Rockwell JawHorse Ruined by Infomercial?

comments (6) November 24th, 2009 in Blogs

Justin Fink, Senior Editor

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Video Length: 1:21
Produced by: John Ross

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Infomercials are a handy marketing tool, but they can also water down the credibility of a tool, in my opinion. If you've seen my latest Tool Hound video, you know that I think the Rockwell JawHorse has merit. It's an all-metal, solid clamping station, and folds up to a compact package for moving and storage.

the jawhorse And though I learned a few uses for the tool that I hadn't thought of on my own (like holding 4x4 posts upright while backfilling the holes), I also experienced reactions that included laughter, annoyance, fear of safety, and general skepticism.

Miter Saw Station - If you ask me, the moment when a high-RPM, 12-in. diameter, 100 tooth miter saw blade is plunging into a piece of nested crown molding is NOT the time to worry about the tripping hazards or stability of a 3-legged miter saw station.

A second pair of hands - Why bother asking for some help from your spouse or children when you can wheel an 40-lb. clamping tool into your living room to hold up one end of some 3-in. wide chair rail while you fasten it to the wall? After that, you can kick up your heels and crack open a cold beer...with a gas-powered chainsaw.

Clamps...at awkward angles - Do I really need to make a comment about the absurdity of the photo shown below? Really?

I'm clearly poking fun at the infomercial, but I'm really sort of disappointed because I think that at some point these fantastical examples, booming voice-overs (MONSTER TRUCK, TRUCK, TRUCK!) for a truly GREAT tool start to muddy the waters for the rest of the consumers.

I'll let you watch an excerpt from the infomercial from YouTube to see for yourself:

Building Outdoor Structures
by Scott McBride Build beautiful garden structures -- gates to gazebos! $19.95 more info...

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Comments (6)

Davo304 writes:
I've first saw the jaw horse on display at Lowes. Curiosity got the best of me so I checked it out. My conclusion...an expensive piece of junk! a DIYR might like it for a particular purpose or two, but it is way too limited in purpose, way overpriced, and would compete with precious space that my more needed tools already take up in my pick up truck. A person can buy metal, fold-up saw horses that cost less than $15 dollars each, add a sheet of plywood, or use an old salvaged hollow core door from a previous job, throw in a couple of quick clamps, and voila! You now have a large, sturdy jobsite worktable that you can use for a variety of tasks, and only cost a fraction of the cost of a jawhorse.
Posted: 12:44 am on December 18th

zzzorn writes: My girlfriend bought me a jawhorse after seeing it on TV. Go ahead and laugh. I find it exceptionally useful as I work alone, and need a stable, easy to use clamp for doing cuts, drilling into oddly shaped or small stock, any ABS work, tile and stone, fine hardwoods etc. I have found it a real safety provider, and use it constantly. Cheers, Zzzorn.
Posted: 1:11 pm on November 25th

JFink writes: KFC - One of my brothers came up to me one time and jokingly made some comments about this supposed do-it-all tool he saw an infomercial about. He figured it was just another of those crappy tools that claim to do everything...turns out he was talking about the MultiMaster. It's too bad, because I've never heard anybody speak poorly of that tool in terms of performance (price, yes)...yet his perception from an outside point of view was infomercial=crappy tool.
Posted: 5:12 pm on November 24th

JFink writes: I actually just logged on to fix that weight problem, Renosteinke. I didn't know the weight when I was writing this post, so I just stuck 80 in there until I went to the website and looked it up. Then I forgot. Sloppy...sorry.
Posted: 5:10 pm on November 24th

renosteinke writes: I have the original version of this, the Triton "Superjaws."

Mine has certainly worked well when I've used it - which hasn't been quite as often as I had expected.

80 lbs? Either that figure is off by about 60 lbs, or I'm a whole lot stronger than I think I am. For a vise, it's amazingly lightweight.

Not being much of a TV watcher, I'm not sure if I've ever seen any ads for either this, or the various multi-master tools. I certainly haven't seen any of the extended 'infomercials,' so I'll have to take your word for it.

Instead, I learned of the vise at a tool house's "Open House," where the Bosch rep was using one to hold his workpiece.

As vises go ... well, the job site isn't a machine shop. The stuff we want to hold is larger, we don't need a gazillion tons of pressure, surface marring is a concern ... and the ground is uneven. All of which suggests that this Austrailian design is on the right track ... including the tripod legs.
Posted: 1:58 pm on November 24th

KFC writes: I agree. I don't know anything about the Jawhorse, but the Fein infomercial had the same effect on me.
I love, love, love my Fein tools, but seeing the homeowner-oriented infomercial for the Multimaster made me queasy, and the way I feel about the brand plummeted.
It may (or may not...) be good business to go after the DIY market, but you risk credibility with the pros. Always a tradeoff, one that applies to the magazine as well.
k
Posted: 1:07 pm on November 24th

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