Holmes on Homes episode shows freehanding on a tablesaw without guards to do flooring
Hey All:
As a fan of the show “Holmes on Homes” I was surprised this past weekend by a segment of a 2006 episode titled “What a Mesh”. Towards the end of the episode they show the hardwood flooring installer using a cheap benchtop tablesaw in exactly the same manner as the “victim” in the now (at least in the woodworking world) famous lawsuit. The guy had it down on the floor, no guards or fence, and freehanded an angled cut on a short piece of flooring followed by a curved cut on the tablesaw. Mike made a comment that seemed to me to encourage misusing a tablesaw in this manner. I can’t believe they haven’t edited that segment out of the show. Maybe the guy has another lawsuit opportunity, “well judge, Mike Holmes recommended using a tablesaw this way on his show so I thought it was safe”. It makes me wonder if this is common practice with flooring installers.
gdblake
Replies
Piecework
Yes, among the sub-contractors that pay piecework.
As long as a product can be measured by unit, there will be people who pay piecework.
As long as people pay piecework, there will be employees who are willing to sacrifice anything for the illusion of speed, including their health or parts of their bodies, in the belief that it won't happen to them.
By the time all the lawyers fees are paid through the appeals court process, that cat will be left with $1000 in his pocket. Just like the guy who developed the intermittent windshield wipers. He sued a bunch of car companies for patent infrigment and won $10 million but was left broke after paying all the lawyers when it was all said and done.
Don't know how universal, but the guy who installed the stairs in the house I built did all his on site cutting freehand, no fence, no miter gauge. And, he was the owner.
Freehanding on the tablesaw
Steve,
As another poster mentioned, on the jobsite people sometimes use tools in ways they were not intended to be used. The practice of freehanding stock on a tablesaw is something I used to see practiced quite a bit - and I did my share of it as well when I worked full time as a carpenter.
The contractor grade tablesaws we used were much more powerful than the little benchtop models flooring installers use, so it was important to not screw things up (and tempt fate) by getting your hands too close to the blade.
A typical application would be to cut a long piece of trim close to a scribed line. Because of the length of the stock and its weight it was relatively easy to control the cut - after you got used to using the saw in that manner. I won't say it always felt "safe," but it was a reasonable trade-off between being completely safe and completing the work in a timely manner.
I'd do it today if conditions demanded it. But I wouldn't recommend it to others...
Zolton
The way's tools get used
On the jobsite the many trades do things with tools that those tools may not have been expressly designed to do .
I have seen the Hardwood flooring guy's small ts on the floor , yup .I always wondered why they dont have it at regular ht , it prolly takes up too much room in the Van and they already have knee pads on then they would have to stand up and get back down , don't know .
The countertop guy takes the skill saw upside down and backwards and on an angle to scribe the top.
Some of The old time Carpenters would free hand almost anything on the TS , got to admit I've done my share .
There was a disclaimer with Norm I think talking about the dangers , but now they may also use one on Holmes show .
I think in general a lot of the HGTV shows on DIY remodeling do a huge diservice not only to the industry but the Homeowners . I am sure some are talented Designers but the work is not usually done in a top notch manor , imo from what I have seen the end result may reflect the process .
Let's put it this way , I couldn't get away with charging for that level of quality .
regards , dusty
I am not endorsing the action, but if you are aware of the factors it is just another tool. I do not freehand on the ts but I can see applicationswhere it is feasible. as long as the material is never allowed to bind there will not be a problem. otherwise you could be wearing it in your teeth. some of those toy saws do not have the power to evercome you but when you get to 3 and 5 horsepower it is a different scenario for most. it is respect for the tool.. unless one is experienced in these operations it is best to leave alone. there is the old saying though, "monkey see-monkey do". always safety first if you want to keep all of your body parts
ron
Take a good look at Mike. It is mainly posing and testosterone with a bit of common sense to keep the viewer hooked.Pure sensationalism but it has been a great gig for him.A bit like Gordon Ramsey and the swearing.Just Bubblegum !! However it does seem that flooring guys do a lot of freehand on underpowered saws and on thin wood scary but true
Free hand
There are two things I do free hand on the TS.
Straight line ripping rough edged lumber for one. I snap a chalk line close to one edge and then follow it with the blade of the TS, never cutting off more than the minimum needed to get the edge straight.. I've done this a thousand times without incident.
Cutting long angled cuts diagonally across big panels is another. I keep the blade set to the lowest hieght and am ready to lift the panel out of the saw if there is any binding. This is probably the stupidist of the two operations but again something I've done many times without incident but not something I'd try with small panels.
I have been hit by things flung out of the TS at me and it hurts! Right between the eyes with a piece of knot for instance, but you have to stay calm until you finish your cut or can turn off the saw, then you can yell and scream all you want.
Bret
Back in the day...
When I was a construction labourer as my summer job about 30 years ago, I remember the "tablesaw" setup the flooring installer used: He had removed the TV from an old wooden cabinet TV, and mounted a skilsaw to the underside of the top, with the blade plunged up through the top. He could reach in where the tube used to be to adjust the depth of cut, and the slick laminate surface of the top was perfect for freehand crosscuts of small pieces of hardwood flooring.
It reminds me of the classic dilemma, revised to: cheap, fast, safe: pick two.
DIY Shows
I echo a point touched on by another responder- while my wife adores those DIY shows, I see all manner of hazardous uses of power tools, slip shod work that looks OK from 10 feet away as viewed for about 3/10 of a second. And I'm sure the bare MDF that got painted with a foam roller was about as rough as a Chia pet in reality. 2 things burn me up about it all- the inattention to safety , and the notion that all my projects should now only take 30 min to an hour to do! Making me nuts!
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