seatoe

You got me again. I always fall for an April Fools Joke.

I like to use MDF because it is a full 3/4" thickness, not the 23/32" of plywood. Does anyone know where to get HDF panels? The only place I've seen HDF is in composite flooring.

My first machine was a Craftsman 12" RAS back in 1960. I used it a lot including ripping sheet goods which didn't phase me a bit. I lost it after a divorce and I moved away. 15 years later I got a Shopsmith and a Sawsmith, both of which served me well. Finally I got an old Dewalt, 10" RAS which shares my shop along with a cabinet saw and a miter saw. Each has it's own atributes and I use whatever tool suits my purpose at the time. If a RAS is the only saw you own, you learn to use and make do with that saw. I don't own a CSMS. I think they take up too much room and they are not all that portable because of their weight. My definition of portable is a tool that can be moved by one person. Some CSMS's require two people to move them. As someone else said, more development has been put into table saws than RAS's. Column stiffness has been solved on miter saws and CSMS's so that technology could be transfered over to new RAS development. New blade design can improve the "lurching" tendency of current blades. I would definitely stay with cast iron arms.

In the 60 years I've been around saws and other potentially dangerous machines, I've never had to go to emergency for treatment. Naturally, I received the occasional nick and even a kickback or two, but never so bad that I needed more than a bandaid. I can attribute the kickback to carelessness on my part; either a dull blade, the wrong blade, fence not aligned. At 75, I still spend many hours a day in my shop. I confess that I don't use a blade guard and my fingers sometimes get too close to the blade for comfort.
Let me submit an incident that happened to me last year that sent me to emergency. I took the chain off my chainsaw to sharpen it. It was rusty and dirty, so I started to clean it on a wire wheel on my bench grinder. The wire wheel grabbed the chain and wrapped around the wheel. The chain was now whipping around and made some nasty cuts on my fingers. I had to go to emergency for stitches. As I reflect back on why it happened, I come to realize this was a procedure I had never done before (cleaning a saw chain on a wire wheel). Having never done this before, I was entering an area of new and unknown hazards. I never thought a wire wheel would grab the chain. What causes accidents on saws and other machines? I would say it's unfamilarity with the tool or procedure, something which in my case is learned through experience. I learned never to try this again and conclude that cleaning a chain with a wire wheel is a no-no.
Strict attention to what you are doing around tools and a full knowledge of the tool will lessen a chance of an accident.

As many have said, I try to repair a tool if it is cost effective to do so. What one respondant wrote was to update to a model with more features; The keyword here is "UPDATE". As manufacturers seek more cost effective manufacturing, they may update the features, but at the same time "downdate" the quality. The trend is more toward "planned obsolence". They really try to discourage tool repair and always have (parts are expensive). My 20 year old Makita cordless drill is still going strong because it was well built. The latest Makita drill may not be as good as my old one, quality-wise, but it will have the latest features. Some features are not worth having, being just another "bell and whistle" (built in flashlight or level for example); a nice little touch, but hardly necessary.

I cringed at the picture of peening a miter bar on a TABLE SAW. That person has no respect for tools.

Tim, I learned Autocad a few years back and am very comfortable with it, except when it comes to 3D. I tried Sketchup, but it seems my knowledge of Autocad doesn't allow me to grasp Sketchup. I'm able to do isometric drawings in Acad, but I want to be able to do 3D. How can I become comfortable with Sketchup?
P.S. I was offered a job at Bechtel back in the 60's, but when they said I had to wear a tie and suit, I turned down the job.

LN is fortunate to survive. It has carved out a niche for those few who can afford their tools. It is staffed by dedicated people frrom the area who appreciate good tools. I'm guessing that they don't belong to any union and their wages are not consistant with similar workers in other tool companies. They are also located in an out of the way area in Maine. (no state tax, I believe). If it were located in a more accessible part of the country, I don't think they would survive. They probably know that if they go offshore, they will lose any patrons they have.
I compare LN to the companies who make designer clothes and jewelry for pets. They are of the best quality and expensive but they cater to the rich. I wish LN well and hope they can continue their quest for quality, but I'm a bit skeptical about their survival.