1940 Video of woodworking

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Casey
Corporate Member
This is interesting. What I found fascinating are all the power tools, There is a worm driven saw, a hand held router, etc. It makes you realize 80-90 years ago they were using many of the same tools we use today. Albeit, I am sure ours are lighter.
The Video was done by Iowa state college Check it out !

1940 woodworking
 

Gotcha6

Dennis
Staff member
Corporate Member
My Dad told me a story about his first circular saw. It would have been post war, and in a semi rural area of the region. The big building boom had taken off, and an electric saw would have cost 2-3 week's pay then. He was working with his BIL and they noticed that the saw was running poorly. He deduced that the drop cord was too long, and proceeded to cut the cord on the saw short enough that the plug was up against the handle. Good theory but poor practice. In those days, it wasn't only a matter of cost, but proper education about power tools.
 
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junquecol

Bruce
Senior User
This is interesting. What I found fascinating are all the power tools, There is a worm driven saw, a hand held router, etc. It makes you realize 80-90 years ago they were using many of the same tools we use today. Albeit, I am sure ours are lighter.
The Video was done by Iowa state college Check it out !

1940 woodworking
The router is a PC Speed "O" Matic. Worm dive saw looks like a Skill, the fore runner of the Skill 77.
 

Martin Roper

Martin
Senior User
I noticed there was no dust collection or masks. And no pneumatic nailers.

There were no carbide-tipped blades or router bits back then. Imagine all the sharpening they had to do.
 

Oka

Casey
Corporate Member
I remember sharpening skil saw blades ...and remember hand nailing. The air guns in the 70's were always jamming
 

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Dennis
Staff member
Corporate Member
I remember sharpening skil saw blades ...and remember hand nailing. The air guns in the 70's were always jamming
Same here. Saw sharpening and setting was almost a daily chore, and those worm drive saws were an arm breaker unless you held the board up and dropped it through the cut. But they were needed because most of the lumber was green and a standard circular saw didn't have enough torque to do any serious ripping, hence the diamond arbor knockout to prevent the blade from slipping. I still have 3 of them. One is a 10" beast, and the others are 7-1/4". They haven't seen service in some time.
 
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