Popular Woodworking 2000-04 № 114, страница 9
Cris Cuts Tools that Changed My Shop Forever The dean of home woodshop writers gives you a personal look inside his shop and the tools we now take for granted. In the late 1940s, the Shopsmith, a power tool that contributed significantly to the growth of amateur woodworking, was placed on the market. It was a multi-purpose machine, a five-in-one concept that was greeted lovingly by some and with skepticism by others — the latter group being woodworkers who couldn't understand why you would want to rearrange components to change from a table saw to a drill press. They also didn't like the fact that the machine had a tilting table (instead of a tilting arbor), though most people forget that many saws of the time were built that way. About 600,000 woodworkers have bought a Shopsmith, which gives you an assortment of power tools without taking up much more space than a couple bicycles. I admit to a degree of fondness for the machine because the introductory model, the 10ER, was my first power tool. It allowed me to work efficiently in my shop of the time, an 8' x 10' corner of an apartment basement. Whatever I did with the tool impressed the manufacturer enough to transport me from New York to California so I could produce the Shopsmith bible, "Power Tool Woodworking for Everyone." There have been transformations since then in the book, the tool, manufacturers and my interest in tools generally. But one factor seems perennial, the camaraderie that exists among users of multipurpose machines. Since that first machine entered my life years ago, I've had the opportunity to use hundreds of woodworking tools. Some of them changed forever the way we work. The following is a look at the tools that earned a permanent place in my shop. Saber Saw Some tools achieve overnight success. The saber saw, imported from Switzerland in the 1940s, was quickly adopted by professional and amateur woodworkers, despite its $150 Who is the young man demonstrating horizontal DeCristoforo himself using the first power tool he price. How can you not be impressed with a small, lightweight tool that can substitute for a hand saw, portable circular saw, jigsaw, band saw, coping saw and keyhole saw? With a pivot guide it can saw perfect circles, and it can form its own starting hole. Importers soon had considerable competition from American manufacturers, which resulted in added features and lower prices. Stanley, Black & Decker, Millers Falls, Porter-Cable, Sears, Wen and others produced saber saws with about a $50 boring on the Shopsmith I0ER?Why it's R.J. ever owned. or $60 price tag. Some were as low as $30. Disston, famed for its hand saws, even produced a 5-pound saber saw that had a handle that duplicated the one on its famous D-23 hand saw. Electric Drill It would be unusual to discover a shop without a portable electric drill. My first one was a monster, a 3/sn unit that was surplus from an aircraft plant that was scaling down at the end of World War II. My 12 Popular Woodworking April 2000 |
