Australian Wood Review – September 2019

80 Australian Wood Review

TOOLS & EQUIPMENT

I

’ve lost count of how many times

I’ve been confronted with a

photograph of yet another person

whose hand has been rearranged by

getting on the wrong side of a router

or tablesaw blade. Like clockwork

I then think of my kids who are 9

and 11, and I fight the compulsion

to steer them clear of woodworking

and woodworking machinery and

experiment with base jumping, which

I am sure is a lot safer.

A New Saw Story

Kerryn Carter explains why upgrading to

a new tablesaw was all about priorities.

It seems that my kids are a little too

young to be let loose on my machines

at this particular moment. But the

day that they start asking about them

is undeniably fast approaching.

At times like this I hark back to my

father in his home workshop back in

the 80s. While he had access to the big

Wadkins at the school he taught at he

would come back to his little workshop

under our house in Newcastle and pull

out his one million horsepower Skilsaw

and his trusty Black and Decker

workmate. To my 10 year old mind you

would have to be a certifiable lunatic to

power that Skilsaw up. I would watch

as he would roll it all into some space

while announcing to our household

that we were finally entering the age of

some nice louvered joinery closets.

‘Kerryn watch yourself, I’m starting

it up!’ which was the household code

for ‘...get out now’. There was no blade

guard but he had the 6 Million Dollar

Man style safety glasses and a fence.

Dust would spew forth and much noise

and commotion and then many more

hours behind the closed workshop door.

The only indication that all was about

to be revealed was the affronting aroma