On Sat, 12 Apr 2014 02:41:41 -0400, Spehro Pefhany
wrote:

On Fri, 11 Apr 2014 18:49:37 -0400, the renowned wrote:


Cordless circular saws (even small 6.5" ones) are close to useless.

Not so. I have a DeWalt that's quite nice on plywood and such. I
also have an older Makita that's great for cedar siding. It sure as
hell beats a 10lb. corded monster when you're trying to trim a piece
of siding, 15' up a ladder on the side of the house. ;-)

I've got a Hitachi one that came in a kit- cut up few ~2" branches
that were felled by an ice storm and it was already dying.

A circular saw used on a tree? You must be suicidal. Cutting a 2"
diameter branch with a 6" saw? You *have* to be! Haven't you ever
heard of a chain saw, or even a reciprocating saw? ;-)

The branches were on the ground. Just cutting them into 3' pieces for
bundling so the city would haul them off. I'm not getting up on a
ladder with a cordless circular saw. ;-)

Cutting live wood with a circular saw is *not* a good idea. First,
the pieces aren't round and worse, aren't uniform. When cutting
dimensional lumber, you can clamp the piece so it doesn't move. You
can't (easily) do that with branches. The chances of pinching the
blade are greatly increased and kick-back is a real possibility. That
can really ruin your day.

The Makita isn't much different than operating a cordless screwdriver.
It was quite safe - as safe as an work on a ladder. The saw won't cut
much more than cedar siding, though. Even with a good blade, that's
about all the 4" blade can cut. ;-)

I don't have a gas chain saw (just an antique electric one without
guards). The Hitachi version of a sawzall might have been better but I
think the blade had gone walkabout.

If you don't have the tools to do a job safely, don't do it. Missing
fingers (or worse) aren't fun.

Cordless drill: Great, especially when you have at least 2 batteries
Cordless sawzall: okay
Cordless circular saw: pretty much useless
Flashlight attachement: Great because it sits up nicely when in the
attic

The power tool that I really don't like using is the table saw. Much
more so the slider radial arm saw, and way more than a lathe or mill.
Apparently the first thing most folks do is remove that stupid thing
that marks up wood and helps keep it from randomly flinging stuff
toward you at high velocity (riving something?).

Then you're silly. A RAS is *far* more dangerous than a table saw.
Neither are to be used without a large pile of caution but physics is
working against you with a RAS. A compound slider is much safer but
it's not really comparable to either.

Riving knife? That's basically a splitter on steroids. It keeps the
kerf open so the wood doesn't pinch the board. The difference between
a riving knife and a splitter is that the knife adjusts to the height
of the blade, so can be used for non-thru cuts. They don't damage the
wood in any way.

If you're talking about the "blade guard", it's purpose is to tell you
that your fingers are getting too close. Your eyes should be telling
you that. ;-) Part of many blade guards is a splitter and anti-kick
plaws. I rarely use the guard myself, and prefer a separate splitter
and plaws (removes is seconds). I like to see what I'm doing, also.

Plaws only "mark" the wood if they're needed to save your bacon.
Marking up the wood is a small price. OTOH, I find it simpler to just
not stand in the path of potential projectiles. ;-) BTW, I had
*many* more such problems with my RAS (5, that I can remember) than my
table saw (0). The RAS hasn't been used in well over 20 years. One
day I'll put it back together.


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