Wacky: A Laser-Guided Handsaw, Part 2
By Nick Carter
Back in 2007, Sean showed us a laser-guided handsaw that looked like a drywall saw. I figured the market would kill such a mutation before it could spawn, but lo and behold, upon opening the latest Sears tool catalog I found the Spear & Jackson laser-guided woodsaw. Yes, it’s a standard hand woodsaw, with a 10 tpi “Sheffield” blade, and a frickin’ laser!
If you look at Spear & Jackson’s press release you see why they need the laser — their product tester doesn’t know to keep his index finger extended along the line of the sawblade. The YouTube video linked below shows the saw in all of its glory.
It’s a sad world that has a need for such a saw, isn’t it?
Spear & Jackson Laser-Guided Woodsaw [Sears]
Press Release [Spear & Jackson]
Video [YouTube]
August 4th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
i am waiting for scissors with lasers, and quite possibly a screwdriver too
August 4th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
there are no words for this….. I can’t believe that someone makes something like this.
August 4th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Stop holdin’ your breathe, Jeff–
http://www.asseenontvguys.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=237
–if the link doesn’t work, just google laser guided scissors–
Can’t help you with the screwdriver, though…:)
August 4th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
jeffrey, I don’t know about screw drivers but one of the things on you list is allready down
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/tools/a823/
August 4th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
This is just friggin’ stupid. The laser line’s gonna move with each hand jerk! Is this the saw version of the self-licking ice cream cone???
August 4th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Could point, Mike47. I know people that can’t saw to a pencil line. How do you saw to one that moves?
Gimme my old Disstons any day.
August 4th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
lol why on earth would they even waste money makeing something like this. it must be 10 times easier to cut alone a line that dont move!
August 4th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
A better link may be:
http://toolmonger.com/2007/05/03/dealmonger-laser-guided-scissors-for-12/
August 4th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Well, I have only one thing to add to the discussion.
If you watch the video, the laser doesn’t even stay on during cut. I’m honestly flabbergasted at figuring out how it even is supposed to work. You check for squareness, then saw crooked anyways…
August 5th, 2009 at 12:24 am
What a great idea! Now you can hand-saw at night with the lights off. LOL!
August 5th, 2009 at 9:08 am
I am not a wood worker so the value of a hand saw (especially with a useless laser) is lost on me. But why wouldn’t you use a skil saw for the work they’re doing in the video? When I need to cut a 2X4 or something like that I just break out the skil saw, never had trouble cutting a straight line with it.
August 5th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
I’m waiting for laser guided clamps, that’s going to the hight of human achievement.
August 6th, 2009 at 7:07 am
Several reasons, JB. You don’t need hearing protection. You don’t need dust collection. You can listen to music when you use hand tools. You can work in your basement shop after the kids are asleep. And sometimes you can pull a handsaw off the rack and make your cut faster than getting the CS plugged in and running. And for oddly angled work, you don’t need to build a jig, you just make your marks and cut.