A new Sawstop tablesaw for the workshop

Celebrating my 69th birthday a bit early, I acquired a new Sawstop tablesaw. The Sawstop is known for its safety features. In particular, it has the ability to stop within a few millliseconds after contact with skin! I've been aware of the technology for many years, and I've been operating tablesaws for 50 years without loss of blood, but somehow as a new decade approaches I thought it was the right time.

This is a quick demo of the technology from Sawstop:

And here it is in my shop, ready to replace the foreground Delta Unisaw (1961) that I've been enjoying for the past 12 years.

The Unisaw is an industry standard; I've loved having it in the shop. I appreciate all the vintage equipment in the shop. But the Sawstop is a clear upgrade -- rather like having a BMW in the garage. My excuse for buying it are the safety features. My fingers and Terri are hugely supportive. I did the research, keying in on accidents by age. The stats show that 35 percent of accidents happen to people over the age of 65. It's only reasonable to assume that less than 35 percent of saw usage is by people in that age group. I don't seem to have any success reversing the effects of aging.

Aside from innovative safety features, the cabinet saw I bought is an extremely fine tool of industrial quality. A big bonus of the new tool is the improved dust collection. When I built the shop, I installed a good dust collection system, but the system is only as good as the fittings on the tools. With a direct blade shroud in the cabinet and overhead collection available for most cuts, the dust collection is superb as demonstrated here:

The shop won't have the same vintage feel at its core, but I'll get over it. Still in the shop are: - 1960s Delta wood lathe - 1949 Delta radial arm saw - 1949 Delta drill press - 1980s Delta planer - 1960s Atlas metal lathe