"The Great Do-It-Yourself Era"

Uglydog

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Was digging out the radial arm saw for a wood working project last week and puttering with my vintage Dewalt.
RAS often have a bad reputation as dangerous, and was trying to improve my technique.
Stumbled on these free sample chapters (which I've not yet ordered).
I'm offering the link here as yet another ode to days when having a home shop was a cultural expectation and not an exception.

http://www.mrsawdust.com/pdf/Sawdust_Chap1.pdf

Daryl
MN
 
Good read Daryl, I especially like Wally's words of wisdom.
"I do not mince these words:
Stupid,
uneducated
mistakes can maim you for
life! (That’s a long time.)"
 
I'm 70 and I sort of thought that NOW was "The Great Do-It Yourself Era".

If you need help figuring how to fix a carburetor problem on a John Deere LA145 lawn mower? -- There's a video for that.
If you need help learning how to thread on a metal lathe? -- There's a video for that.
How do you make dovetails if you want to make a fancy drawer? -- There's a video for that.
How would you make a simple spinning wheel? -- There's a video for that.
I got a powder coat kit for Christmas. How do I use it? -- There's a video for that.

... and those are just a few of ones I've actually used.

The one time this failed was when I wanted a practical introduction to hydraulics and couldn't find anything that really helped me much. But I've still got faith. Ave has said that he is going to start such a series. (If you don't know who Ave is, you are in for a treat. Just search Ave on youtube and prepare to spend the next two weeks watching his old videos.)
 
Good ol hydraulics. I'm not too fond of them either. My dad used to cuss out the engineers at his work place for most of their genius ideas that went sour and he had to show them the right way it should have been done and fix their screw-ups.
 
Was digging out the radial arm saw for a wood working project last week and puttering with my vintage Dewalt.
RAS often have a bad reputation as dangerous, and was trying to improve my technique.
Stumbled on these free sample chapters (which I've not yet ordered).
I'm offering the link here as yet another ode to days when having a home shop was a cultural expectation and not an exception.

http://www.mrsawdust.com/pdf/Sawdust_Chap1.pdf

Daryl
MN
Daryl,

I had a B &D Dewalt radial arm saw, I couldn't afford a Rockwell at the time. Ran a lot of wood thru that saw. Later in life, gave it to my little brother. Don't miss it one bit. Still have all of my fingers and limbs.
 
The RAS is OK for a cross cut but deadly when ripping:eek:. Never owned one, but did use one when making custom picture frames through college. When ripping, that saw would shout out the molding like a spear! The adjacent wall was full of holes from the saw shooting out moldings!
 
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I have a Craftsmen RAS I purchased new in the mid 70's. It has had many thousands of feet of 1 & 2X lumber run though it, as I was a GC for many years. Just like any machine that spins, you have to have your wits about you. Mike
 
The first power tool that I bought was a Montgomery Ward radial arm saw. I still use it fifty years later. It was a 9" saw but readily accommodated a 10" blade and because it was gear driven rather than direct drive, I could cut through a 4 x 4.
I also have a Grizzly 10" hybrid table saw but for many operations the radial arm saw excels. Much easier to cut 10" off a 12 ft 1 x 10 than trying to stabilize the moving board with the miter gauge.
I would say the the most dangerous tool that I have in my shop is the table saw, my chain saws included, although the compound miter saw is a close second. Maybe forty stitches in my right hand when I was a teenager is influencing my state of mind but I still tense up whenever I am running close to that blade. Years ago, I developed the habit of hooking my fingers over the fence to help prevent them from being pulled into the blade.
 
Speaking of the do-it-yourself era, I grew up reading Popular Mechanics and Mechanix Illustrated. I used to get back issues going back to WW II and read them cover to cover. The ads at the back were great.

How many remember all the war surplus stores advertising there? And how about the "Wordless Workshop"?
 
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