The Table Saw

Recently, my daughter said to me, "Father dear, oh Father dear, you have written about Scotch and about kayaking, but, alas and forsooth, you have written nary a word about a table saw which is part of the name of your venerable blog." When your daughter speaks to you in such a way you first wonder if she has been reading too much Medieval literature and then you decide that, lo, she is right, I have written nary a word about a table saw, so, I will set about to correct that situation.

A few weeks ago I bought a new table saw. It is a Ridgid model sold by Home Depot. Ridgid Tools is a part of the Emerson line of companies. Emerson was founded in 1890 as the Emerson Electric Manufacturing Company and initially produced reliable fans. When I was a young boy, I had an Emerson phonograph. For those who may not remember, or are too young to know, a phonograph is a machine that spins a large plastic disk, called a record, upon which a tone arm is placed to produce music or other sound. Today it is often referred to as a turntable, except that a turntable usually lacks the phonograph's amplifier and speaker. I recall that my family subsequently acquired an Emerson High Fidelity phonograph with an automatic record changer and an Emerson television set. I should mention that I had an aunt who worked for Emerson Electric at the time.

 

Lest the reader get the impression that there was some nostalgic connection between the Emerson appliances of my youth and this brand of table saw, be assured that such is not the case. When I buy something like a tool, I usually try to do as much research as I can on the internet and by visiting stores to look at the item, which can be revealing and bring about a different impression than simply reading a description.

 

For many years my saw of choice has been and is a radial arm saw. I have had several over the years and find that I can cut on it about 80 percent of what I need to cut. For wide panels I have used a hand held power circular saw. There are those who advocate the purchase of a table saw as the first bench tool that a woodworker should undertake. Their arguments have merit, but I have been happy with my radial arm saw.

 

Still, there are things that can be done more accurately and easier on a table saw. I thought to incorporate a small one into my workbench and have it act as supplemental support for pieces being cut on my radial arm saw and vice versa. I had in mind a small saw, but when I looked at some and read about them, most were little more than junk. I don't have the space for what I would really like which is a stationary saw. When we moved into our present home with a full basement from a house with no basement, I looked at the cellar an envisioned a wonderful workshop, with a stationary tool here, a stationary tool there and stationary tools everywhere. Things did not turn out to be that way, all for the better actually.

 

Our cellar has been developing into something like a recreation room with a pool table, train set, craft table, stereo and wood stove, not to mention the infamous slot machine. The train set (O gauge) was beginning to take up the entire cellar area and I was getting resentful of the presence of the pool table which prevented me from creating an even larger railroad empire. I disassembled the 8 foot long craft table and began surrounding the hapless pool table with train track. Despite reading of enthusiasts who actually bought adjacent houses so they could expand their layouts, I had an epiphany and decided that, for now, that wasn't for me. I radically reduced the size until my layout is now approximately 8' x 10'. With the help of She Who Must Be Obeyed, I fit most of the accessories from my larger layout onto it. There is now space that can actually be used for something like sawing wood on my new table saw.

 

My workshop is separated from this area by a partition wall and shares the space with a laundry tub and clothes washer and dryer. I find that it is quite adequate for most projects. I even made raised panel doors and new drawer fronts for our kitchen cabinets there.

I thought about writing an ode to my table saw and for some reason the song "Dunderbach" keeps coming to mind. My late father-in-law loved to sing this and many other songs at family gatherings. I recently transposed a VHS tape onto a DVD including footage of him signing this song. I didn't remember all the words and figured that I could watch the DVD and reverse it until I wrote down the words. Then I decided to try checking the internet. Wow, I couldn't believe how much there was out there about "Dunderbach," or "Dunderbeck," or "Johnnie Verbeck" as he is variously named. I will allow any interested readers the pleasure of doing a Google search on "Dunderbach Oh Dunderbach" to find the many posts on this old folk song. In the meantime, here is a little ditty:

 

ODE TO A TABLE SAW

Oh Table Saw, oh Table Saw, you cut the wood so clean

You are an orange wonder, a really neat machine

Now all the boards and scraps of wood

Will never more be seen,

They'll all be turned to something else

By Grampy's new machine.

 

That's probably enough of that. The fact that I have not written about my table saw until now may have something to do with the fact that I have yet to cut an actual piece of wood with it. I did turn it on and checked all of the surfaces for true and found everything to be well adjusted right out of the box. The table saw, besides being a real thing, is, in this blog, a symbol for all things relating to crafts, woodworking and home improvements. Into which category, a dram of Scotch, kayaking or a table saw will I fit my other interests: toy trains, attempting to play the banjo and photography? I guess you'll have to check back to find out.

The Great American Shelving Adventure (Part 1)

I promised my grandson, Stephen that I would help him build a bookcase for his bedroom. I should have left it at that, but I had to open my mouth and suggest that he might like adjustable shelving with some type of desk and storage space. That sounded good to him as long as there is a trap door someplace in it, like a secret compartment. I asked what he wanted to store in the compartment, so I could get an idea of the size it should be and it turns out he plans to store himself in it. A little larger compartment than I thought, but, oh well.

I went to the Home Depot near my office to price the uprights, brackets, wood, etc. I have to say I was dismayed. The collection of uprights was a jumble of different sizes and only a few of each. The labels on the shelves had the sizes cut off so it was difficult to know with which product they were associated. I managed to get one of the uprights out of the tangle and found that it was made by Rubbermaid. It was clearly metal and not rubber. I didn't quite know what to make of that so I headed to the lumber department and was even more dismayed that I wasn't able to find any 5/4 pine which I think goes better with the hardware I want to getthan 3/4 inch shelving. Tomorrow I will head off to Lowes and the saga will continue.

The Soap Dispenser Caper

When I installed a new sink in our kitchen, I inserted a soap dispenser in a hole in the top rim of the sink. That was only a year or so ago and I can still remember the contortions I went through to get it there. For some reason I had to install it after the sink was in place. 

Fast forward a year or so and my spouse pointed out that the metal tube in the thing had corroded to the point where it wasn't working. Off I went to the Home Depot and bought a new one which I determined had a plastic tube, so there was no longer a danger of corrosion. I then removed all of the stuff under the sink, gathered my tools, got on my back and immediately realized that that wasn't going to work very well. My back came in contact with the front of the sink cabinet and, as you might imagine, caused great pain and anguish. I secured a pillow to lie on, but this put me too high to be able to put my arms to good use. I got  a smaller pillow. Now I was under the sink and could barely reach the nut holding the dispenser. Fortunately, over the years I have accumulated various tools for odd situations such as this. I have a sink wrench, without which I would have been unable to proceed, but the proceeding went very slowly. After much angst I got the darn thing off and thought, "Oh well, the worst part is over." You can probably guess that Mr. Murphy was about to apply one of his laws.

After several false starts and a near paralyzed back, the new dispenser and soap bottle were installed. The only thing left was to insert the pump. Spouse said, "Why don't you run some water through it first because it will work better with the soap." O.K. I always do what Spouse says, especially in the kitchen, so, we inserted the tube in some water and pumped. And the water squirted out of the spout, where it was supposed to come out and from under the cap, where it wasn't supposed to come out. I examined the cap and saw a microscopic crack where the metal spout joined the tube in the underside of the cap. 

I had to return this thing, but I was not going under that sink again to try to extricate the now secure dispenser along with it's bottle filled with soap. I decided to just buy another one and to swap out the pump and return the defective unit. I went to our local Home Depot and, of course, they didn't have it in white. I had to wait until I went to work to go to the store where I bought the first one to get a replacement. I was wondering as I bought it if it would have the same defect. Luckily there was no problem with the new pump and we now have a soap dispenser that dispenses soap ans isn't corroded and won't ever corrode, I hope. 

Kayaking

2007 was not a good year for kayaking for us. We went out on Mother's Day on Lake Assunpink with our son and his wife and didn't go out again until late summer. One problem was that I got a sports related injury in the summer. I went into a bookstore to get a kayaking magazine and when I came out I slipped and fell on my knees in the wet parking lot. I got up thinking that I had only got my pants wet from falling and it wasn't until about a week later that I began to have pain in my left knee, leg and foot. The pain and stiffness was such, before I finally went to see a doctor, that I was afraid that if I got in my Tsunami 14, I wouldn't be able to get out again. We finally did go kayaking with some friends and I borrowed one of their sit-on-tops. It was great to get out on the water, but the sit-on-top was not as easy to paddle as my boat.

This year I am all ready. My legs bend and flex and my foot is no longer stiff and sore. However, my spouse's arm has been giving her some pain and I am concerned about how we will get the kayaks on our car. (Of course I'm more concerned about her arm and she has been to see a doctor, too.) well, when the weather gets warmer, we will see how we deal with this.

Thoughts on Retirement

I am approaching retirement as I write this; about 16 months (485, give or take a few days, but whose counting?

A lot of thoughts are going through my mind as I get closer to that time that many look forward to with great joy and many dread. Having worked since I got out of school, it is hard to imagine an existence where there will not be the daily obligation to get up and go to an office. Work for me has generally not been unpleasant although some jobs were more fun than others. There will be a void of about 10 hours a day, including commuting time, not to mention, or maybe to mention, the financial void created by the lack of a paycheck. 

Soon I will have all of that extra time. "Every day is a Saturday," says my friend, Ray. But, the money will stop coming in too. My spouse assures me that we are financially O.K. for the next 55 years. I plan to live to 120. After all, some people do, so why not me? And, there is a financial incentive to do so. I have a $1.00 bet with my granddaughter, Pippi, that I will live that long. Retirement is no time to be losing a dollar, so I have to reach my goal. Pippi won't ever have to pay me a dollar if I win because when I do reach 120, she will be a senior citizen and I'll let her off the hook because of her age.

But, I digress. I was commenting that I will no longer have a steady job or a paycheck. What will I do with myself? She Who Must Be Obeyed has had no difficulty coming up with a list of things to keep my little grey cells and my weary body active. But, shouldn't there come a time when you get to put your feet up, your head back and sip the Scotch?

There was an article in Time magazine recently that told of a study that proved that older men were at less risk for heart trouble if they had two drinks a day (women can have one drink). A while ago My doctor asked me if I had a drink every day. I said that I did not, which was and still is true. He said that I should, quoting some studies that proved the benefits of doing so. Who am I to dispute both my doctor and Time magazine? I do question one part of the Time article in which it says that you shouldn't have your entire weekly allotment at one time. Fiddlesticks. I want to be as healthy as I can and I have a lot of catching up to do.