womanwoodworker

I was trained on a delta unisaw. I always use a splitter and guard when ripping and a biesemyer cross cut sled when cross cutting or some type of cut off sled. The only operations one should do without either of these is a dado or rabbit operation when the wood covers the blade. So I agree that personal responsibility and correct use is important. I bought my saw just before the stop saw technology came out.

However it baffles me that anyone would take the stand that the makers of the stop saw were the greedy ones and not the makers of the conventional saws. If I remember when the technology first came out it was said it would raise the price by $500. I doubt it would be this much now but again we are all speculating. One trip to the emergency room costs at least $800 with insurance and thousands without. One second of inattention can take your fingers or hand, and I bet if you ask any injured woodworker if they would pay $500 to get their hand or fingers back they would gladly pay.

I cut some wood once on a bench top saw and thought at the time that these were the most dangerous of machines. I see guys all the time on job sites using them on the ground or just sitting on saw horses without any guard or splitter. They should at least be bolted to a table top. I agree that Fesstools track saw system is more appropriate for flooring and other worksite jobs.

Why aren't any of you bothered that the saw manufacturer's "colluded" to shut out the stop saw technology when it came out. As I recall Stop Saw did not want to get into the manufacturing business.

I recently sold my conventional woodshop except for my fesstools because of a planned move across the country. When I get resettled I will be buying a stopsaw for my cabinet saw. I loved my unisaw but hate that they would not incorporate the stop saw technology. BTW they just sold out to a Taiwanese company.

I joined a local woodworkers group for a couple of years where I was the only woman and not one guy used their guard or splitter and they all bragged about it. Untill one day a guy came in without 4 fingers.