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.