Comments on: SawGear – A First Look

By: kev

kev — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 18:08:58 +0000

The way technology works is that each job requires less experience to do it proficiently, therefore its easier for people to get into, in the mean time each job requires more money for the set up
This all leads to only bigger companys can afford the set up whilst being able to pay less for their labour
Its a way of getting people to do work for less and the big companys getting richer
we are all amazed by technology but it is really just taking money out of our pockets and decreasing job satisfaction from doing a skilled job

By: Rob Potter

Rob Potter — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 17:53:59 +0000

In the future you describe,will we be hauling that to site for punch list work or a small job? Or will we be sending the old timer who still owns a tape and can read it with that quaint old 12″ slider?
I don’t intend a mocking tone. I just wonder how ubiquitous this sort of things will be on the jobsite.
I am not a Luddite. And, to your point,I won’t be giving up any of my air nailers any time soon.
I just don’t see this sort of technology as the answer to a lack of basic knowledge and expertise in our trade. – Rob

By: Dave Mannion

Dave Mannion — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:04:36 +0000

I would hope so Gary. They are very much identical twins :) Take care. Now where did I put that portable CNC?? :)~

By: Bill S

Bill S — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 14:43:29 +0000

Nail guns were first rejected because carpenter’s said their hammer was not broken, and they said nail guns and compressors cost too much. Now many of us have lost some of our skill at wielding a hammer and a hand saw. I don’t think that is a bad thing, just evolution.
Most of these tools require the operator to know more, not less. With nails guns you have to know which one to buy, maintenance, how much air pressure, correct nails, length and sizing for air hose and on and on.
The Sawgear is just starting its jobsite evolution. Each saw could be programmed for correct cuts. Plus down the road your laser-measuring device will hold your cut list with buttons for each room (LR, DR,) left end cope, 142″long, right end butt. You plug the laser into the workstation at the saw and it makes your cut list from long to short. You pick a board from the list on the touch screen and hit which cut you are making. The stop sets, the hold-downs clamp and you hit the foot pedal for the cut. This may sound great to some and others will want to go back to their hand saw and hammer. But the nice thing is…This is America and you can do it anyway you want! But tool evolution is not going to stop.

By: Gary Katz

Gary Katz — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:28:13 +0000

Keith Mathewson is working on a series of articles about working with hand tools. You’ve probably already read one of his stories– “Why Hand Tools (Still) Matter”. That’s the flip side of what’s been going on in our industry for decades–for “generations” as Keith likes to put it. Brent Hull says that since the industrial revolution, carpenters have become ‘installers’. I agree. It seems to me that there are many techniques being lost even in our generation. While the ideal solution is to save what we’ve learned in the past and share/teach it to upcoming carpenters, the cultural tendency is almost the opposite: dumb down the task and rely on technology to overcome inexperience. While I don’t believe that’s the purpose or value of the SawGear (I found the tool incredibly accurate and FAST), there will be a lot of carpenters in the future who won’t be so quick with tape measures (if they can read one at all!)–they’ll be using laser measures, digital cut lists, automatic spread sheet programs that calculate the optimum pieces to cut from each stick of molding…. Well, maybe I should stop there.
Gary

By: Gary Katz

Gary Katz — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 13:11:56 +0000

E. M.,
I always hated that phrase ‘fool-proof.’ For some reason, I thought it was directed at ME. That’s why I use the other version. But thanks for the the correction!
Gary

By: robert robillard

robert robillard — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 12:38:57 +0000

Very interesting article and tool technology and but not practical for my needs.

Thanks for the info Gary.

By: E M Cieri

E M Cieri — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 12:09:09 +0000

I am likely to be in line for the $399 version too. But it will have to be more robust than this one.

As an aside, in the next to last paragraph of the article, the word is “fool-proof” not “full-proof” (damn English Majors).

By: Rob Potter

Rob Potter — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 00:17:44 +0000

This is a good article, and the technology is interesting indeed. I have no doubt we will see more of this, and I’m not necessarily opposed to this. I does strike me as much more of a shop tool, geared to cabinets and furniture making and such. I don’t see myself getting one anytime soon but that doesn’t mean that it wont works wonders for some framers and finishers alike.
But what really struck me from the article was the following quote from the beginning:

“But Mike was serious and convincing: “You have got to see this. It’s the future. You know how younger guys are more and more into computers? And the guys we’re getting on the jobs know less and less about carpentry? This thing’s the answer.””

Is this really the answer to people knowing less and less? To what end and to who’s benefit? Will a saw gear really help anyone who is on the green side become a better carpenter? If this is truly the future, I’m a little sad and more than a little scared.
- Rob

By: Bobby Slack

Bobby Slack — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 17:44:37 +0000

Computerized ripped and crosscutting technologies have been in the market for at least 20 years. This is something people use a lot in furniture because the guy in the chop saw is deciding how you are going to spend your biggest expense (wood). There are machines that scan a piece of wood and tell you the ripping and crosscutting.
What is new is that we have that in a lower end version for the jobsite and is fantastic.