srjaynes

Of course I can spell when not distracted. I meant to type "Everybody WEARS them , or leaves the shop. Duh...

I wear safety prescription glasses. I have several pair of "over your glasses or bare face" safety glasses in my shop for visitors. EVERYONE were's them or leaves. I also have hearing protection for power tool usage. THAT is just a foundation for safety. It's the ante in the poker game of not having an accident.

I've heard that the Shelix cutter heads can not be used for rabbeting. Does anyone know that to be factual? I have a 8 year old 8" Gxxxxy jointer with their segmented carbide cutter head. It does NOT produce as smooth a cut as my previous 6" Jxt jointer with HSS blades. I too calculate the cut's per second to be about 75% fewer on the 8" Grzzzzy. It does do a much better job on wild grained wood and I no longer fear resins in composites but I miss that marvelous finish the HSS blades produces.

STILL my favorite dado crosscut tool, period.

About 10 years back, I used my 50 year old Saw Smith to cut DOZENS of angled cuts on my deck project to yield a herring-bone appearance. NO sliding compound had the cross-cut capacity to do the job.

Like any power saw, a GOOD blade and a "tune-up" BEFORE the tune-up is needed are the secret to both accuracy and safety.

They are likely THE best used tool value of the century. I purchased THREE last yea off of Craig's list. A got one to use as my dedicated dado saw, and one for each of my sons-in-law. Total cost for all three, including blade sharpening = $190.00.

It was my first stationary power tool, and I depend on mine virtually every single week.

Oh yes, I DO have a 12" Sliding Compound Miter Saw and a 10" non-compound miter saw. They do get used for fine trim work, but I spare them from HD chores by using the RAS.

One man's junk is another man's treasure. Your milage will almost certainly vary.

ANY power tool in the shop can bite the hand or fingers that feed it! In 8th grade shop, one of our classmates decided to cut a colored pencil in to two pieces AFTER the cleanup bell had sounded. You guessed it: He pushed it through the blade and sawed his thumb off at the first joint. Think thinking on the part of our shop teacher and the hospital being only 3 blocks away and this thumb, but not his thumbnail, was saved. He was rightly expelled from class and got an F for the year. He violated EVERY shop safety item drummed into our heads by our instructor.

Cars and shop tools do not attack people, unless directed so by people, including yourself. I have a permanent scar across my thumb nail proving that even a hold-down stick might not be the right solution. I nicked my thumb with my miter saw, trying to cut too short a piece of material. Moral of the story, I had a perfectly good HAND SAW in my drawer but was too lazy and too rushed to use it. I lost a couple of hours and worked one-thumbed for two weeks as payment for my stupidity!

The Ryobi suit is frivolous and should have been thrown out before it even got started. We need to make people take responsibility of our own safety. I know this from first-hand experience!