WaterPenny

Why are so many of the contributors against government regulations? I know of no saw nazis that will enter you home and take away your table saw and force you to purchase another with the safety device. Any regulation will only affect saws manufactured and purchased in the future. You are free to continue to use your saw for as long as you choose with or without safety features or devices. It is totally immaterial that the law suit was brought by a careless person. What has been determined is that there is a safety issue for all users. It is also immaterial that a patent lasts for 20 years. You do not like it from the user's perspective believing there are numerous inventions out there and that patent holders are holding back innovation. The opposite is true when it is you invention and you have invested considerable amounts of time and money and you want to recoup your investment and make a profit. This is capitalism isn't it? How would you feel if your invention was stolen by someone who, and it could be a foreign company out of reach of US law, can produce it cheaper, maybe with inferior material, and you lose your livelihood? Please go get the video about the inventor of the intermittent windshield wiper and what the major auto companies did to him and his invention.

I did not take the time to read everybody's rant against government regulations. I have an incident to tell of what actually happened to me. I was working in a wood shop and one day I was at the sliding arm table saw cutting blanks to size. As I was cutting blanks I suddenly noticed blood on the pieces. My first thoughts were how did blood get on the boards. I had not touched the blade. I looked at my right hand and on the area below my thumb I saw blood. It was not flowing profusely rather just oozing out. I must have swiped my hand over the blade because that was the only way the pattern of the triple chip blade would have just glanced the skin, leaving its pattern on my palm. Now I could not figure out how that happened because the way I was working did not bring my hand near the blade as I was taking the blank from the pallet, placing it on the slide arm and making the cut. Yet the evidence was right before my eyes, the pattern of the triple chip blade on my palm! The injury was minor. A bandaid stopped the blood oozing and I continued to work being careful to watch the process of my work to see where I got my hand near the blade. I still could not see how I got my hand close to the blade. Yes, the saw did not have a blade guard attached. There was one from the manufacturer but it was so clunky and bulky it interfered with our work. I really wanted to see the blade because I could then know if I had my hand in a dangerous position. By pure luck all I had was a glancing touch from what ever action I did and was spared a much more serious injury. I still have all ten and complete hands. I emphasize I thought I was working safely (yes, with no blade guard) yet I did something that got my hand close to the blade unknowingly. So accidents will happen. Now with SawStop technology installed on that saw, and its flesh sensing technology, I would have cost my shop the price of a new blade and SawStop mechanism, production down time and loss of profit margin because the safety mechanism functioned.

All I want to ask all you "let me be free" and "no government rules" people, how do you address my situation? I was working, yes without a blade guard, but in a manner that should not have brought my hand near the blade. There was no reason for my hand to be near the blade as I held the blanks against the fence and stop, yet there on my hand was the pattern of the triple chip blade! This was just an accident that could have cost me my right hand. Having a SawStop mechanism would have still let me have the pattern on my palm but I would have been alerted to an unsafe working procedure that I was not aware of and all of my fellow workers followed. It is not just me but every other worker in the shop who is protected as we would discover how our procedures put ourselves in danger when we thought we were working safely.

I am a scientist by training. At one time I worked professionally in a wood shop making furniture. I learned about good and bad tools both in the wood shop and through experience. I inherited my father's hand tools and they do not work any better now than they did when I was a kid using them. They are cheap tools and no amount of tuning will bring them up to a quality standard. I assume they were US made at some time in the 1940's. I purchased a Stanley hand plane and it performs fine. I purchased a LN edge plane and found out how a fine tool works! I was asked to make screen doors for our ship (I am an aquatic scientist) and used my LN #2 to plane the trim pieces for the screen doors while traversing the Welland Canal. The plane did exactly what I needed done with only the effort required to do the work. The old tool I inherited would not have performed in this situation and would have produced an inferior worked piece.

Yes, the cost of the LN planes are high. I appreciate the quality built in the tool and is reflected in its use. As for the Woodcraft WR they are just trying to get reasonable tool into the hands of their customers. Only time and use will tell if the WR tools are worth the investment.

I am not limited in my acceptance or rejection of pieces of equipment based on where they are manufactured. My camera is Japanese, my microscope is German with an American made digital camera attached. I would rather have a quality 'tool' that will do the job I need (require). My work demands that my equipment not be the limiting factor rather my skill, either as a scientist or a wood worker. I like coffee but coffee does not grow in the US.