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Having just rebuilt a deck and installed 200sqft of wood flooring, I'd like to add that if you are just dabbling in around the house projects, you can get much

Having just rebuilt a deck and installed 200sqft of wood flooring, I'd like to add that if you are just dabbling in around the house projects, you can get much further than you might expect with a hand saw. I have a circular saw, but it both scares the piss out of me and is hard to keep on the line. A hand saw theoretically takes longer, but I also don't have to worry about my kids getting hold of it and killing themselves. If I was cutting plywood to size, I'd probably still get out the circular saw, but for basically everything else the handsaw is my tool of choice.

eric4smith 6y ago
One of my favorite You-tubers Andrew Camarata told the story of how he got a chainsaw at 10 years old. He hid it from his dad for months and used it. Then when his dad saw it he allowed him to use it on the provisio that he "be careful". The trouble with the world today is that we're no longer allowing our kids to do anything useful for fear that they "injure" themselves. So everyone grow up not really knowing even how to hammer a nail. I sympathize with your feeling having a kid myself, but without exposing them to even some slight danger, they will not grow up learning how to navigate the dangers in the world.
- war1025 6y ago
  Well, they're 4, 2, and 2. Maybe in a couple years we'll get more adventurous with power tools. They're still working on "don't run out in front of cars"
- calvinmorrison 6y ago
  Fewer kids probably after missing fingers these days
- germinalphrase 6y ago
  Sawstop saws are pretty cool [0]. I’ve been in the woodshop of a nearby high school that has two of their table saws installed. On the wall are attached three wrecked blades from a student setting off the safety mechanism. Each one could have been some kid’s finger or hand. I’m sympathetic to your argument - but power tools aren’t ‘slight’ danger. [0]https://www.sawstop.com/ https://www.sawstop.com/
  - eric4smith 6y ago
    They are not a problem if a parent teaches young kids how to use them properly. I'm not for just throwing power tools at kids. The point i'm making is that in high school we had wood and metal shop. Welding. Electrical. NONE of those classes exist anymore. And with helicopter parenting kids aren't learning them either.
    - AlotOfReading 6y ago
      The problem with power tools is that even if you know how to use them, a momentary lapse can lead to permanent disability. My father has been using them for decades. He got stupid with a table saw once recently and severed the tendons to half his fingers. A few tens of thousands in reconstructive surgery later, we're still not sure if he'll ever be 100% in that hand. Statistically, some kids are going to do the same. I can totally understand why people don't think the marginal utility of being able to use power tools outweighs the risk without safety measures like the sawstop.
    - troydavis 6y ago
      > They are not a problem if a parent teaches young kids how to use them properly. The statistics don’t bear out that training or experience eliminates risk of serious injury. It’s even trivially disprovable with anecdotes - tons of experienced woodworkers have had blade touches and/or kickback-induced blade touches. Here’s 3: https://www.woodworkingfunhour.com/blog/2020/1/16/015-matts-table-saw-accident https://www.woodworkingfunhour.com/blog/2020/1/16/015-matts-... https://twitter.com/JimmyDiResta/status/318214766818635776 https://twitter.com/JimmyDiResta/status/318214766818635776 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fifjjacjLBE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fifjjacjLBE If anyone is learning advanced shop safety, a few years ago I made the advanced survey that I wished existed: http://sawsafely.org/ http://sawsafely.org/ . http://sawsafely.org/#injury-research-&-statistics http://sawsafely.org/#injury-research-&-statistics has table saw injury stats. In an era of flesh-detecting table saws, using a table saw without it (other than weird special-purpose saws) means underestimating either the probability or the consequences.
      - 6y ago
- pests 6y ago
  +1 to Andrew Camarata. Great guy, great work ethic, fun videos.
  - dboreham 6y ago
    He's the reason I own an excavator and a track loader and a dump trailer. And a power grease gun.
- TaylorAlexander 6y ago
  My friends have a kid. Every time she stands on top of something adults don’t normally stand on, they tell her to get off because she could hurt herself. Like standing on a chair, standing on a concrete thing outside, etc. Whenever she’s doing something slightly dangerous, they demand that she stops. They don’t even say “be careful, you could fall”. They just sternly say “get down from there that’s not safe.” Hard to watch.
dylan604 6y ago
>I have a circular saw, but it both scares the piss out of me and is hard to keep on the line. Nothing to be scared of, respected yes. to aid with straight cuts, you can clamp down a straight edge (2x4, level, etc) to let the base of the saw glide against. make sure what ever you are cutting has proper support so that the weight doesn't cause the material to sag at the cut (pinching the blade is big factor in kick backs and stalls) i also find it similar to driving a car. if you look at the road directly in front of you, you'll swerve more than if you look further ahead. don't watch where the blade is cutting, but the notch in the frame of the base. you'll get the hang of it to the point you'll be able to cut a 4'x8' sheet of plywood length wise without issues
- war1025 6y ago
  > Nothing to be scared of, respected yes. That's more accurate. I was probably overselling my fear of the saw. Mostly I find it to be more of a bother than it's worth for what I've been doing. Really, a miter saw would be the power tool that would have been useful for me given the project's I've been working on recently. But also cutting a board to length isn't hard and it's kind of nice to see yourself get better making square cuts. Edit: Also thanks for the tips. Appreciate it.
  - dylan604 6y ago
    You're next project you'll find yourself buying the chop/mitre saw. Then you'll find the cut it can't do for the next project, and you'll see yourself getting a router, and then a routing table, and then... Next thing you know, you can't park your car in the garage anymore because it's no longer a garage. it's now a woodshop!
    - war1025 6y ago
      A boy can dream, but we're low on space as it is. It's part of the reason I've been sticking to hand tools. Also just being enamored with the stuff I see on The Woodwrights Shop. Quick plug that PBS has the most recent ten season of The Woodwrights Shop available on their website [1]. I always changed the channel when I was younger and it came on. Not sure if it's just an appreciation that comes with age or if I just didn't give it a fair shake before, but it's really a great show. [1] https://www.pbs.org/show/woodwrights-shop/ https://www.pbs.org/show/woodwrights-shop/
rsync 6y ago
"I have a circular saw, but it both scares the piss out of me and is hard to keep on the line." You should buy a large size "speed square": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_square https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_square They are thick and have a lip so you square the lip against the edge of your board and that gives you a straight edge to run your circular saw against. No clamping, nothing complicated - your non-sawing hand holds the square against the board instead of just holding the board itself and then the saw can just run along the straight edge. I never pick up a circular saw without picking up the large speed square. Here is a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ95G0hRyFo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ95G0hRyFo
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

eric4smith 6y ago

One of my favorite You-tubers Andrew Camarata told the story of how he got a chainsaw at 10 years old. He hid it from his dad for months and used it. Then when his dad saw it he allowed him to use it on the provisio that he "be careful". The trouble with the world today is that we're no longer allowing our kids to do anything useful for fear that they "injure" themselves. So everyone grow up not really knowing even how to hammer a nail. I sympathize with your feeling having a kid myself, but without exposing them to even some slight danger, they will not grow up learning how to navigate the dangers in the world.

war1025 6y ago
Well, they're 4, 2, and 2. Maybe in a couple years we'll get more adventurous with power tools. They're still working on "don't run out in front of cars"
calvinmorrison 6y ago
Fewer kids probably after missing fingers these days
germinalphrase 6y ago
Sawstop saws are pretty cool [0]. I’ve been in the woodshop of a nearby high school that has two of their table saws installed. On the wall are attached three wrecked blades from a student setting off the safety mechanism. Each one could have been some kid’s finger or hand. I’m sympathetic to your argument - but power tools aren’t ‘slight’ danger. [0]https://www.sawstop.com/ https://www.sawstop.com/
- eric4smith 6y ago
  They are not a problem if a parent teaches young kids how to use them properly. I'm not for just throwing power tools at kids. The point i'm making is that in high school we had wood and metal shop. Welding. Electrical. NONE of those classes exist anymore. And with helicopter parenting kids aren't learning them either.
  - AlotOfReading 6y ago
    The problem with power tools is that even if you know how to use them, a momentary lapse can lead to permanent disability. My father has been using them for decades. He got stupid with a table saw once recently and severed the tendons to half his fingers. A few tens of thousands in reconstructive surgery later, we're still not sure if he'll ever be 100% in that hand. Statistically, some kids are going to do the same. I can totally understand why people don't think the marginal utility of being able to use power tools outweighs the risk without safety measures like the sawstop.
  - troydavis 6y ago
    > They are not a problem if a parent teaches young kids how to use them properly. The statistics don’t bear out that training or experience eliminates risk of serious injury. It’s even trivially disprovable with anecdotes - tons of experienced woodworkers have had blade touches and/or kickback-induced blade touches. Here’s 3: https://www.woodworkingfunhour.com/blog/2020/1/16/015-matts-table-saw-accident https://www.woodworkingfunhour.com/blog/2020/1/16/015-matts-... https://twitter.com/JimmyDiResta/status/318214766818635776 https://twitter.com/JimmyDiResta/status/318214766818635776 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fifjjacjLBE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fifjjacjLBE If anyone is learning advanced shop safety, a few years ago I made the advanced survey that I wished existed: http://sawsafely.org/ http://sawsafely.org/ . http://sawsafely.org/#injury-research-&-statistics http://sawsafely.org/#injury-research-&-statistics has table saw injury stats. In an era of flesh-detecting table saws, using a table saw without it (other than weird special-purpose saws) means underestimating either the probability or the consequences.
    - 6y ago
pests 6y ago
+1 to Andrew Camarata. Great guy, great work ethic, fun videos.
- dboreham 6y ago
  He's the reason I own an excavator and a track loader and a dump trailer. And a power grease gun.
TaylorAlexander 6y ago
My friends have a kid. Every time she stands on top of something adults don’t normally stand on, they tell her to get off because she could hurt herself. Like standing on a chair, standing on a concrete thing outside, etc. Whenever she’s doing something slightly dangerous, they demand that she stops. They don’t even say “be careful, you could fall”. They just sternly say “get down from there that’s not safe.” Hard to watch.

dylan604 6y ago

>I have a circular saw, but it both scares the piss out of me and is hard to keep on the line. Nothing to be scared of, respected yes. to aid with straight cuts, you can clamp down a straight edge (2x4, level, etc) to let the base of the saw glide against. make sure what ever you are cutting has proper support so that the weight doesn't cause the material to sag at the cut (pinching the blade is big factor in kick backs and stalls) i also find it similar to driving a car. if you look at the road directly in front of you, you'll swerve more than if you look further ahead. don't watch where the blade is cutting, but the notch in the frame of the base. you'll get the hang of it to the point you'll be able to cut a 4'x8' sheet of plywood length wise without issues

war1025 6y ago
> Nothing to be scared of, respected yes. That's more accurate. I was probably overselling my fear of the saw. Mostly I find it to be more of a bother than it's worth for what I've been doing. Really, a miter saw would be the power tool that would have been useful for me given the project's I've been working on recently. But also cutting a board to length isn't hard and it's kind of nice to see yourself get better making square cuts. Edit: Also thanks for the tips. Appreciate it.
- dylan604 6y ago
  You're next project you'll find yourself buying the chop/mitre saw. Then you'll find the cut it can't do for the next project, and you'll see yourself getting a router, and then a routing table, and then... Next thing you know, you can't park your car in the garage anymore because it's no longer a garage. it's now a woodshop!
  - war1025 6y ago
    A boy can dream, but we're low on space as it is. It's part of the reason I've been sticking to hand tools. Also just being enamored with the stuff I see on The Woodwrights Shop. Quick plug that PBS has the most recent ten season of The Woodwrights Shop available on their website [1]. I always changed the channel when I was younger and it came on. Not sure if it's just an appreciation that comes with age or if I just didn't give it a fair shake before, but it's really a great show. [1] https://www.pbs.org/show/woodwrights-shop/ https://www.pbs.org/show/woodwrights-shop/

rsync 6y ago

"I have a circular saw, but it both scares the piss out of me and is hard to keep on the line." You should buy a large size "speed square": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_square https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_square They are thick and have a lip so you square the lip against the edge of your board and that gives you a straight edge to run your circular saw against. No clamping, nothing complicated - your non-sawing hand holds the square against the board instead of just holding the board itself and then the saw can just run along the straight edge. I never pick up a circular saw without picking up the large speed square. Here is a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ95G0hRyFo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJ95G0hRyFo

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]