Are we the last of the buffaloes?

[GKman]

I keep seeing adds, lots of them - Radial Arm Saw $100.

I can understand "I'm going to the old folks home and they won't let me bring it with me" but the price tag tells me nobody wants it.

A friend has been trying to sell a like-new motorhome for less than book value for two years and never gets any lookers. $135k new to $55k used to $30k if he wants it out of the driveway.

I look at my rollaround with mechanic's tools I've been collecting since I was 16. When I cash in my chips I can't think of anybody I could give it to.

Been looking for a m/c for a friend. Something he and his wife can go for a Sunday ride on or a ten day trip and not expect a break down. No particular brand or style. Looks like a buyer's market. BMW 1200's, Honda, Yamaha, or Kawasaki big cruisers, farkled out, 30k miles, dealer serviced, new tires and battery - thirty cents on the dollar, about nothing for the accessories and a couple of free helmets with audio thrown in. I've got a BMW 1150 and a Triumph America I don't ride enough but am dying to run down to Florida for a a scratched up BMW K1200 and Tulsa for a Yamaha Stratoliner just to Jay Leno for myself.

Is THE END near?

[damianpoirier]

No, we've evolved. We're still "makers", but we're exploring additive manufacturing potential. As time passes our mostly monochrome (single material) 3d printers will give way to technicolor dream factories AKA Santa Claus machines and the printers will be nanoscale robotic assemblers. Techniques of transmitting and sharing build files (blue prints, STL files and g-code) are making people more intimate with the idea of bits-to-atoms. I want people to be able to dl the instructions for making a hamburger or an oscilloscope and just print one out. I just hope that we mature enough as a species to cope with the quantum sea change that implies.

[Rosco-P]

I won't hold my breath waiting for a 3D printer for wood. Technology isn't the answer for everything. Do you get the same sense of accomplishment from a build file as you do from crafting something from raw material with your own hands? Where's the joy?

[CarlByrns]

Why certain items are always for sale cheap:

The radial arm saw: someone stuck a table saw blade on it and now it's an terrifying unpredictable monster.

The nearly-new motorhome: the owners realized they don't want to travel forever. Sometimes it's a health issue, sometimes it's the constant contact with someone you never spent more than a couple weeks vacation with, sometimes it's all the pre and post trip servicing that needs to happen.

The big cruiser bike: the novelty wore off, it rains/snows a lot, there's more maintenance, health issues.

I'll throw in another craigslist orphan- wood cutting bandsaws. Nobody takes the time to tune the saw and set the guides properly with the result that the tool can't cut butter.

[SteveF]

Well, radial arm saws have pretty well been replaced by compound miter saws. I had one in my shop and used it exactly once in 10 years so it got sold.

In spite of the government announcements, the economy still isn't doing very well so the first thing that gets cut for the average family budget is the recreation account. Motorhomes and motorcycles are recreation items so those prices aren't strong.

As far as the tools, people don't do that as much. Years ago cars needed regular maintenance so we all learned to fix them, appliances were expensive and repairable, furniture was expensive. Now cars just need regular oil changes, appliances are meant to be thrown away and you have to really like woodworking to buy the wood and build it for the prices you can pay for something ready to use.

For the bandsaws, it will still cut butter if the guides aren't set correctly but it won't be a straight cut.

Steve

[ironmonger]

<<snip>> I just hope that we mature enough as a species to cope with the quantum sea change that implies.

Well, don't get your hopes up. Human beings have not evolved at all in the last 10,000 years. Not enough time. And the forces that cause change are modified by social conduct and morays of society.

We are still biological animals beneath the vernier of civilisation, and Paris shows how shallow those verniers are.

Good luck with evolving.

As our tools advance, it is important not to forget the basics.

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.”
― Robert A. Heinlein

[wierdscience]

How many kids do you know that have ever touched a tool to build anything?Ya,me too,the ones I do know are a small,nearly vanishing minority.

In terms of radial arm saws,they are no more dangerous than sliding miter saws,maybe even less so since RAS don't also hinge vertically.My brother the ER nurse says they see more people(women use tools now too) in the ER with sliding miter saw blight affecting their fingers now that RAS have gone away.

So far as motorhomes,boats and motorcycles,we are and have been living in the midst of the second great depression.Only now the government hides the bread lines via plastic cards and direct deposit.People simply cannot afford toys anymore.

Our so called political leaders are hopeless and nothing better is on the horizon.If you doubt just how stupid these people are just look to Paris.Even now they cannot,or will not admit what the problem is,but they continue to import problems from other countries as if they don't have enough of their own.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news,but lately that's all there is.

[loose nut]

Once your pushing up daisies it won't matter much to you what happens to your toys. Don't worry be happy.

[CarlByrns]

In terms of radial arm saws,they are no more dangerous than sliding miter saws,maybe even less so since RAS don't also hinge vertically.
(

They are when you put the wrong blade on. Table saws need positive rake to push the work down. RAS need near-zero to negative rake to keep the work from lifting.

Miter saws should wear a low rake angle, but can get away with a TS blade because the cutting action is down and then pull. A RAS with a TS blade will grab the work and either throw it or push the powerhead at the operator with great force. BTDT.

I've been using RASs for 30+ years and consider them both the most useful and dangerous tool in my shop (next to the chainsaws!).

[AD5MB]

A friend has been trying to sell a like-new motorhome for less than book value for two years and never gets any lookers.

you can't give them away. at the recent price of gas, setting aside this very temporary price drop, you can't afford to drive a motorhome that gets less than 13 MPG. a motel and a sedan are cheaper

you would think someone in central NM would take one as a mother in law house, playhouse, storage shed. we are not infested with zoning laws, HOAs, CCRs, et cetera. no takers

[gellfex]

How many kids do you know that have ever touched a tool to build anything?

Came home last week and find my 16 yo son who has gotten obsessed with rock climbing had gone down to my shop, found a small chunk of 6061, and made something called a "nut", a wedge that gets a loop of cable through it to jam in a crack and hook your rope to. I showed him where the wire rope and sleeves were, and how to use the crimper. He may not be primarily a builder by temperament, but he's done enough in my shop like crossbows and knives to get the idea that people can make what they need. He's shown the nut to other climbers, some of whom who say "cool, but I wouldn't use it". They're of the culture that "people don't make things, factories make things".

[tyrone shewlaces]

I'm sure I'm not alone here being in the situation that almost everybody I know thinks of me, and only me, when they want something fixed. It's not that I'm any better than the rest at fixing stuff, but it's a fact that these days it's much rarer than it used to be to know how to do anything I think. I am blown away when I hear when people will just let things sit because it broke and they don't know what to do next, so apparently it's very common not to even try to learn how to do anything as well. Which is odd since back when I was learning this stuff you had to travel to the library and hope there was something applicable on the shelves while these days you can more than likely and instantly find a you-tube video (or dozen) that will walk you through most anything you can think of - it's so easy to learn now.

I have a RAS and don't have the space to use it so for several months I've been trying to give it away, including free delivery, and I have no takers yet.

Anyway, in one way it helps my job security and wage because I learned many years ago that maintenance machining is where the decent jobs are. There is only insulting wages for manufacturing while it's a bit difficult to find skilled maintenance machinists who can do what is needed compared to what an employer could find "back in the day". Gotta take the good with the bad.

Another bright side is that you don't need to know 1/4 of what you used to have to know for people to think you're a "Renaissance Man", hehe. I am most certainly not of that caliber in reality, but I know just enough more than most paper shifters that I get called that all the time.

I think I'm lucky for having no kids. I worry too much anyway so worrying about my offspring's future is something I don't have to go through.

[lakeside53]

I managed to get $50 for my RAS years ago.. yep.. compound slide miters saws killed them.

The rest are just not as useful/ fun as you convinced yourself at purchase

Motor homes.. yep...
Big riders - yep

You forgot one - Time share condos... You buy it... great deal, seems nice for a few years. Unless it's the "Right time of year", "right place".. forget unloading it (reasonable money) you are stuck with it

[wierdscience]

They are when you put the wrong blade on. Table saws need positive rake to push the work down. RAS need near-zero to negative rake to keep the work from lifting.

Miter saws should wear a low rake angle, but can get away with a TS blade because the cutting action is down and then pull. A RAS with a TS blade will grab the work and either throw it or push the powerhead at the operator with great force. BTDT.

I've been using RASs for 30+ years and consider them both the most useful and dangerous tool in my shop (next to the chainsaws!).

I've got three at last count,a 10" Sears,14" Rockwell and a 16" Dewalt,all of them have had high tooth count ATB blades on them for the last decade at least never a snag.

My experience has been that dull blades are the most dangerous.That's how I got my 14" Rockwell,idiot neighbor had it and nearly got himself with it.He gave it to me,the first thing I did was change the blade since the one he was using was only a 36 tooth blade with 1/3 the carbide tips missing.No wonder it tried to launch every time he made a cut.

[wierdscience]

I managed to get $50 for my RAS years ago.. yep.. compound slide miters saws killed them.

They had help,woodworking magazine editors turned de facto power tool salesmen played a role too.
My buddy with the cabinet shop got suckered into that one.He sold his Dewalt RAS and replaced it with a Hitachi sliding compound MS "to save space".He got rid of the RAS and put the new toy in the same spot,in the middle of the built in cabinets he had either side the RAS to start with