Saw Stop in the High Schools

[Peter Quinn]

My high school age niece is staying with me for her spring break presently and wanted a tour of my wood shop. She told me her boyfriend takes wood shop in school and that they just got some new "Saw thingy" that will stop the blade and keep kids from cutting off fingers!

I went to the same school and remember a couple of old rockwell unisaws being in use while I was there. Glad to hear that in this age of reduced budgets some schools are maintaining their programs and upgrading to the saw stop. I can't think of a better place to have one in use.

Wondering if others have heard of local schools with wood shop using the saw stop? I for one will gladly take a property tax increase for that purchase.

[Jim Becker]

If there ever was a most ideal environment for this particular technology, schools are the place. I'm glad to hear that "your" school moved in that direction when they refreshed their equipment.

[Joe Meazle]

My brother is a an Agri teacher and they got one last year for their shop. He is still very cautious about letting students use the table saw.

[nate maker]

One of my friends owns Acoustic Edge Institure, which is a car audio school, and they just switched to the sawstop. They previously had a unisaw. I believe he told me his saving in insurance would offset the cost of the saw.

[Brian Penning]

I bet that there will be more brake firings at schools than anywhere else.
Kids will love setting them off.
Er...ahem...not that I would've done it myself at that age of course.

[Peter Quinn]

That's funny...my niece told me her boyfriend was dyeing to put a hot dog into the blade to see if the brake works! She said the shop teacher joked that if anyone wanted to test it he'd have to use his finger! So far no takers.

[Brian W Evans]

I'm a teacher (social studies - not woodshop) and our school got a sawstop at the beginning of this year. The principal's and shop teacher's rationale to the school board was that it would be irresponsible not to have one now that the technology is available.

[Randal Stevenson]

My high school age niece is staying with me for her spring break presently and wanted a tour of my wood shop. She told me her boyfriend takes wood shop in school and that they just got some new "Saw thingy" that will stop the blade and keep kids from cutting off fingers!

I went to the same school and remember a couple of old rockwell unisaws being in use while I was there. Glad to hear that in this age of reduced budgets some schools are maintaining their programs and upgrading to the saw stop. I can't think of a better place to have one in use.

Wondering if others have heard of local schools with wood shop using the saw stop? I for one will gladly take a property tax increase for that purchase.

If there ever was a most ideal environment for this particular technology, schools are the place. I'm glad to hear that "your" school moved in that direction when they refreshed their equipment.

I bet that there will be more brake firings at schools than anywhere else.
Kids will love setting them off.
Er...ahem...not that I would've done it myself at that age of course.

I have heard a couple of stories about them in school, including one where the parents GLADLY came in to pay for the new blade and brake (seems to be a common thing in school programs. You trip it, you bought it), after their son had what would have been a sever.
Considering they can sell their old equipment, less lawyer bills and cheaper insurance, this would actually cause either lower taxes, or allow them to go to OTHER NEEDED area's of the school, after initial purchase (a good thing).
A few years back, Dino Markopolous was mentoring in a school program (read on another board when he first joined), Guided circular saw systems (any brand), would also be a safer method, to allow kids to learn skills (and proper safety techniques) so when they become homeowners, they are in part ready.
They say the economy is downturning (I see mixed), THIS is the time, the DIYER, fix/restore/reuse, really comes into play, and should be a basic skill.

[J. Z. Guest]

I hope they pull the SawStop label off of it, so the kids don't get into bad habits. If they don't, I hope they remind the kids that the danger of kickback is still there and very real.

[Bruce Benjamin]

I hope they pull the SawStop label off of it, so the kids don't get into bad habits. If they don't, I hope they remind the kids that the danger of kickback is still there and very real.

This is a great point. So many people seem to think that using a SawStop means you can't get hurt. Let's hope that students don't get to comfortable and decide they don't need the splitter/blade guard. We have heard from a lot more people on this forum that have been injured by kickbacks than by amputations. And even a splitter/riving knife/blade guard won't stop all kickbacks. I like the EZ Smart solution better...Safer and less expensive. But a SawStop is a big step in the right direction as long as no students don't start thinking that they can't get seriously hurt pretty easily.

Bruce

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

this would actually cause either lower taxes,

HAHAHAHAHAHA.......oh, I'm sorry, was that my outside voice? around here, towns tend to take away services or make you start paying added fees for them (for example - charging added fees for curbside trash pickup) but taxes never seem to go down. End of tax rant...

for the Sawstop in the school. I think it's a great idea - but I'd like them to still teach kids the dangers that still exist (kickback, for example). And if a kid is willing to 'test' it, on his hand or on a hot dog - well, he better get used to cutting with a hand saw, because he should be banned from the TS.

[Bill Edwards(2)]

HAHAHAHAHAHA.......oh, I'm sorry, was that my outside voice? around here, towns tend to take away services or make you start paying added fees for them (for example - charging added fees for curbside trash pickup) but taxes never seem to go down. End of tax rant...

When you say "around here" you mean America don't you?

Having worked in schools... any attempt to do the right thing is good.

[Ben Rafael]

When I had woodshop the teacher would not allow any students to use any power tools except the drill press because he did not want any major injury. Everything we did by hand, which is truly a big pain in the neck when you only have about 35 minutes a day to do work. Between roll call and the lesson and clean up there is very little time. Cant say I blame him though, most of the kids in my class were fools and could have cut off their own heads, present company excepted.

[Roland Chung]

When I had woodshop the teacher would not allow any students to use any power tools except the drill press because he did not want any major injury. Everything we did by hand, which is truly a big pain in the neck when you only have about 35 minutes a day to do work. Between roll call and the lesson and clean up there is very little time. Cant say I blame him though, most of the kids in my class were fools and could have cut off their own heads, present company excepted.

Funny you should mention the drill press as the only tool your shop teacher would allow students to use. I almost cut my head off when I tried to drill a larger hole in some stainless steel scuba diving tank bands. Improperly clamped, when the metal snagged, the bands "opened up" like a large propeller narrowly missing my throat. Maybe if I had been properly instructed on the use of the drill press, I could have avoided this.

We all stayed away from the drill press because of that picture that I remember hanging next to it. It was a picture of some hair and bits of bloody scalp wrapped around a drill bit attached to the drill press. One picture is worth a thousand words!

[David DeCristoforo]

There's an interesting letter in the current issue of Woodshop News from a HS shop teacher regarding the SS. Basically he is saying that in his entire 28 year teaching career he only had one "incident". But since changing over to the SS he has had six "activations" leading him to believe that the SS "lulls" students into something of a "false sense of security".

You want a "humorous shop teacher anecdote"? A good friend of my dad's was a shop teacher. He was on his way to a wedding and he was giving the happy couple a turned bowl for a gift. He "just had to put some finishing touches" on it and a coat of oil finish so he figured he could just swing by the shop on his way... it would only take a few minutes. But unfortunately, he neglected to follow the "no loose clothing" rule and his tie got snagged in the lathe. The tie got "sucked up" pulling his face down onto the spinning bowl and choking him. He could not reach the switch but just before he passed out from lack of oxygen, he remembered the skew chisel he had in his hand and he managed to sever the tie. So, he made it to the wedding but with a nasty burn mark on his face, a cut on his neck from the skew and no tie.....