet. Funny how that works, isn't it? In this case, I think back 35 or 40 years to what I remember. To some extent, so do you. But... then along comes that reality thing - those saws you see in the garage collecting dust. In my case, as I was reading what you had written (and I snipped) the thought came to me that homeowners had indeed embraced the radial arm saw more robustly than the table saw. It had all of that appeal as being the versatile tool. The table saw was the first big tool I had ever been exposed to, so of course it was my natural tool. Everyone that I knew that was a serious woodworker, or a pro had a table saw and it was pretty much the centerpiece of their operations. Sorta affects your perspective - makes you think they're all over the place.
I worked in an altar factory in the mid-'50s: we had a monster radial arm saw there, but it was pretty much a cut-off tool, about the only thing I got to run other than a damned broom. The table saw did all the ripping and other major work, while the RAS cut things to length. Today, we have SCMS to replace the RAS, added to the fact that the ability to use an RAS for rip cuts scares the pee out of a lot of people. Besides, it has only been around since some time in the '20s, anyway, so it's never been the dominant saw.
Amen! These days I'll take what I can get, that's for sure.
isn't it? In this case, I think back 35 or 40 years to what I >remember. To some extent, so do you.
Absolutely. And I rely on what I remember (boy that can be scary!) to form my opinions.
BUT... never in a "pro shop" unless I see them used as a cut off saw. My laminate countertop guy has a giant old Dewalt 16", and another cab guy I know uses them to size shelving and cut cabinet sides. That's pretty much it.
Although while out the other day I did see a crew framing a monster house and they were cutting the rafters just like we did a million years ago, two at a time.
came to me that homeowners had indeed embraced the >radial arm saw more robustly than the table saw. It had all of that >appeal as being the versatile tool.
And they sold it that way too. I even remember that when Home Depot came to town (early-mid 80s?) they sold a radial saw because the demand was so hight. And I have to say 99 of 100 radials I see in a garage are old Sears saws. Talk about the promise of a versatile tool.... I bought mine very slightly used in the late 70s, and it had the following: a super heavy duty stand, two rip gauges, rip pawl, plate sanding disk, hand held buffer attachment for the PTO, molding heads (I kid you not!), a wobbler style dado head, an adjustable stainless steel detent plate for all popular miter settings, large marked degrees angles on the head adjustment, and other things. I paid $225 for that saw, and with all the stuff it was about $1200 retail, even then. The homeowner bought it from never got any good out of that saw at all.
I thought I was set... I knew most of that stuff didn't work, but I was happy wih the price. I have to say though, the saw has paid for iteself many, many times. Like many here, I used to make cabinets before it was easier and cheaper to just buy them. (After all, the Cardell factory is here in town). The way I learned to build cabinets is kind of the old classic carcass style, so we had some mortising and lots of square cuts when facing shelves and sizing for drawers. Using this thing for a cutoff saw was tough to beat. With a 10,000 tooth hollow ground blade in the machine (and after its daily tuneup) you could saw the daylights out of a pile of plywood for shelves and drawer sides.
And before we all had the monster routers and all the cool stuff to go with them so we can abuse them as shapers, I used it to dado fixed shelves in, and to mortise for that little 3/8" inlet for the upright part of KD adjustable shelf brackets, or to rabbet out the back of a cabinet. To this day I don't have an easier machine to the first two of those operations. Walk over, set the depth, read the rip gauge, shove the material through. Done.
it was my natural tool. Everyone that I knew that was a >serious woodworker, or a pro had a table saw and it was pretty >much the centerpiece of their operations.
True. When I took a spell of just doing my duties as a general contractor, I subbed out all the cabinets to a great guy. He had two monster Delta table saws, 12" I believe that ran on 230v. He made his own rip fences and faced his large tables that surrounded the saws with formica. That was a really nice shop, and they used a big sled to cut shelves, drawers, etc. on their table saws.
Yeah, that's true. I worked with a lot of folks over the years that have come from all over the country. A lot of methods and choice of weapons are the same, but a lot are very different, too. Not too many worm drive saws around here at all, not even on framing crews. But on my trips to California, that's all I saw. I have used a circular saw so long I can't imagine not have them, and I have four that I use fairly regularly, each for something different. But no worm drive. Guess it >is< what you grew up with.
I got a chuckle out of that one. I swept the floor so often they wrote my name on the broom and would say, "hey Robert, go get your tool and go to work over there, will ya?"
out of a lot of people.
Count me in with those guys. I have shot my last piece of trim out of the shop or into a wall while trying to use that POS to rip. It scared the crap out of me when it launched a piece of 1X2 out of the shop. It had the pawl marks on it, but that still didn't stop it. I never even knew why it grabbed...
about it. Never really cared to venture further into using >that tool,
I think once or twice is about enough for most. I tried though as I just kept thinking how cool it would be if it actually worked half as well as the hype.
who's idea of "joinery" is a ten >penny nail. :)
And a wad of "cork"? (AKA .. caulk). However, with the guys I have in mind, "cork" may be more appropriate for closing up their joints!
You know, my dad tried to "teach" me to use a push broom correctly when I was a teenager. I really didn't want to learn :-), but I never did at that time get the little tap at the end of each push and never learned the rythm. Only when I was old and keeping the shop floor, the driveway and the patio clean became somehow more "important" did I figure it all out. I still am a piker compared to how well and effortlessly he used that broom.... Strange what will set off memories as we get a little older (and as some will say, weaker in the head).
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