Visited my old high school shop class and the table saws are all gone

I was dropping off some cabinets at my old school in Portland and peeked into the woodshop. They replaced all the big table saws with these small, plastic, 'safe' saws that can't cut a 2x4. The teacher said it's a liability thing now. Kinda made me sad, because that's where I first fell in love with real tools. What's the first real tool you ever learned on?

4 comments

4 Comments

smith.nancy3mo ago

That's honestly so depressing to hear. It feels like we're taking all the real learning out of these classes to avoid any chance of getting sued. My first real tool was my grandpa's old drill press, and learning to respect it, not just fear it, taught me so much. I get what @craig.alex is saying about safety gear, but there's a big difference between being safe and just removing the tool altogether. You can't learn the weight and sound and feel of real work on a toy. It just makes the whole skill feel cheap.

craig.alex3mo ago

Used to think safety gear was enough, but maybe they're right.

jakeb812mo ago

Man, that hits home. @smith.nancy is totally right about the feel of a real tool. It's like learning to drive on a car with no power steering, you just get a sense for it that a simulator can't give you. All the safety gear in the world doesn't teach you that gut feeling when a saw starts to bind or a drill bit catches. Taking the real tools away just makes everything feel fake, like you're learning a video game instead of a real skill.

aaron_adams3mo ago

Honestly @craig.alex, what changed your mind on that? You said you used to think the gear was enough.