Funny Rockler Story
Doug in Denver
>This sort of thing happens everywhere of course, but I always like to believe that the sales staff in woodworker stores live and breath sawdust and know everything. It's not true of course, but I like to believe it anyway.
So I was in the local Rockler the other day and I overheard a discussion where a man in his mid-50s or so was looking at 14" bandsaws. He clearly did not know a lot about them. Here is an almost verbatim transcript of the conversation.
"What's the difference between an open stand and closed stand bandsaw?"
After a long pause "It keeps the dust off your motor" Salemsan then kneels down and says, "see, the motor is in here, it keeps it nice and clean."
"What is a riser block I have read about?"
"See that seam right there? It goes right there. Of course you need different blades."
"But what does it do?"
"It basically gives you a bigger saw."
Now I can tell the man is confused. He understands that a riser block gives you a "bigger saw," but I can tell he is wondering WHY you need it to be bigger because he is picturing a band saw operating much like a scroll saw with the wood flat on the table. So the man ponders this a few seconds and finally says (and this is my favorite part):
"For like log wood?"
"Yeah, for log wood." There was a palpable sense of relief in the salesman's voice that the man had volunteered something because the salesman clearly had no real idea what a riser block is for.
So the next time you have some "log wood" that needs cuttin', get yerself a riser block.