Cool Tools To Giveaway for a Blog Review

I was looking for something in the attic one day when I found an old rusty table saw left from my late grandpa, it was sitting up there for around ten years. So of course I brought it down (my parents were thrilled to say the least) took it apart, cleaned it and fixed the switch on it, but that just wasn't enough, I took u-profile aluminium that was lying around (it was originally bought for making a part of the fence but it was the wrong size, so I had a lot of it), and decided to make a stand for the small table saw. After a few days of drilling and cutting I ended up with this

{gallery} Stand

In the end I added the small shelves on each side, they are incredibly handy for holding some tools and pieces that need to be cut. I made them to be easily removable to easily clean them out after cutting, so they aren't bolted on or anything like that. The stand itself came out very sturdy and stable, I tried it by sitting on it and trying to twist it but it wouldn't budge. While this tool looks like and is primarily a wood working tool, it has helped me immensely with all sorts of projects. I don't have a bandsaw, but this does one hell of a job cutting 4mm plywood without leaving edges very rough when feeding it slowly. It really sped up a lot of stuff for me, as well as enabled me to do a lot of new stuff, since before this I was primarily cutting stuff by hand, here is how it looks like now!

As for the tool review, I would love to write a review blog about Duratool PC Maintenance Tool Kit, it seems like an awesome and versatile tool kit!

That's very nice. I hope it provides many more years of service!

You probably know this since you are already accomplished at creating the stand etc. and you have goggles there too, if you can, it's good to quickly get into a habit of using a prodding tool (scrap of wood for example) to keep your hands away from the blade, it is surprisingly easy for the object being cut to fly off the table if it catches on the blade, and pulls fingers into the blade : ( Also even a small table saw can propel the object towards you at speed, not fun if it is sharp metal : ( But aside from those precautions, it is an incredibly useful tool.

Listen to shabaz , safety is the single most important aspect of using any tool.  Table saws are so dangerous.  I have had many close calls and a few trips to the Emergency room due to lapses of judgement while pushing things across the blade.

Gene

Hi Gene,

So sorry to hear that, I too have had some close calls with it. The tool looks innocently safe, but that blade path of motion along with any object caught, really knows how to draw fingers in or throw things back at you.

I've been eyeing up purchasing a small band saw, especially for small pieces where hands are just too close to the table saw blade : (

So sorry to hear that Gene, hopefully everything was ok, thank you both for you thoughtfullness, and I completely agree, it really goes and pulls in material sometimes or throws shards, that's the reason why I got some protective eyewear.

I always try keeping my hand as far as way as I can while still keeping the cut precise, but those things on the right of the saw are an old handle from a broken hammer, and scrap piece of copper heat tubing, which I use as prodding tools! I try to keep myself as protected as I can, a person can get injured by pretty much any tool (I know a lot of cases where people got injured with shards from a hammer!), specially something like this. Once again thanks for your thoughtfulness!

Milos

Thanks guys. That last accident I was not so lucky.  I lost the outermost digit of my left ring finger.  The surgeon actually wanted to remove the outermost digit of both the center and ring finger, but I argued to give the center one a chance.  My solution to woodworking was a better saw:

I saw an add in Popular Science for this while I was waiting in the ER that day (a day late and a finger short?).

Gene

Hi Gene,

Your experience may save others from harm, just hearing about this.. thanks for the very important reminder just how much danger is present.

Gene said:

>My solution to woodworking was a better saw

That's also good advice - the old saws don't always have the same level of safety on them that the new ones do. Mine is getting older, but new enough to have an anti-kickback guide/safety cover on it. Which has come into good use several times during its lifetime already.

Whenever possible, my solution is to have Home Depot cut up my plywood with their fancy state-of-the-art wall mounted saw. It saves me having to wrangle full sheets through my own table saw, but also helps everything fit easily into the car to get it home!

-Nico

Gene said:

>My solution to woodworking was a better saw

That's also good advice - the old saws don't always have the same level of safety on them that the new ones do. Mine is getting older, but new enough to have an anti-kickback guide/safety cover on it. Which has come into good use several times during its lifetime already.

Whenever possible, my solution is to have Home Depot cut up my plywood with their fancy state-of-the-art wall mounted saw. It saves me having to wrangle full sheets through my own table saw, but also helps everything fit easily into the car to get it home!

-Nico

If you find yourself cutting up a lot of sheets then I can recommend investing in a track/plunge saw. Absolutely amazing pieces of kit, fast and accurate to use. The one I actually purchased was a Dewalt kit, but there are plenty out there.

Cutting a sheet lengthways, you have to join the two pieces of track together and the cut can be made without clamping the track down. I have however found the track joiner a little awkward to remove sometimes. Cutting across a sheet using only one section of track, I have found that the track can move, so I clamp the track to the work piece. The downside to the kit, is that it doesn't come with the special track clamps that fit into the bottom T-slot.

Kind regards