Probably several months ago I watched some woodworking video on Youtube, and the video was sponsored by this strange saw contraption that I’m having no luck googling. Maybe I dreamed it up and I’ve got something worth patenting, I don’t know.
The most concise way I can explain it is, imagine if the table saw had been invented, but power tools and circular saws hadn’t. Or, think of the journey you go on when making a circ saw into a table saw, and then go on that journey with a frame saw.
This is a stationary tool that holds a straight blade in tension, the blade doesn’t move, the stock is secured to a guide which slides on rails, and can be positioned to make various different cuts.
I thought “huh, I’ll look that up later to see if it’s worth a damn” and now can’t find it again. Might have dreamed it.
I’m guessing the Jointmaker Pro
https://bridgecitytools.com/products/jmpv2-jointmaker-pro
which is faintly ridiculous.It’s either that, a knockoff of that, or the thing that’s knocking off that I’m thinking of.
Edit to add, I would swear the thing I saw works on a similar principle, but was a different shape. It had a more open, diagonal frame, and I think they mentioned it being Japanese. Visually it reminded me a bit more of a Shopsmith, or a Bowflex.
I can’t think of what else it would be. It seems to be a precision piece of kit, but Christ on a cracker that’s a lot for a glorified jig that can only work with stock that could be handled as hand-work by most whose preferences lie in that direction.
I recently picked up a Ryoba pull saw; I don’t have room in my shop for a band saw and the only real way I’ve had to resaw boards was on the table saw, which blows away 1/8" before planing, so figure at least 3/16" of board gone by the time you’ve sawn and planed, plus it’s a pretty strict limit of 6.5" of board thickness. My theory was a Ryoba has such a thin blade that it would allow more efficient use of resawn stock. But it’s not easy to do. I suppose a frame saw is in order.
This sounds a lot like a video by Matthias Wandel who builds a lot of custom tools but also sells building instructions.
It was a sponsor spot unrelated to the content of the video. I watched a video on building a workbench or something, And now for a word from our sponsor: This contraption.
LOL @ the notion of Matthias not including a motor in a home-built tool.
If it is what I think it is (thanks for the link, @[email protected]), Matthias had some opinions.
Can you build a wooden Jointmaker pro?
People keep emailing me about building a “jointmaker pro” (Google it). But that would be silly to reproduce. The jointmaker pro could be improved on considerably by replacing the straight saw blade with a continuous rotating one. And then motorize that saw blade. But … An improved “jointmaker pro” has been available for decades, and at a fraction of the cost. It’s called a table saw. The “jointmaker” is a pet peeve of mine. “pro” is a misnomer. It’s a tool for hobbyists with too much time and money. You won’t see any professionals using it. The one thing I admire about the jointmaker pro is how well it’s presented. Very slick. I admire the guy’s marketing skills.
Is it like the head of a band saw mill but the stock moves instead of the head?
When you say the blade doesn’t move, do you just mean it doesn’t articulate, and moves in one direction like a scroll saw? Or is it still and you manually move the stock against the blade?
You manually move the stock against the blade. The blade might be movable to set a bevel angle but in operation the blade is held perfectly still and the stock is moved across it.
