if you go back and check, the DeWalt over the mountain invented the radial arm saw. They were doing production work for somebody and came up with the idea. Now that said, the last I looked the only tool DeWalt didnt make was the radial arm saw. I wonder if the sliding miter saw really took its place.
It's a safety thing. Some feel it's too easy to cut your arm off with a Radial Arm saw. The safer, you could probably do the same thing with a miter saw if you tried.
Those old radial arm saws are terribly dangerous. I buy lumber up at MacBeath in Berkeley, CA. They rough cut it to length on a big radial so I can get it into my car. I wince at how fast those guys zip through 12” wide 8/4 lumber. One could very easily cut more than planned. OSHA likely agrees.It's a safety thing. Some feel it's too easy to cut your arm off with a Radial Arm saw. The safer, you could probably do the same thing with a miter saw if you tried.
Yeah. I just counted up my Lie-Nielsen planes. I stopped at 11. I have some older Record models and others too. It’s a crazy expensive hobby.
it seems I cant use a mother x%^^&ing plane to save my life!
Yes it is. I only have about six to seven planes from them. Four non specialty planes. I hope to order some spokeshaves from them soon. I've used their bronze one before. It is IMHO an incredible little tool.
Patience and practice. Most of us try to take way too much of a cut. Assuming the blade is sharp, try setting up the plane. Back the blade out till it won't cut. Now advance the blade forward in small increments. Check to see if it is protruding by looking down the sole, and then rubbing a small block of wood against the plane. Keep advancing in small increments till you start to get wispy shavings. Also check to ensure the blade is taking an equal cut across the width of the plane.
I believe the youtube video below is the best I've ever seen in terms of flattening a board using a hand plane. It gives you a great sense of the geometry of planing a surface.
Practice, learning wood grain direction and sharpening. I also sprung for the L-N high angle frogs and scraping planes which really help in working with tight and swirly grain.
One more thing. Consider a low angle plane to start out with. That frog thing can be a bit much to figure out at first. I really have only one plane with a frog (a high angled one at that) It is a 4 1/2 smoother. My jointer and jack plane are both low angle. If you can only handle one plane (besides a block plane) I'd recommend a low angle jack plane (#5/ 6 plane) It is very versatile.
www.hocktools.com
You made me think of one of the cheapest tools of all. A basic card scrapper. That, a file and a hardened steel rod for sharpening, and you can get finishes that rival or surpass any sandpaper.
The panty hose trick is super helpful in determining grain direction. A shave or two in the wrong direction and you definitely have another issue to fix.
The good thing is you can always burn your mistakes.
Seriously, that is what is great about hand tools. They bite, but not as hard as a router or a table saw. Most you can recover from and nobody will notice unless you tell them.
Festool is common on any high-end cabinet install or renovation job site. Less so on a big commercial or residential build site.
The other consideration that someone mentioned earlier in regard to their basement shop is how Festool designs tools with dust collection as a primary design consideration. This can be a huge deal for a contractor that needs to work in a finished home vs a framer who can blow dust wherever without regard for making a mess.
My employee has a big wood shop for employee use (I know, I know). One of the shop stewards ran his finger tips over the jointer during a Shop Safety Training class. I kid you not. Luckily, he was ok overall and only removed about 1/16”. Let’s just say that class of trainees likely didn’t come back to use the shop.
I watch Perkins Brothers Builders on Youtube. They have a channel devoted to building homes, tips, tricks, tools, etc. One of the brothers lost multiple fingers in a jointer accident earlier this year. Awful stuff.
You and Westside are co
well this makes me less remorseful for selling my 6” jointer a couple of years ago, which I miss about once a year. Just got my 10yo daughter a 12x8 Minnie wood lathe. She asked for it for Xmas. With my girls it is always supervised and safety comes first. If I catch them without safety glasses on any project, it’s 20 push-ups and three laps around the house.
Kinda OT but I played against a guy (football ) that had lost an arm in the corn picker.
I've seen it a few times with solo guys. To the point though, It's theft waiting to happen if you do have Festool laying around.
Dream crusher...
When I finally get a jointer planer, I believe that it will have the euro gard. Safer? I have been told that it is.
SawStop was a must for me. Thankfully, I don’t do so much milling that I become numb to it. That helps me stay focused and as safe as possible.
The Hammer machines are amazing. Same with SCMI and higher-end Euro commercial equipment.Dream crusher...
As I listen to Mike's video, It reminds me that sometimes the best feedback when planing is your ears. Something about the sound of a well tuned plane smoothing wood.
I have the OF 1400. That thing has taught me to respect it at all times. The OF 2200 is a beast. I've been thinking about that router for flattening slabs. Admittedly that thing scares me.
I have a circular saw of theirs that I've used to cut Hardie board (Cement board) with the freud diablo blade , it did well. The only problem was the dust port. It kept falling off.
I had a near kickback on a table saw 2 weeks ago. I was ripping a walnut board and it stopped pushing through the cut. As soon as I felt it bind, I shut the saw off with my knee (so I could hold onto the board with both hands). As it turned out, the board must have been under a lot of tension and the kerf totally closed up after the cut. Luckily, I had a riving knife installed and the kerf closed up on the riving knife rather than the blade. The board had totally wedged itself shut on the knife.
