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ChopShop Saw Hood by FastCap

Walk around any carpentry tradeshow and you’re bound to see a million gimmicks and gadgets. It’s rare that one warrants a second look, much less my full attention. But last Spring at JLC Live in Providence I had to stop when I walked by the FastCap booth.

FastCap is a company renowned for its innovative tools and gadgets designed by the folks that actually use them—there’s a concept!!! They have come up with a hood that mounts to any chopsaw or sliding compound miter saw. Mounting brackets are available if you have trouble with yours.

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The hood is a dust containment system, not a dust collection system. The saw dust still flies out of the saw as it always did, but instead of it spewing and covering everything in a 10-ft. diameter of the saw, the dust hits the hood and slides down to the funnel shaped bottom where it trickles into a collection bucket or box (not included).

Ever have one of those little trim pieces shoot out the back of your saw and imbed in the newly painted wall behind the saw? The saw hood successfully corals all those errant pieces before they can do any damage.

Made from water resistant material, the folks at the show were touting the ChopShop hood as a way to protect the saw in inclement weather. But I wouldn’t expect the hood to offer anything but the most scant protection in inclement weather. In fact, using the saw outside on a windy day could transform the hood into an effective spinnaker, great if you use your boat as a saw
stand.

One group that will welcome this product is tilers. Working in reverse of a raincoat, the FastCap hood can contain and collect the spray from a wet saw. You just have to remember to empty the bucket.

The ChopShop Saw hood retails on the street for $129.

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