Today I wound up working together with a kitchen installer who I’ve known for a while but never worked with. He’s quick and he does very nice installations – every detail taken care of, no sloppy joints or gaps or anything else you could complain about. He’s been at it for years and would be 50-ish, I think.
What surprised me was that he set up all his tools on the floor – table saw, SCMS, power planer, hand tools, everything. Then he stands beside the tool and bends over to use it. I couldn’t believe it, especially for the saws.
I asked him about it and he said it cuts out so much setting up and taking down time that he can go about the actual job in a more relaxed way. Maybe that’s true. It does take some time to set up and tear down work tables and cut stands and sawhorses. I’m not giving mine up, though.
Any other floor-dwelling folks want to raise a hand?
j
Replies
I can't work from the floor either. It's not only having to bend down to get the tools, but also tripping over them and they get kicked around. I like the floor to be a nice open space for moving around it. And I like my tools organized when I'm working. Maybe your friend has a method that works for him, but I see setting up as a time saver.
~ Ted W ~
Cheap Tools! - MyToolbox.net
Meet me at House & Builder!
my table saw stand is no bigger than the saw itselt, but I do like having room to set up the chop saw stand too ...
that said ... as my Dad would say ...
"can't fall from the floor"
he'd usually mention than after I dropped a heavy tool on the customers floor ...
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
I think that a lot of this stuff is genetically predetermined --
I remember an old hillbilly hardwood-strip floor installer who could work bent over all day long, cutting, marking, and nailing. He stood up with his legs straight, and bent over at the hips at 90º or more for hours at a time.
I just can't do that and end up walking erect at the end of the day.
But my legs fold in half just fine -- I can sit or squat with my butt resting on my heels for hours, so I go for a kneeling approach if I'm on a small job. I have more than a few rubber kneeling pads, and one of them will end up right in front of a table saw set on a garage slab, if the job size doesn't justify a waist-height setup.
Chacun a son gout, n'est-ce pas?
AitchKay
Chacun a son gout, n'est-ce pas?C'est vrai, absolutement. j
It's whatever you get used to.
I worked in Africa with a native helper who insisted on carrying things on his head that would take two people. Things like 120# pumps and lengths of 4" schedule 40 iron pipe.
It would've crushed my neck vertebrae to do what he did, never mind that I'd never be able to balance the odd-shaped things he carried with seeming ease and grace.
Here at home, my wife weeds the garden bent from the waist for hours at a time. She's Polish, but I don't think that entirely explains it.
That method may have made sense years ago but now there are folding stands for most stationary power tools.
I saw an adjustable universal chop saw stand from Skil at Lowes yesterday for $99. Simple and basic, with stops for repeat cuts. I'll probably discard my home made stand and get one of those soon.
I already own Skil's folding table saw stand. Very nice set up which more than doubles the table size and adds an excellent, longer fence. Turns any portable 10" table saw into a much more useful and precise tool. Plus it sets up and breaks down in one minute.
Back when FHB first came out I made a set of 2'sq. boxes that were exactly the same height as my Rockwell 9' chop saw table when the saw was bolted to a piece of 3/4" ply. Set the saw on the floor, drop one box each side of the saw and have an instant and infinitely adjustable saw table . Each box held various tools and supplies for finish work. Still use that system quite often, boxes have changed as saws has been replaced. I own all the tables and stands, but I can still get up and down easily and find it an easy set up.
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
Have yor friend log into breaktime and let some of us tell our stories about lower back and knee problems.
That might open his eyes. Probably not, but worth a try
<That might open his eyes. Probably not, but worth a try >I was on a site with him again today. The customer has a big deck outside the kitchen door with built-in benches around the perimeter - flat surface, no back, 18" off the floor. He set his saws on the floor of the deck and got right to work down there. Middle of the day his SCMS was in my way for some reason and he said I could move it if I needed to. I set it up on the bench, ready to use. Next time he needed it he picked it up, put it back on the floor, and started cutting. AitchKay said it in French and it's true in English too, I guess - Each one to his own tastes. j
my bosses always wonder why I seldom use saw horses for cutting things like floor joist, etc....my answer is to cut them on top of the pile they get droped on...why move them around so many times?
when I get near the bottom of the stack, sure, I'll switch to horses, which someone has had the time to set up by then....
I think my back would complain more about all the extra lifting, than it does about the small bending it goes thru this way...
If someone does a bunch of low work they might what to check out the Racatac. I use it for baseboards, putting knobs and pulls on base cabinets, wainscotting, etc.
Here are some pics of it and a video I made last week of nailing off base cap molding:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnURInAWgk&feature=channel
http://www.racatac.com/
I like to work in civilized conditions... cutting and work stations should be ergonomic.
try ProKnees. they are worth it.
i know , I have bone spurring in my knees. They hurt like a son-of-a-#### when they break off. They fell like large grains of sand.
One of the contractors we work for doesn't own any chop/table saw stands. Always working right on the floor. He has chronic neck pains and is always at the chiro.
We bring in our chop/table on rolling stands and a table for assembly/tools and he rolls his eyes! He believes we are losing productivity... but that is just an argument I am not going to win.
When I was a young framer,
we used to nail off plywood decking by hand.
And I could walk along, bent at the waste for maybe 50 or so sheets no problem. Foot on either side of a Joist, hammer in one hand and the other pulling nails from my pouch.
And Like someone else here said? Floor Joists, Ceiling joists? Cut em right off the pile.
No back problems at all........
When all I did was install stair rails I used to carry a large (6 foot) folding table in my truck. a cheap, universal work stand.